He trained in New York but came home to become a fully professional actor

Shayne Brakefield is neither a stranger to the black box theater in the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center nor the play he is performing in this weekend: Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the season opener for AthensWest Theatre Co.

In 2006, he played the young, mischievous bachelor Algernon in Actors Guild of Lexington’s production of Wilde’s most celebrated play — a “trivial comedy for serious people” — in which two Victorian men attempt to escape the tedious oppression of their strict society by adopting fake identities for a weekend of “bunburying,” as they call it, in the countryside.

Twelve years after his first romp bunburying through Wilde’s words, Brakefield returns to the farce as the Reverend Canon Chasuble, a doctor of divinity who sets his romantic sights on one of the play’s leading ladies to, like most endeavors in the play, hilariously absurd effect.When asked, in addition to experience, what’s the one big difference between the 2006 version of Brakefield and the version 2018 audiences will see, Brakefield has a one word answer: training.

After studying the techniques of Stella Adler with Lexington-based actress Janet Scott, who by happy coincidence co-stars with Brakefield in the show in the iconic role of Lady Bracknell, Brakefield headed to New York City for two years of intense training.

“She started all of it,” Brakefield says of Scott. “She actually planted the seed of like how do you do it for real; how do you see it, how do you feel it.

“She planted that seed and I took that and let it grow in New York.”

In New York, Brakefield studied to be a licensed massage therapist — he currently has a thriving massage practice — as well as training extensively in acting. He attended the William Esper Studio, a two-year full-time program based on the work of Sanford Meisner. He also was in the Upright Citizens Brigade, an improv group that has served as the training ground for many actors and comedians, including alumni like Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari.

While studying with Esper, Brakefield took his studies of acting — and humanity itself — to a new level.

In addition to acting, classes included voice and speech, movement techniques, script analysis and stage combat.

“It was six days a week all day for two years,” Brakefield says. “After that I did a master class with Bill Esper for six months. That’s how I’ve changed. I feel like I got a really really good education.

“One of the whole points of Meisner is I don’t do anything unless my scene partner makes me. You’re taught to really listen and let that inform everything.

“Another one is the importance of acting and living and doing truthfully in imaginary circumstances. What really helped me in that two year program was that they said, ‘Okay we’re going to teach you guys how to get back in touch with that four year old inside you, so you look at how do you laugh, cry, get angry.’”

The production represents more than an artistic homecoming for Brakefield. It is also a professional milestone.

Brakefield is one of many actors who have been taking advantage of AthensWest’s participation in the Actors’ Equity Association’s Equity Membership Candidacy Program. Actors’ Equity Association is the union for professional stage actors that offers benefits like pension, standard wages and work conditions, and more. Membership in the union can open doors to working for professional companies at higher wages than non-union companies, not to mention the artistic benefits of working with seasoned professionals. Equity candidates earn points for each production they are in, and once they have accumulated enough points, they can apply for membership.

When the curtain comes down on “Earnest,” Brakefield will have enough points to join the union.

Brakefield says once he has his Equity card, he intends to branch out and audition for regional theaters, in addition to continuing to work with AthensWest.

“I’ve been acting for 25 years and I’d like the opportunity to audition at Actors Theatre in Louisville or the theaters in Cincinnati, just to give it a shot,” Brakefield says of regional theater companies that employ Equity actors. The Lexington Theatre Company, which presents a slate of summer musicals at the Lexington Opera House, also employs Equity actors.

AthensWest’s contract with Equity allows it to cast both union and non-union actors, an arrangement artistic director Bo List says he is dedicated to continuing.

“One of the reasons we started was that there were opportunities for non-equity actors but none for equity actors,” says List.

But he didn’t want to restrict the company to only Equity actors.

“When we got it started, we thought, ‘Well, we want a theater where everyone can work,’” List says, “whether you are a professional performer wanting to do your craft in your community, or someone who wants to work their way up and become more professional in their career, or someone who just likes to be in plays and be rewarded for their time and talent.”

IF YOU GO

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’

What: Oscar Wilde’s play presented by AthensWest Theatre Co.

When: 8 p.m. Oct. 5, 6, 11-13, 18-20; 2 p.m. Oct. 7, 14, 21

Where: Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, 141 E. Main St.

Tickets: $27.50 general public, $22.50 students, senior adults and active duty military

Call: 859-425-2550

Online: athenswest.net

This story was originally published October 4, 2018 at 7:50 AM.