RICHARD LAWSON COMES BACK HOME WITH ‘MA RAINEY’

When Richard Lawson talks, people listen. When he enters a room, people take notice. When he smiles, women swoon. Richard Lawson is one of those people who lights up any space he’s in.

Currently, he’s lighting up the stage at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, playing trumpeter Levee in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (through Aug. 29).

Did the Theatre Center have to do a lot of sweet-talking to woo the “Dynasty” star back to the stage?

“They told me they were going to twist my arm and break my kneecaps if I didn’t do this,” the Oakland-born Lawson said with a grin. “Are you kidding ? I would kill to do this role. I’ve done a lot of great theater--’Fool for Love’ (LATC, 1985), ‘Streamers’ (Westwood Playhouse, 1977), ‘No Place to Be Somebody’ (the 1970-71 national touring company). The stage is where I belong; it’s my home.”

But in the case of “Ma Rainey” (about a group of black session musicians in 1927 Chicago), Lawson was stepping into a ready-made family, assembled for the play’s previous run in San Francisco.

“I’ll give you a musical analogy,” he said. “The play tells you the key you’re in, and all the actors are different notes; together they make up a chord. When I came in, it messed up everybody’s rhythms, because they all bounce off Levee.”

It’s a responsibility that Lawson clearly enjoys. But he’s quick to add that it wasn’t always so.

“I think the first thing that gave me a sense of confidence was when I was trying out for ‘Streamers.’ I was studying with Milton Katselas, heard of the production and that every actor of any name value was being considered. But who was Richard Lawson? I knew I was going to have to do whatever it took-- whatever it took --to get that part.”

Day and night, he worked on the role of the homicidal Carlyle. Finally, his agent finagled an audition with producer Norman Twain. But soon after he’d begun reading, Twain cut him off. End of audition.

Time went by. Original director William Friedkin was replaced by none other than Milton Katselas.

“Everyone knew Milton was my teacher,” the actor said with sigh. “He was going to be on the spot; I wasn’t going to get the part.” But Lawson hung on--and eventually got another audition. This time he brought a knife. “When I walked in, there was Norman Twain. I said, ‘Norman, the last time I was here, you stopped me. I worked three weeks and you stopped me after one minute. You disrespected me. Don’t you ever do that again.’

“Then I pointed to Richard Thomas (who’d already been cast in the production) and said, ‘You come here and sit down.’ I pulled the knife out and threw it onto the stage: Boinnng . I started talking to them, then I eased into Carlyle’s monologue. Then I grabbed the knife and went for Richard. By that time, he’d scooted all the way down in his chair. Milton was just beaming. I told them, ‘I am not a crazy actor. I had to do this--to take you on this journey, experience the reality of this character. I hope I haven’t offended you.’ And I left.”

Fortunately, Lawson got the part. But such antics haven’t always worked to his advantage. Consider the time when, aching to read for the Coalhouse Walker role in “Ragtime,” he tracked director Milos Forman down to a London hotel and promptly flew there--uninvited and unannounced.

“The pound was ridiculous then,” he chuckled. “It was costing me 300-some dollars a day to stay there. So I walked the lobby, the restaurant, the bar, the lobby, the bar.” No Forman. Finally, he called his room. “I said, Mr. Forman, My name is Richard Lawson’--I knew I had to talk fast--’I’m an actor from California, not a crazy actor. But I am Coalhouse Walker and I just want you to take 30 seconds to look at me. I’ve flown all this way to meet you.’ ” Forman politely declined, suggested that Lawson send a picture to his secretary and hung up.

“I was destroyed for a day or two,” the actor admitted. “But on the way home it hit me: I’d had the confidence to do this, the guts to go all the way. And it made me grow up; it did something to me as a man. It taught me that getting there isn’t important. What’s important is the journey.”

As for his current “hot” status: “I’ve been here long enough to know that that comes and goes. When people look at a body of work and say, ‘Boy, he’s done some fine work’-- that’s hot. But ‘Dynasty’ is no end (of the dream); it’s just part of the process.”

And part of that process also involves selling Richard Lawson.

“When I sign an autograph, I want to look into the person’s eyes. But I wouldn’t necessarily be against any classy type of merchandising. The one thing I recognize as much as anything is that this is a business--and one has to be a businessman. I’ve just got to combine that aspect with a certain integrity, something that doesn’t belie the reason I went into acting: to communicate. So I’m open to an amount of commercialism, without feeling that it cheapens me.”

There’s one product that the divorced father of two won’t pitch: alcohol. “I work in drug treatment (the NBA’s Adult Substance Abuse Program),” Lawson explained. “I don’t want to promote it to young people in this country because I know what it does.”

Firsthand.

“I am a recovering addict,” he said simply. “I don’t have any problem saying that--but I don’t want to focus on it either. I love what I do, I’ve studied for four years and I’m a professional. But I’ve also been in the trenches. . . . I’m an extremist, I know that now. It’s the same thing that allows me to jump on a plane to London--that extremism is part and parcel of my talent. It’s also a double-edged sword; it gets me into trouble.

“Levee is also an extremist,” Lawson added, smiling at the connection. “He has an instinctual ability to pull the focus onto himself, change things to where he has control of them. You’ll see that anywhere: Someone walks into a room and says, ‘OK, folks, this is how it goes,’ and people will fall into line, play his song. Levee represents the new fighting the old, changing ideas, the racism of the period. And he’s foot to the floor. There’s a lot of anger in the play, expressed and unexpressed.”

And Lawson? Has the road to success been a difficult one?

“No,” he said firmly. “I came into this business prepared for whatever it took. I’ve been an actor since 1969--and it’s never been a struggle. I’ve lived in holes-in-the-wall, I’ve hitchhiked, I’ve driven the raggediest cars--cars that people would pull up beside me and laugh.

“This is one day at a time; I don’t care how long it takes. I’ll never stop working on my craft: teaching or acting or studying. When I’m 80 years old, not a tooth in my mouth or a hair on my head, I’ll still be knocking on doors. I am here to stay. I’m not going anywhere.”