Colman Domingo comes to Troy
At 20 years old, Colman Domingo was finding his footing in the San Francisco theatre scene.
He had moved from his childhood home of Philadelphia to start his career in the Golden Gate city. But it was not all easy, and, when frustration arose, Domingo called a trusted confidante for advice: his mother.
The guidance she gave him, however, was off the beaten path.
“She said, ‘You need a hobby,’” Domingo said in a phone interview with the Daily Trojan. “‘You need something that you do that is not about you,’ and I took that to heart … She said, ‘You’re so good with kids, what if you taught somewhere?’”
The answer took form as part of an afterschool program taught by his friend Phara. While auditioning and working side jobs to get by, Domingo volunteered 20 hours a week to teach kids. He describes the time as fulfilling, an homage to his mother who was ultimately right about her advice, Domingo said.
For years after, and in a balancing act with the promising trajectory of his career, Domingo went on to instruct as a guest lecturer at various universities, including the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.
“It’s always been very important to me, that no matter what I’m doing, that I leave room for teaching,” Domingo said.
One Fated Day in San Francisco
On May 4, the School of Dramatic Arts announced in a news release that Domingo would join its faculty starting as a guest lecturer this fall before transitioning into a full-time position in Fall 2022.
The move to get Domingo to be a part of the school had been five years in the making, said Oliver Mayer, SDA associate dean of faculty. However, Mayer and Domingo’s history began long before that.
The duo met in 1997 in San Francisco. Mayer had written a play called “Blade to the Heat,” an exploration of masculinity in the world of boxing. Its third production was in a small venue in the Bay Area, where he met Domingo for the first time.
“I had heard about Colman Domingo, before I met him, as just being an all-around consummate professional. It’s the same thing I say about him now — that he can dance, and he can sing, and he’s a wonderful actor and he’s a great person and a fabulous colleague,” Mayer said in a phone interview with the Daily Trojan. “Then, when I came to rehearsal, there he was, and he was all that and more.”
“I had heard about Colman Domingo, before I met him, as just being an all-around consummate professional. It’s the same thing I say about him now — that he can dance, and he can sing, and he’s a wonderful actor and he’s a great person and a fabulous colleague.”
Oliver Mayer, School of Dramatic Arts Associate Dean of Faculty
Domingo played one of the non-boxer parts in the play, using his jack-of-all-trades skills to deliver a memorable performance of a singer.
“We were able to connect as artists. He understood my play. And I think he understood me, and we had a friendship,” Mayer said. “Then, because of the world the way it is — this was before we all walked around with cell phones — it wasn’t as easy to contact each other. And I lost track of him for a while.”
Mayer saw Domingo twice after the play in San Francisco: at the Broadway district in New York City and on the set of “Fear the Walking Dead” in Ensenada, Mexico.
Marlene Forte, Mayer’s wife, played the role of Celia Flores in “Fear the Walking Dead,” a spin-off of the post-apocalyptic zombie show “The Walking Dead.” Forte told Mayer she was nervous of being in the show, where Domingo was also cast as Victor Strand. Mayer told her to not be nervous and suggested she talk to Domingo and mention that “Oliver said hi.”
“She contacted me the next day, and she was so happy. Because when she said it, everybody was all together; it was kind of awkward, and it can be like that sometimes,” Mayer said. “And, [when] she said it, he grabbed her and twirled her around because he was so happy to hear that we had this connection.”
Afterward, Mayer traveled down to Ensenada to spend time with Forte and the show’s cast. On their drive back home from Ensenada, an idea popped into Mayer’s head: Would Domingo want to teach at USC one day?
The Discipline of Theatre
“On top of his many credits, Colman is a master teacher, so we will ask him to offer both undergraduate and graduate courses ranging from acting for the camera and performance for digital media to dramatic writing,” SDA Dean Emily Roxworthy said in a statement to the Daily Trojan. “Colman has said that theatre is his first love, comparing it to a spiritual practice that brings our fractured world together.”
“The technical things I can teach you in the classroom, but you need life if you’re going to reflect life.”
Colman Domingo
While honing his craft throughout the years, Domingo has worked with and been inspired by people who all share a similar philosophy: “You’ve got to become a better human,” Domingo said he encourages his students to know about art history, science, architecture travel and “falling in love and falling out of love.”
“You need all of that, essentially,” Domingo said. “The technical things I can teach you in the classroom, but you need life if you’re going to reflect life.”
A guiding principle Domingo values in the classroom — where he has now spent about 13 years of his life — is having a baseline of respect. He uses the setting to be a reflection of the entertainment industry functions; for example, a person’s lack of punctuality is an extension of how someone might show up late for rehearsal. He said that he isn’t a person to solely prioritize the syllabus as if it were a “bible,” but rather to go “where the moment takes you.”
“I’m so interested in empowering my students to tell the story the way they want to tell it, more than anything,” Domingo said. “When it comes down to it, if I’m hard in any way, it’s just about being respectful of the work, and I will lay out what that is.”
Mayer concurs and said Domingo has a confidence in bringing out the better selves in individuals.
“He’s got a confidence in the art that tells students and faculty that it’s worth it to continue,” Mayer said. “And we really need to hear that.”
Stories That Matter
It was never enough for Domingo to just be an actor. He knew that he had to be a writer, a director, a producer.
“I had to make it happen … people didn’t look like me, so they didn’t know my story mattered or existed,” Domingo said. “Once I had to get to the other side of the table, it was not enough for me to just be a creative, but I had to think like a business person as well.”
Domingo’s mindset went into questioning how he could create opportunities for other underrepresented people to tell their stories and to be reassured that they matter. Although he describes this era as a “golden age of creativity of all platforms,” he attributes the cultural shift to people of color saying “enough was enough.”
“I had to make it happen … people didn’t look like me, so they didn’t know my story mattered or existed. Once I had to get to the other side of the table, it was not enough for me to just be a creative, but I had to think like a business person as well.”
Colman Domingo
His dedication to creating an equitable and inclusive world in storytelling aligns with SDA’s objective to empower its students to “use theatre in service to the larger world” through “artistic excellence” that entertain and inspire, Roxworthy wrote.
It isn’t time to get comfortable with breakthroughs or singular awards nominations, Domingo said.
“We need more. More storytelling, more producers. MJ [Rodriguez] is a friend of mine,” Domingo said. “I want her to be a producer. I want her to have her own company. I want her to use this opportunity to make more doors open.”
(Rodriguez, who plays Blanca Evangelista in “Pose,” made history as the first transgender woman to receive an Emmy nomination for Best Actress.)
Domingo, who has spent the pandemic researching and reconnecting with his family history, describes the amplification of underrepresented stories and representation as akin to bringing his relatives along for the ride.
“That goes back to not only my African American but my Central American heritage,” Domingo said. “Which is, if you open the door, we bring everybody with us.”