In 2012, NSU’s theater company, the Promethean, performed its final show, a production of “The Unseen.” One of the actors in the play was Alex Alvarez, who won the award for Broward/Palm Beach New Times Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Years later, Alvarez is back at NSU as a full-time acting professor and a director of the main stage shows. Throughout his childhood, Alvarez had always been interested in theater and the arts. But it wasn’t until high school that he decided to train in acting professionally.
“At first, I was really terrified of even presenting the idea to my parents that I would want to be in the arts because it’s not known as something stable,” said Alvarez. “But I think around high school, I tried it out, and I felt like I was good enough at it to pursue it, and then it just sort of became this lifelong pursuit. My goal was always to grow, stay curious, stretch myself and push myself as an artist.”
In addition to “The Unseen,” Alvarez has acted in plays such as “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Fade” and has also had voiceover roles in anime like “A.I.C.O. – Incarnation –” and “Guintama.” Typically, Alvarez gravitates toward thought-provoking works with emotional and complex themes.
“That’s the interesting thing about the performing arts: it should spark your intellect, but sometimes it sparks your intellect by way of your gut, and it can marry the two,” said Alvarez. “I think that’s why the intellectual ideas stick. Because it’s more than just an idea. It’s a feeling.”
His favorite play, “Angels in America,” has elements of comedy and drama, and it also deals with topics of racism and sexual health. It opened on Broadway in 1993, and throughout the years, actors like Daniel Craig, Jeffrey Wright and Andrew Garfield have performed in it.
“It’s got this really beautiful mix of fantasy and also some really hard-hitting human issues,” said Alvarez.
When choosing plays to present in his courses, which include Comedy and Improvisation, Acting I, Acting II, and Performance for Film and Television, Alvarez looks for those with an emotional core. Two plays he often teaches are “Gruesome Playground Injuries” and “Marious” because of their emotional themes and how they can influence his students.
Alvarez said that studying these plays gets students “out of their head[s] and really challenges them to be there with each other and make bold choices.”
He also said students gain public speaking skills from acting in plays.
“They get confidence because it’s really difficult to speak in front of a lot of people. I mean, I still have issues with it,” said Alvarez.
He continued to say that participating in an acting class can make students more empathetic because they have to imagine themselves as other characters, considering “the emotional life of the character, the circumstantial life of the character, the desires, and the dreams of the character.”
He hopes that his students take away important values from his courses, and that they use them both on and off the stage.
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