Most Valuable Players

Ken Webster

On the scene since: 1977

MVP for: Subterranean Theatre Company, State Theater Company, Frontera

Recent Roles: Victor, House, Frontera, 2001, 1999; Brendan, The Weir, State Theater Co., 2000; Ghost of Christmas Present, A Christmas Carol, State, 1999; Richard, Hay Fever, State, 1998; various, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, State, 1999; Skunk/Kaden, As Bees in Honey Drown, State, 1999; Aram, Beast on the Moon, State, 1999; Aldo, Italian-American Reconciliation, STC, 1997.

Honors: Critics Table John Bustin Award for "conspicuous versatility," 1999; Payne & Critics Table nominations, House; Payne & Critics Table nominations, Beast on the Moon.

Yes, Webster's been doing this for quite some time, and getting better as he goes: no mean feat, since he started out so near the top of his formidable game. With his predilection for flinty, offbeat roles -- not to mention an entire theatre company (formerly Subterranean, now Hyde Park) of which he's el jefe grande -- the man has brought vividly to stage such memorable characters as House's Victor, perennial Beat icon Jack Kerouac, and the whole ranty crowd from Eric Bogosian's Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll. It may be his years of work as a director (his other oft-worn hat) that has taught him how to fully inhabit a character, to make him come alive from the inside out rather than through a collection of quirks. Whatever brought those lessons, though, this workaholic craftsman has learned them all -- by heart as well as by mind.