Téchni sto aíma*
*Art in the blood
All the world’s a stage and everyone merely a player, and local actor George Psarras has nurtured a career with inestimable exits and entrances. The 43-year-old has played dozens of roles for stage and a few for the screen. He lent his voice to a police elf in an animated urban fantasy and accompanies his twin brother playing traditional Greek music. Now, he’s determined to manifest his rendition of a Sherlock Holmes story into a one-man touring show. With a professional musician for a twin brother and a supportive father who encouraged his alacrity for theater, George echoes Holmes’s quip, “Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms.”
The strange forms of George’s first act opened after studying theater at Foothill College and College of San Mateo. He then studied music at San Francisco State. With credentials and experience secured, George could have pursued showbiz in Hollywood but instead entrenched himself in Bay Area theater because “[his] family’s here.” He’s composed music professionally since 1998 and played stage roles since 2006. In 2011, he became the resident sound designer for City Lights Theater Company of San Jose.
“The unvarnished truth of the actor’s journey: the hustle, the freelance, the yes’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s.” -George Psarras
That’s how his second act began—with the classic dilemma of a midlife crisis.
“I sort of had an identity crisis on whether I wanted to be a musician or an actor, and sound design was a way to bridge that,” George says. “So I sort of fell into it. I went to the Foothill Theater Conservatory, studied there, and did some sound for some plays, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this could be a thing.’ Then, I got involved with the City Lights Theater Company, and they were looking for a sound designer. I was a first-time sound designer right out of the gate, and I was not good the first time out,” George admits humbly. “But I learned; I got better.”
“It was another creative outlet, a way to stay working between acting gigs, creating soundscapes and sometimes writing and curating new music, and crafting elements along with a lighting designer and a director…I’ve been able to do it consistently.” He accomplishes all of this from only a Macintosh running Pro Tools and Qlab. “I would love to have a studio like Hans Zimmer in a bungalow in the hills and record to my heart’s content, but it’s all remote,” he says.
George has designed sound and composed music for more than 60 productions with City Lights Theater Company. “I try to never recycle cues or music unless it’s been five or ten years in between stuff. I try to never repeat myself. That’s the goal.”
Experienced playing fictional characters, he’s also adept at speaking before student actors at his former schools when invited to talk shop. “[I’m compelled to tell them] the unvarnished truth of the actor’s journey: the hustle, the freelance, the yes’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s, the no’s.”
His third act has seen screen credits in television and movies.
He recorded some “scratch tracks” in 2016 for dialogue that would ultimately go to Chris Pratt’s character in Pixar’s animated urban fantasy Onward. The producers called George back to record an hour’s worth of lines, some of which made the cut for the character Officer Avel. This year he starred in two movies, both featuring Billy Zane and Jon Heder: Waltzing with Brando and Tapawingo, in which his twin brother, Paul, also co-starred. “It’s sort of a spiritual successor to Napoleon Dynamite,” he explains.
George, fluent in Greek, admits he hasn’t had a dream role. His ultimate dream is to produce a full-cast adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter,” then tour a one-man version of the show. “We did a reading of it—a workshop—at City Lights a couple years ago. We just had a closed reading with these wonderful actors and friends who gave me some really valuable feedback,” George says.
Though Holmes is timeless, George is very aware of time’s passage. “When you have so many irons in the fire, you’re trying to stay in the art, which I feel very fortunate to do. The plant only grows when you water it. I can either spend time pushing my original music, or trying more sound design, or being a theater actor or film actor, which is what I’m focusing on now. There’s a certain biological clock ticking.”
Instagram: gtpsarras
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