Most Valuable Players
A Guide to Austin Stage Actors
Fri., Sept. 28, 2001
Ron Berry
On the scene since: 1996
MVP for: Refraction Arts Project
Recent Roles: Augie/Felix, A Name for a Ghost to Mutter, State Theater Co., 2001; various, The Butcher's Daughter, Refraction Arts Project, 2000; the Lecturer, Fatigue, Physical Plant Theater, 1999; Kip, Raised in Captivity, Subterranean Theatre Co., 1998; the Schoolmaster, The Visit, RAP, 1998.
Honors: Critics Table nomination, Butcher's Daughter; Best Actor, Chronicle "Best of Austin" Reader's Poll, 1999.
Best-natured actor in town. Nothing seems to get Berry down, and his acting betrays how much he loves his craft. Equally adept at wildly comic roles or dead serious ones, Berry matches quick wit with a warm heart to create multilayered, real characters that audiences can hoot at or sympathize with, sometimes both at the same time. In roles such as the Lecturer or the Schoolmaster, Berry took audiences on journeys that began as comical and off-the-cuff, only to descend into more personal, soulful explorations of love and honor. Literate, studious, consistent, and always ready to laugh.
