By Michael Buckley
11 Mar 2007

From June to mid-December 2006, Keith Nobbs filmed 13 episodes as Joey Ice Cream in "The Black Donnellys," which premiered Feb. 26. The series was shot "at a studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and a lot of location work around the city." As we speak, Nobbs is vacationing in Florida. "One of the benefits of working on TV is that it allows you to do things like this." Is he commenting on Off-Broadway salaries compared to those on TV? "Atlantic Theater Company...NBC — they're kind of similar," jokes Nobbs.

He originally auditioned to play "the main brother, Tommy [Jonathan Tucker], and I also read for Jimmy [Tom Guiry], the heroin brother. They called me back for Jimmy. That's when I met Bobby Moresco [co-creator with Paul Haggis, with whom Moresco wrote the 2005 Oscar-winning Best Picture "Crash"]. 'I like ya,' he said. 'I don't think you're Jimmy, but I like ya.' Then he called me back for the part I'm doing, Joey Ice Cream. It's a great part. You get to have a field day with it."

How would he describe his character? "Joey's the storyteller. He's telling a story in the future from prison. But he's a compulsive liar. So you don't know if the information you're getting is trustworthy. What does he know? What is he being honest about? You never quite know. But in the version that Joey is telling, he wants to be part of the family. The Donnellys represent the family he never had. He's always on the outside, always wanting to belong."

Did Nobbs have difficulty capturing any aspect of his character? "Joey's the comic relief; he lets out the pressure. The environment is so tough. The Donnellys are pushed into the position of doing things they never wanted to do. Joey's not threatening, which is a nice contrast to the other characters. Because he is so different, sometimes it was hard to fall into that. You sort of slip in, be funny, and slip out. That was challenging."

Nobbs' TV debut occurred in 1999 during the first season of "The Sopranos": "I had one line. The director saw me in the first play I did in New York, Stupid Kids, and I got the job just from that."

Does TV require a different kind of acting? "The level of honesty is exactly the same. How you're connecting, the focus of the relationship, the integrity of the story, and how you're talking is very similar. The difference comes in sustainability.

"If you make a choice to go a certain way in telling the story and with the character, you have to be able to do that eight times a week. In film, you only have to do it once, or a couple of times. If you can capture that lightning in a bottle, you never have to go back and do it again, which I think allows for a different spontaneity. Like a child, you're allowed to draw on all the walls. The editors can choose what they want in telling the story.

"In theatre, it's the responsibility of the actor to be the conduit of the story or the character, and in how the audience is perceiving it. Film is a director's medium. So they cut and paste, and make a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes it's a good thing; sometimes it's a bad thing."

Born in Chicago, Nobbs is the youngest of four. "I have two brothers, Peter and Craig, and a sister, Kim. When I was three months, the family moved to Houston. I grew up doing musical theatre there. I started when I was six, playing Schroeder in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. My brother, Peter, played Snoopy. My best friends, who are still my best friends, were all in the cast. When I was 15, my family moved to New York, where they were originally from."

A 1997 graduate of Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, Nobbs claims, "One of the great things about going to high school at LaGuardia is that these kids were just teenagers. Acting and art were part of their life, but there was very little ego involved — just the pure love of doing it and sharing it. Kids that age are more concerned about 'My girlfriend just broke up with me,' than obsessing over a scene."

Growing up, which actors did he admire? "I love actors who can go back and forth from one medium to another. I always liked Ewan McGregor and Holly Hunter. I enjoy characters who are a little off. Those are the kind of roles I like to play. Joey Ice Cream is not the leading-man guy."

Following are some of Nobbs' reflections on his stage appearances.

Stupid Kids: "I didn't really understand the script at first. I played it straight. Then they started laughing; that's when I understood that it was a comedy. That's when I met [director] Michael Mayer. There were four of us in the cast, just starting out. When our enthusiasm met with the enthusiasm of the audience, it was a eureka moment, when you know you're doing the right job."

Hope is the Thing with Feathers: "That was by a wonderful writer named Frank Pugliese. I played a 15-year-old Bronx kid who got his girlfriend pregnant and gave her AIDS. The whole thing is told in a flashback as he's jumping out of a plane and trying to decide if he's going to pull the ripcord, or if it's going to be a suicide."

The Lion in Winter: "It was very exciting, my first show on Broadway. [He played John, youngest son of Eleanor (Stockard Channing) and Henry II (Laurence Fishburne).] I was thrilled to be invited to be part of that experience."

Fuddy Meers: "By David Lindsay-Abaire. A great experience, with an incredible cast —- J. Smith-Cameron, Patrick Breen, Mark McKinney, Marylouise Burke.... Everyone was operating on full cylinders."

Four, for which Nobbs won a Lucille Lortel Award as Best Featured Actor: "By Christopher Shinn, who I believe is the best young American playwright right now. His Dying City just opened at Lincoln Center. His ear for the vernacular of how people interact is impeccable. My character was a gay 16-year-old named June [for the month of his birth], who becomes involved with a professor. In the frame of this sordid story, there's a beautiful Huckleberry Finn element. It's a wonderful play, and is being made into a movie."

Free to Be...You and Me: "It was my first time singing since I was a child — and I was terrified. That was a great cast, too — Daphne Rubin-Vega, Debbie Gravitte, Bob Ari. I had a 15-minute monologue by Herb Gardner, who only allowed two actors to do it before me: Dustin Hoffman and Judd Hirsch. I played a kid reading a composition in front of his class about crossing the street by himself for the first time. It was great to meet Herb Gardner. It was only a few months before he died. When a writer is so great, it takes the pressure off you. It sort of sings for you."

Going Native: "I did that at Long Wharf. It's the only regional play that I've done. It was written by Steven Drukman, who interviewed me — the first interview I ever did — for The New York Times, and then cast me in his play."

Dublin Carol: "One of my favorites. Conor McPherson is the Irish counterpart to Christopher Shinn. Conor also directed the play; he was great. [Nobbs assumes a brogue in imitating McPherson:] 'Just get up onstage and fucking do it. Say the words, get it out.' Jim Norton played an embittered alcoholic. His performance was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever seen onstage."

Romance: "By David Mamet. It was one of those moments when you think: I'm actually sitting at a table with David Mamet. Writing a farce was new for him. He couldn't have been more generous or unfussy. And Larry Bryggman, Bob Balaban, and Christopher Evan Welch were so much fun to play off."

Dog Sees God: "The whole experience was like a party. All those people are still friends. They got together in L.A. to watch the first night of 'The Black Donnellys.' The cast included America Ferrara, who's now on 'Ugly Betty,' Eddie Kaye Thomas, who's in ''Til Death' on FOX, Ari Graynor, who was on Broadway in Little Dog Laughed."

Observes Keith Nobbs, "I feel very lucky in that every medium I've been fortunate to work in, I've always had good experiences. 'The Black Donnellys' is like that. It's great working with people who really believe so much in what they're doing. If we're lucky enough to get picked up [for a second season], we'd start filming in late June or early July. Right now, I'm chomping at the bit to get back onstage."

Keith Nobbs as Joey Ice Cream in "The Black Donnellys"
photo by NBC

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