He gives new roles a whirl

Who would have thought that about-to-turn-50 Pearce Bunting, who made an enduring name for himself in Philadelphia as an intensely edgy character actor, would be singing and dancing as the sexy Australian "dad" in

Mamma Mia!

? And in spandex, yet?

But there he was one January night not long ago, on the stage of Manhattan's Winter Garden Theater, doing the big Broadway thing, charming the ruffled socks off the little girls in the audience - not to mention their moms.

Theatre Exile's production of Blackbird (in previews, opening Wednesday at Plays & Players Theatre) is the occasion of Bunting's six-week return to Philadelphia - a brief break from years in Mamma Mia! - and a new, fierce challenge. The David Harrower play, a recent smash in New York and before that in London (where it won the Olivier Award for best new play), is about the blood-chilling reunion of lovers who haven't seen each other in 15 years - when he was about 43 and she was 12.

Bunting was last on stage locally in the title role in the 2008 Live Arts Festival production of Oedipus at FDR, a remarkable performance in classical style (never mind that the Chorus was on skateboards). In 2006, he was the slob dad in Theatre Exile's Killer Joe - TV-addicted, unable to complete a thought or sentence, a grubby, beer-bellied oaf in his underwear.

Before that, local audiences saw him as Hamm in Endgame, as Macbeth in rock-star black leather, as a death-row murderer in Coyote on a Fence, and as a deranged homeless man in Road. He has done the usual TV stints (Law & Order: SVU, As the World Turns) and spent two years roaming the world as the host of Travelers on the Discovery Channel. In fact, that's how he met his wife, TV producer Stephanie Halleen: They sat next to each other for 18 hours on a flight to the Philippines. Their son, Milo, is 4, and Joe Canuso, artistic director of Theatre Exile and director of Blackbird, is his godfather. Canuso and Bunting have been close friends for 15 years.

The range of Bunting's talent and his willingness to fling himself into a role are the reasons Canuso likes directing him: "Pearce is very hungry - it's such a joy to work with an actor who can dig deep. In MM, he embraces the need to be that big and glorious."

But in fact it's the Mamma Mia! role that, by his own account, requires the least flinging: "I feel like I'm playing myself with an Australian accent," Bunting confesses. "There are people born to sing and dance, but I never thought I'd be doing this. I have a strong, loud singing voice, but I'm not trained as a singer."

Interviewed in New York last month, Bunting - clearly proud to be working in the legendary theater that houses Al Jolson's dressing room - noted, "This was the first show to open after 9/11, and as silly as it is, it was just what people needed. Shows are closing all around us, but MM is still doing well."

He remembers advice he was given his first year as a member of the cast: "You can't ever get lazy. There are 1,500 people out there and you have no idea - the show could inspire somebody to do something radical with his life. It could be somebody's first Broadway show."

The Wilma Theater's 1995 production of Road was the beginning of his serious theater career (after Yale Drama School) and he recalls how hard he worked to get that part: After smearing himself with motor oil, walking in the rain, and sleeping on the floor, he arrived at the Wilma audition soaking wet; Blanka Zizka hired him on the spot.

"I didn't know what was driving me - my own fear and desire - but it was the first time I realized I needed to do something that scared me. Mostly just for my growth, just to get better."

Despite his good looks and height, he has rarely played conventional leading men, preferring character roles. With a play like Blackbird - in which the young woman finds and confronts Bunting's character in the office where he now works under a different name - Bunting says, "it has to be so real, you have to be so present, and it has to be meticulous: The text is very specific. Some sentences are cut off, some are thoughts never expressed, some lines overlap.

"Because they're dealing with events that happened 15 years before, each moment is jettisoned once it's recalled. They can't escape the room, or each other or the past."

As Julianna Zinkel, his co-star, told him a few days into rehearsal, "It's a cage match."

Bunting continues, "It's all subjective - how he views his life, how she views hers. It's about an unspeakable act, but he wasn't the only person involved. People are going to be so polarized when they see this. . . ."

Joe Canuso started Theatre Exile 13 years ago, when the alternative theater scene had barely begun in Philadelphia. The company's name was to suggest "the outsider at the gates - less-commercial theater, an alternative to the mansion on the hill." He knows that "the landscape has changed tremendously," but he is glad that Exile has made a name for itself, cultivating an audience he feels is more like the indie film crowd.

Exile's knockout 2006 production of Red Light Winter came to them when Sara Garonzik, artistic director of Philadelphia Theatre Company, recommended the play, knowing it was Exile's kind of script. Similarly, patrons of the company had seen Blackbird in London and came back with the Harrower script, saying that this was a show for Exile.

Canuso agreed, adding, "This is the hardest play I've ever worked on - it feels so deceptively simple and the emotions are so buried; it's just a room with a table and two damaged people in a power struggle."

Bunting says he wants to do "purely and unabashedly" whatever it is he's trying to do at any given moment. "The characters have no idea what's going to happen: It's dangerous."

As for his willingness to strip away vanity and ego onstage, he says, "Part of the comedy of being human is being able to laugh at yourself. I try to put myself in uncomfortable situations because I think they'll make me a better actor and a better person. I'm doing it to save my own ass."

Through March 1 at Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St.

Tickets: $18-$40; 215-922-4462 or www.theatreexile.org

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