Continued: Zach Curtis: Hit man for hire

So you wanna play a psychotic killer-for-hire in a redneck Texas trailer-trash world? Well, let's have a look at your résumé, young man, and see if you're up to the task. Zach Curtis plays the title role in Tracy Letts' "Killer Joe" for Theatre Pro Rata, which opens this weekend at Gremlin Theatre's new space on University Avenue in St. Paul.

Q Have you ever lived in Texas?

A I have never lived in Texas.

Q Have you ever lived in a trailer park?

A I have not.

Q Have you ever been inside a trailer?

A Yes. It was oddly disturbing. It belonged to a guy who was kind of a pack rat. So not only was it small and cramped and ugly, it was full of multiple items of certain things.

Q I'm listening.

A Like he had 15 typewriters. He was kind of a nut.

Q Have you ever killed someone?

A I have not.

Q Have you ever traded criminal services for sex?

A (Longish pause) I have not. I had to think about that for a second.

Q Are you a former policeman?

A I'm not.

Q Are you a misogynist?

A Ah, depends on who you talk to. But I'm not.

Q So how do we believe you as a hit man in this play?

A Well, it is definitely the trickiest role I've ever played. You have to dip into that part of your brain that you don't go to very often and be able to do and say things that make you go, "Really? You're doing and saying that?" I do a lot of shuddering at myself after I'm done with the scenes. I gross myself out once in a while.

Q Leaving aside real life, have you ever played a redneck psychotic?

A Yes.

Q Can you tell me about that?

A Well, I've played psychotics and I've played rednecks. I'm trying to think if I've done both of them together. Maybe not to this extreme. Certainly not one who kills people for money.

Q What was the most redneck character you've played?

A Well, Shane in "Take Me Out." He was kind of a psychotic, actually. Kind of nuts.

Q That's exactly who I had in mind.

A And he did kill someone, that's right. I forgot, I have killed someone in a show as a psychotic redneck.

Q So your memory is bad, too. Does your dark side scare you?

A It can. At the same time, it's incredibly fun. When am I going to get the chance to do something like this again? The last show I was in, I played Harold Hill.

Q Well, some would say he's a psychotic redneck.

A This is true. But I was never disturbed while I was playing him. Except at my own singing.

Q Ah, so you have killed someone -- with your voice?

A Thousands of people. Sold-out crowds.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299