Stephen Adams
We got in touch with Stephen fresh off his role as Kevin in NBC’s Prime-time comedy Young Rock, the sitcom following Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s upbringing, and Stephen plays a pivotal role in Young Dwayne Johnson’s life!
Read on to learn a little more about Stephen’s Musical Theatre background - what his thoughts are on acting for the stage versus the screen, what it’s like to get punched in the face by The Rock and how he kept creative and was able to book this job from his bedroom in the middle of the pandemic!
Stephen is a Brisbane based actor and graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University’s Bachelor of Musical Theatre. He is currently portraying the role of Kevin in NBC’s prime-time comedy, Young Rock, and has been in musicals and cabarets at QPAC; touring children’s theatre, both locally and internationally; and the feature film Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (Transmission Films). His other recent credits include Be More Chill (NAPA Ensemble, Gold Coast), Rock of Ages (Mad About Theatre, Regional tour), Paw Patrol (Pen2Stage, Singapore) and RENT (Matt Ward Entertainment, QPAC).
1. Congratulations on your role as Kevin in Young Rock! That was shot during COVID in Queensland, can you talk about the process and experience of auditioning for, booking and eventually shooting the project while the pandemic was going on?
Thank you! The experience has been surreal, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have had this opportunity given the circumstances at the time with COVID-19. It started in September of last year with an email from my agent, Sean, requesting an audition tape for Young Rock which was set to film in Queensland – an exciting bit of news to receive when there had otherwise not been a lot of acting work up for grabs! So I filmed the tape in my bedroom on my phone (with big thanks to my brother, Michael, for reading for me – it’s helpful to have a family member who is also an actor!), and about a week after submitting the tape, I received a request to submit a call back scene. And that was it until I found out I was cast in the role of Kevin, which goes to show how important self-taping has become, especially during the times of COVID. From there I received the scripts and attended set for a COVID safety induction, as well as a wardrobe fitting and a hair and makeup session. Everything about shooting the show was incredibly organised, and a mammoth effort was being put in by everyone involved to make sure COVID safety guidelines were being met, including weekly COVID testing, temperature checks for all cast and crew, masks, pop-up hand washing stations, and designated group bubbles/zones to limit the interaction between groups of people depending on their roles in the production. Overall, it was a commendable effort by everyone involved.
2. You have a background in Musical Theatre - do you prefer stage or screen? What were the challenges of performing in front of a camera as opposed to performing on stage?
Having now experienced what it is like to work on set for a screen production, I can attest to it being very different to live theatre. Each has their own magic, but I have to give my preference to screen right now. Working in front of the camera certainly came with challenges though. For instance, in theatre, you rehearse and explore the show thoroughly with the rest of the members in the cast, whereas in screen, production moves so quickly that as a recurring character the expectation on me was to have learnt the scenes on my own, and just be able to slot in with the other cast in a brief rehearsal run right before shooting. And then you’re on. So I felt a bit of pressure to really be on the money from the start, and trust in my own work and preparation in understanding my role in the show. With that said, I must acknowledge that our directors, Daina Reid and Jeffrey Walker, were both wonderful in providing direction when required, and helped me feel confident despite the first-timer nerves I was feeling. It was definitely a great experience that has me hungry for more.
3. What has been your favourite character to play on stage?
My favourite character to play on stage has probably been Colin in The Secret Garden. We put the show on during my final year of my Bachelor of Musical Theatre at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, and so it was a chance to be a 20-year-old playing a 10-year-old character, and just embrace the suspension of disbelief whilst having fun letting that youthful energy out. I really learnt a lot during that show, and one of the main things was the reminder of how to have fun in a role, which you can sometimes forget to do.
4. How did you keep creative through the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns?
Fortunately for me, my wonderful agent, Sean (at Sean Michael Management), arranged a series of industry Q&As throughout 2020, and is continuing to do so this year as well. These Q&As proved to be incredibly valuable and I set to work implementing things that I was learning about from industry professionals, both locally and internationally, into home self-tapes. So I worked on my self-tape game a lot by filming scenes at home and then sending them to Sean for feedback, and that ultimately helped me land the role of Kevin in Young Rock - my first recurring role in a TV-show. I also was fortunate to be able to keep up singing lessons with my regular teacher, John Peek, and I got a lot of comfort and inspiration from checking in with my university cohort over Zoom chats and catch-ups.
5. If you could say one thing to yourself this time last year (Start of the Pandemic in Australia), what would it be?
“Just keep working on the things you can control, because success occurs when preparedness meets opportunity, and you never know when that opportunity might come… so keep prepared. Also, buy some bitcoin.”
6. Finally, there is a GIF circulating of you as Kevin in Young Rock - what do we search to find it and what is it like having a gif of you getting clocked in the face doing the rounds?
It’s pretty cool having a gif of me getting decked by the young Dwayne Johnson. My friends have found it quite entertaining. Honestly though, the gif was sent to me by Bradley Constant, the actor playing Dwayne at 15 years old, so I’m not sure how to search for it. You can definitely find it on my Instagram @stephenpadams and twitter @stephen_p_adams though 😉
