Redefining the Role: Training, Technique, and Representation with George Alevizos

It might be time to admit that I have an unhealthy relationship to the game of basketball. And by unhealthy I mean I have a sneaking suspicion my body is telling me it has no interest in the game anymore. My affliction is the result of both my middle school and high schools having stellar basketball programs and being a teenager during the glories of 90s basketball. I spent my 20s working in the warehouse of the then named Air Canada Centre, where I stocked concession stands, changed beer kegs, but also watched the Raptors and NBA’s finest at work. Through basketball I learned about the joy of team and brotherhood; the reward of discipline, and the cost of perfecting one's craft. These were lessons and perspectives I learned to fuse into my artistic pursuits. 

My love of this pastime convinced me to try physiotherapy one more time and mend my ageing knees. And this past Thanksgiving I joined in a round of four on four with boys easily thirty years my junior. For the first time in almost eleven years I was making v-cuts, head-fakes, and jab steps; setting, and calling out “Screen!”I was having the time of my life until somebody shot me in my leg. Or to be more specific the sudden jolt of pain I felt was as if someone had loaded a medicine ball inside a revolver and shot me with it. The second my body thudded to the floor I knew what had happened. 

Nine months. Nine months is what I was told it would take to heal a torn achilles. I was resigned to the realities of physiotherapy, crutches, a cast (my first one ever), a boot, and eventually a knee scooter. But what I was not prepared for was its impact on my effectiveness as an actor in regards to my breath and voice. My body had gone through a traumatic event, so it is understandable that there would be new tension in my body, but what was illuminating was the degree to which it affected my ability to “allow” the breath to “drop” as I progressed back to walking. Equally insightful was my new relationship to the world as I learned how to navigate through it relying, if not blindly trusting its ability to meet my accessibility needs. Uneven sidewalks and elevator-less subway stations altered not only my commute, but my perception of the realities of those who live their lives with disabilities. The experience made me think of my friend George. George Alevizos is an actor I first met back in 2020 during a run of A Few Good Men in Cambridge Ontario. On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late May, George and I sat down over zoom, and discussed his theatre training, professional experience since graduating, and his insights as a working actor with a disability. 

Peter N. Bailey

 I've started a blog on my website, and because I've been doing voice coaching for the last five years, I also want to tackle voice coaching topics, that have come up, and really wanted to speak with you.

 George Alevizos

Thank you.

 Peter N. Bailey

What prompted me to sort of think about this was that I tore my Achilles in October. So once I couldn't walk, or even when I got the boot, it upended my connection to the floor and actually affected my breathing. Once I was out of the boot and actually could touch the floor, emotionally, physically, I felt a shift. So that's what prompted me to think broader about the pedagogy around this, and made me go down a sort of rabbit hole, and think of our work together in A Few Good Men. I don't think we talked about this the last time we met. What got you into acting? When did that start for you?

 George Alevizos

When I was in grade six, I auditioned for, I decided to audition for my first ever school musical. And that was Annie. And I ended up getting booked for it. Well, not booked, like I got cast in it. And I was Daddy Warbucks. And I got to enjoy being a lead role in this and whatnot at the age that I was at. And then I just continued auditioning. So basically, after grade six, I started auditioning for all of the other school productions. And then in grade like 11 or 12, I didn't know what I wanted to do for a living. And my drama teacher was the one that told me. He's like, well, no, you know what you want to do, you want to become an actor. And I didn't really think about it, like, I think about it at the time, because I thought there wasn't a lot of people like me in the industry that could actually make a living out of it. And I never really saw myself in media on stage or anything like that. But then I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go and try and see if I could become an actor. I auditioned for a bunch of theater programs, got into the one I wanted to get into, which was the one that you're working at right now, U of T Sheridan. And then that's kind of how my journey continued into my professional career.

Peter N. Bailey

 Thanks for that. And can you articulate what it was about U of T that drew you to that program?

 George Alevizos

Yeah, what I really liked about that program was the fact that it was a joint program. I got to have the opportunity of getting a degree and also the conservatory style training, right? I had a few offers at the time from different schools I was considering. I thought that that would have been the stronger one for me so I ended up picking that one and I am glad that I did. It was a very difficult program I won't lie. Very grueling, very demanding. You know all of the work that we did in that program was really difficult. I remember our vocal teacher was Meredith Scott and she was very hard on us, but in a really good way and she expected a lot from her actors, which is what you would want from a teacher. And yeah, I just kind of got drawn by how great the program was in terms of the setup and what you ended up getting at the end, you know.

 Peter N. Bailey

And for those people with disabilities who are thinking about auditioning for programs, because you spoke about the rigor, and how demanding it is, can you talk to about your journey through those years and some of the things you learned and the challenges along the way?

 George Alevizos

Yeah, so for me, my biggest challenge was figuring out what kind of actor I wanted to be. What did I want to bring forward because it was really difficult for me at the time to figure out where I fit into the industry as a whole. And I remember when I first got into the program, I also had a couple of issues. I had a speech impediment I was trying to get rid of and a lot of different things that theatre schools try to get you to work on, and to get out of and stuff. And so I had a lot of things that were working against me in terms of that. Also, the fact that I'm in a wheelchair and I was the first ever graduate from that program in a wheelchair and what my career was going to look like after I graduated. But I thought that the journey from the beginning to the end of the program was a really cool one because by my final year, I felt so much more grounded, so much more comfortable in my own skin. Felt like I could actually do the roles that I wanted to do. And I'm really grateful for the fact that they pushed me to be a better version of myself so that I could ultimately do the work that I wanted to do. And also, I had to figure out how to work with my own body vocally as an actor who's sitting down, right? So that was a whole other thing that I had to really focus on was how can I develop my own vocal technique so that I could do the roles that I wanted to do and be a grounded performer. And I feel like I've accomplished that, but it was quite a journey for me to get to that point.

 Peter N. Bailey

Thank you for that. That's a great segue. In the small amount of  research that I've done, I came across the work of the actor Amy Trigg. During her time with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2019 she wrote a blog about her experience as part of their Whispers in the Wings series. And Jesse Yates, who starred in Netflix's medical drama "Pulse". Reflecting on her training Yates talks about being blocked emotionally because of the lack of relationship with her body . I think every actor who goes through a classical training program goes through a process of relearning their body. Can you articulate some of the things you learned about your body and how you connect to the breath or how you view grounding in a seated position.

 George Alevizos

Yeah, I definitely can. So for me, my biggest thing throughout the program was developing the strength in my diaphragm. I wanted to lower my breath. I usually would always breathe a lot higher up, and I wanted to bring it down into my diaphragm. And for me, that caused me to have a lot more of projection and groundedness, and was able to do so many more things with my vocal cords, because I really pushed my breath down, I really grounded my body. And what I mean by that is, I legitimately would let myself feel supported in my abdominal area, but also feel supported in my back and my shoulders. I felt like I would always try to bring the breath into all parts of my upper body. And because of that, it's become so second nature now to me, that I can talk like that on a regular basis without worrying about having to warm up heavily for that, because I do that every day.  I try to wake up and do exercises where I can strengthen my diaphragm, I can strengthen my breath control, I can strengthen my overall vocal techniques, so that I can do something like a big theater show, and I have to carry my voice to the back of the audience. And especially with my back to the audience sometimes, it's like, you need to really figure out how you can work with your body, because with people who are able bodied, they're able to stand up and ground their body, and their body is fully connected on stage, because they are able to utilize their entire body. I don't have that luxury, I can't really utilize my lower body in the same way, so I have to really utilize my upper body. It's the same for if I'm in a recording studio for an animation or voiceover job, people who are able bodied in a recording studio, they're able to jump around and do things to get their vocal energy up and all of that. I don't have that luxury, so I have to figure out other ways that I can keep my vocal energy up and try to move my body in ways that it feels natural to me, so that I'm able to do that character justice, basically.

 Peter N. Bailey

Fascinating. That's great. That's great. Those are the types of things that admittedly in my research, my limited research, I'm not seeing a lot of papers on specifically actors with disabilities being able to articulate that. So thank you for that because I think that's something to be able to put in mind. The other thing I wanted to speak to in terms of your time in school. One of the things Jesse Yates spoke to was, and whether this is true for you or not, feeling that as a person with a disability taking up space in ways that they don't necessarily want to in ways. Maybe I'm not articulating that clearly.

 George Alevizos

Yeah, I just think I get it. Yeah. Yeah.

 Peter N. Bailey

Can you speak to that or did you feel anything like that or was that a part of your journey?

 George Alevizos

You know, it's really funny, I had a conversation with a friend last night at a party that asked me, who are you trying to prove yourself to anymore, as a performer with a disability? Because he says by diverse performers, we always tend to feel like we have to prove ourselves when we're in a room, when we're trying to prove something in our career. And when I was at the beginning of my training, I didn't. I felt very insecure with myself. So I was always feeling like I was taking up so much space in the room than I thought I was. And it was definitely different because my able body peers went through training differently than I did. You know, the way that they did movement training, the way that they did vocal training, the way they even did dance was really different. And it changed the way that I viewed myself in the training program, because I felt like I was like, Oh, maybe I'm not cut out for it, because I'm not doing the same thing that other people are doing, or I don't feel like I'm getting the same results or whatever.  But then around third year, I would say like, right before fourth year, something clicked. And I started to come into my own. And then by fourth year, I took up the space without feeling bad about it. And honestly, like, I'm glad I did because fourth year made myself the actor that I am today and even farther along now than I ever was before.  But I was able to do things like Chekhov, and really big productions without feeling like I wasn't good enough or that I was taking up too much space, or I should give other people the opportunity to do that. So yeah, it was a journey.of figuring out who I was. And then by fourth year, knowing that I was enough in my program. And I think that's something that I sometimes struggle with in the professional world. There are times that I still go back to feeling like I'm not good enough, or I feel like, oh, I got cast in this, but there's so many other really well known performers in this and this and that. But then I'm like, no, I got the job. I'm here. And they all want me to be, they all want me to be here. So I need to believe in myself and trust myself that I'm enough as a performer.

 Peter N. Bailey

 So that kind of brings me to my next question. Because of your experience, and you're saying that, Sheridan, U of T was the program for you, what do you think are the things, or principles that institutions need to be put in place to be successful in being able to train people with disabilities?

 George Alevizos

I think the biggest thing is education. I think a lot of instructors and professors and people who work in the industry, if you are coming in an educational way of training, you need to be able to understand the nuances of different bodies and how they act and how they work and how they live and how they breathe. And I think the more institutions utilize that so that they are able to be ready for a performer who may have a disability going forward to be able to train them properly, I think that that would be what institutions need because if they don't have that, they don't have the knowledge or the resources available for when an actor comes in who's ready to train to give them the training that they deserve, that they're paying for, that they auditioned and they got into and they're equally as capable and talented as any other performer. But I feel like a lot of institutions need to understand that there are different bodies and sometimes the classically able-bodied way of doing training is not always the way to do it and there are ways to do it to get the same result or even a similar result.

Peter N. Bailey

Yeah. What I heard a lot from some of the researchers is trial and error, and collaboration, meeting the student where they are. And you may not get it right. But in figuring it out, you're figuring out how to work with this body. I think encouraging that kind of mindset can only help both the student and teacher. Two more questions, and I'll let you go. One of the questions I get asked is what challenges I've faced as a person of color in the industry. And to be honest, George, when I think about it, I say that I've been very fortunate. I've been very fortunate to have people that have paved the road for me. When I think about it, the majority of the work that I've done I've been playing black characters by authors who have written for black people. I've been in rooms with black people. The work of Donna Michelle St Bernard, Andrea Scott, or Andrew Moodie. I've been very fortunate about that. Not that there haven't been challenges but not specifically sort of the visceral experiences painful experiences that some of my peers have gone through. So with that being said, can you speak to the challenges you might have faced in your career?

 George Alevizos

Yeah, I'm also very fortunate in many regards with how my career has kind of laid out a little bit because I won't lie, like I've been able to do some really great projects and great things and I would say if I had to pick a challenge, a challenge would be when it comes to live theater. I feel like it's still very much set in the way of like, they don't open the doors for people with disabilities to come in and perform on stage or to utilize the accessibility that they could on stage to create an opportunity for a performer with a disability to be able to perform on that stage.  And then, for me, I would love to work at Stratford. I would love to work at Shaw one day. I would love to work at the big theaters and also the indie ones and do much more of that type of work. And I've been fortunate to work with a few companies, but I think there is still a lot of biases around disability. I think it's still not talked about enough. We are usually pretty much not like a race, but we're basically ignored by the greater sense of the industry as a whole, when it comes to thinking of us for roles or thinking of us for opportunities, because I could play multiple characters. I have the knowledge and the training and the ability to do it under my belt. It's just a matter of our theater companies and even for film and television as well. Are they ready to have that be part of their next project or their next whatever? I've had opportunities that have been really great and have been about my artistry as a whole and everything. And then I've had opportunities where it's very much like I am the actor in the wheelchair. And it can be a little bit of a difficult thing to kind of navigate because I'm an actor in a wheelchair and I'm okay with that. And I know, like, a lot of people think of me when they think of that. But there's more to it. It's more complex. It's more nuanced. I'm still a full human being that experiences life. And I feel like there is not enough of that. And I would like to see more of it. I just did Law and Order Toronto. And that role that I auditioned for had nothing to do with a disability. It was for any actor to audition for. And I ended up just booking it. So, you know, there are people that are out there that are like, oh, yeah, he would be great for that. But I think that there needs to be more of it. That's my biggest challenge is I feel like sometimes I'm used as a token.

 Peter N. Bailey

 Do you find film and TV sets easier to work on? Are they more accessible than theater?

 George Alevizos

Depends. Commercial sets, not so much. Film and television, yes, because they usually  already done the work before I get on set to make sure that I am able to be on set. They usually will have a conversation with my agent and all of that and whatnot. And they're usually a lot more aware. I think theaters are a little harder sometimes because A, their buildings are a lot older.  Or B, they don't have the time to sometimes create accessibility before I start a contract. And C, I think it's a money thing. Right now, do I think that people use the money issue as an excuse a lot of the time? Yes, because there are ways to make things more accessible without it costing an arm and a leg. But you can just plan ahead and put that into your budget going forward. But at the same time, people don't think like that because they usually are reactive and not proactive. So I would say film and televisions a little bit ahead. When it comes to accessibility, than live theatre 100%.

 Peter N. Bailey

Okay, great. In terms of the challenges. Sort of the macro challenge. Someone described it as the chicken or the egg theory. Is it more about casting  opening their minds, or is it more about the training institutions? Because there's an argument that says, well, if training institutions made it more standardized, that hey, people with disabilities can do the work, we'll produce more actors going out there, so it becomes the standard. Or people say, well, casting has to be more imaginative and actually see people with disabilities in their full humanity and being capable of doing the work. What are your thoughts?

George Alevizos

I think it's a twofold. I think they both go hand in hand. I think institutions need to let more people in so that they are more prepared for that and do more outreach so that we are pumping out more actors who are trained and ready to take on the industry so that we have more representation because then we'll have more people going out to roles. But then on the other hand, casting and producers and artistic directors and writers and everybody who's involved in the casting process, they all need to also open up their mind and be a little more creative and a little more imaginative of how they would see that role or that world. We are in a very creative business and I know it is a business first and foremost, but it's also creative and I think that we have an opportunity to be more creative. And so I think it's institutions that would in hindsight add more actors into the fold and which would bring us more visibility in the industry but then also the casting and everybody on that side should also be a little more open-minded.

 Peter N. Bailey

Great. And if for those people with disabilities who would either see this conversation, read this transcript, what would you say they need to think about in terms of pursuing this career? How would you encourage them? What would you like to say you think they need to hear?

 George Alevizos

I would say to them, you know, follow your dreams and work hard and and make sure that you are ready to take on this industry and this career because it's not an easy one for any performer. But also, there is an opportunity to have more of us being represented on stage and on screen and in animation and in every medium. I think that we have an opportunity here to have more of us in the playing field. I think that actors with disabilities, if you're if you're interested in doing that, I would say go for it, work hard, follow your dreams and know that there are a community of performers out there that are here to support you.

 Peter N. Bailey

Okay. Wonderful, man. Thank you for this.