Tony Isbell’s first Memphis review wasn’t positive. Robert Jennings, The Commercial Appeal’s theater critic, wasn’t a fan of either David Mamet or the Circuit Playhouse’s production of his breakthrough drama, American Buffalo. “Tony Isbell, as Bobby, the mentally retarded young thug, doesn’t seem to be acting, he simply is the part,” Jennings wrote, according to Isbell.
It was a less than warm greeting but Isbell wasn’t easily deterred. The roles got juicer, the reviews got better, and he went on to become one of the first two Memphis actors ever nominated for an Ostrander award in the best actor category. He lost that one but he’d be nominated many more times and win his share of prizes. After 40 years of enduring weird reviews, working in Memphis as an actor, director, producer, writer, and occasional cult movie star, Isbell was honored with the 2018 Eugart Yerian award for lifetime achievement.
Memphis: Origin stories are a good place to start. You moved here from rural West Tennessee?
I was born in Union City and lived in a 10-mile radius of Union City and Martin until we moved to Memphis. That would have been 1978. So at this point I’ve lived more of my life in Memphis than where I’m from originally.
Was theater something available to you?
No. That’s a very short answer. I used to say I was in the first play I ever saw. The University of Tennessee at Martin is there. And I’m sure they were doing [theater]. But this was a small agricultural community, basically. I didn’t see theater.
What were your creative outlets?
I love to read. And I’d read practically anything when I was a kid. But when I discovered things like science fiction and fantasy and stuff that today would be called magical realism, I truly fell in love. Anything that had a kind of flavor of the fantastic.
I did watch a lot of TV. Probably more than was good for me. But I used to pester anybody I could to read to me. Other than that, I grew up in a very rural environment. My grandparents had a farm. They had some dairy cows. And I would spend summers with them, not even 10 miles from where my folks lived. Both my parents worked. My mother was a factory worker. My dad drove a truck Real working-class sort of thing..
Did you act things out? Or were you a class clown?
No. I was incredibly shy. And in many ways, I still am. But I was not the class clown or anything like that. If anything, I wanted people not to notice me. My mother was worried about me reading so much. She was really concerned that I wasn’t getting enough sunshine and fresh air and stuff.
When did you start doing theater?
High school. And there are two people I can point to that got me into theater. One was an English teacher named Harriet Beeler. She taught English but at some point she got certified to teach speech. So she had to take some extra courses at the UT-Martin, which happened to be right there. One of the courses she ended up taking was a directing class. So, for her final, all the students had to direct a short play and she approached me. I don’t know why. I guess I was a good English student. She asked about doing a small role and I’d never done anything like that before, but for some reason, something in me just immediately responded. With fear and also extreme interest.
Then I went to UT Martin and studied theater with Bill Snyder all four years I was there and did lots of acting and directing. He was an interesting guy. He was originally from Memphis but went to Yale and then went to New York. He was a playwright and had a minor success Off Broadway with a play called The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker, which is partially set in Memphis and partially set in New York. It opened the same season as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and was one of the first acting jobs for Robert Duvall. The show I [where] felt like I made my really big breakthrough was the production of Marat/Sade, which I would actually like to direct someday.
So, after college you moved to Memphis. What was the theater scene like when you arrived here? Was it welcoming?
Yes. Well, a qualified yes. When I arrived here it seemed like the only places to do theater were Circuit Playhouse and Theatre Memphis. Playhouse on the Square had either just started or was about to start. I came down from Martin a few times to see shows at Circuit. This is when it was still over on Poplar across from Overton Park. A tiny little theater.
I’d heard it was harder to get into Theatre Memphis. At that time, Circuit was doing the kinds of shows I was more interested in. So, for the first eight, nine, or ten years — I don’t know — I didn’t do any shows at Theatre Memphis. It was mostly Circuit because they did the more interesting plays for me.
What kept you here?
It just kind of happened that [my wife Marie] and I ended up staying. I never seriously thought about going to New York or Los Angeles because, frankly, I wanted to be able to do a lot of theater. I didn’t want to spend most of my time hustling auditions for shows that you don’t get. Then Marie got a pretty good job here and I ended up going to Memphis State and getting an MFA in theater because I thought I might go back to Martin to teach. But that didn’t happen, so we just ended up staying, and over the years I’ve gotten to do tons and tons of theater, which is what I wanted to do. And a little film and TV here and there. As far as being a professional, I just didn’t want to face all that. It had no appeal to me.
You bring up film and TV so maybe we should talk a little bit about the cult classic, I Was a Zombie for the FBI.
Oh, I loved that. That’s when I was working on my master’s. I was actually approached by Marius Penczner, who was the director. He said, “Hey I’m going to be making this movie.” He had seen me in some theater stuff and thought I’d make a good villain. Especially a space alien.
And this launches on cable with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes or something like that, right?
They had a premiere at Ardent Studios. They set up all these big screens in five or six rooms because there wasn’t one auditorium big enough for all the people — 20 to 30 people to a room. Then it actually played on Channel 5 a couple of months later. It ended up playing on the USA Network’s Up All Night. I think it was in rotation with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and they’d play it every four to six months.
Greatest hits: What are some of your favorite shows you’ve worked on?
Some of my favorite shows I’ve acted in? The Dresser at Circuit. I played Norman and it was the first year they had the Ostrander awards. Jay Ehrlicher and I were nominated for best actor and I lost.
Jay was nominated for playing Salieri in Amadeus?
Yes, Amadeus. Also, I did [Sam Shepard’s] Fool for Love. I got a lot of Ostrander nominations in the early years. And in the later years too. It sounds like bragging, but I got nominated a lot. Acting more than directing. And I did [Shepard’s] True West a few years later at Theatre Memphis.
Co-starring with movie actor and Memphis magazine illustrator Chris Ellis.
Yes. I directed Memphis’ premiere of [Craig Lucas’] Prelude to a Kiss and wouldn’t mind directing that again.