By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Moorestown Sun
Kevin Chamberlin was the new kid in town when he started acting with the Moorestown Summer Theater program in 1973.
“When I was a kid (the theater) was a place where I belonged, I moved to Moorestown from Florida when I was 10 years old, and I was just a chubby little kid looking for some friends,” Chamberlin said.
Today, Chamberlin is a three-time Tony Award nominated actor. Last Sunday, he was nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his role as Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family.” Unfortunately, for Kevin, Levi Kreis took home the award for his performance in “Million Dollar Quartet.”
Chamberlin has been in the business for 27 years, performing in numerous shows including “Seussical,” which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 2001, and “Dirty Blonde,” which also got him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor In a Play in 2000. Both times he was topped by well-known actors including Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.
Today, Chamberlin treks back and forth between New York and L.A. and is busy acting both on Broadway as well as on the big screen, but he will never forget his roots in Moorestown where his love for the theater as well as his knowledge of the craft began to develop.
Resident Stank Kotzen, who started the summer theater program, said he cast Chamberlin as Huck Finn in the group’s performance of “Tom Sawyer” back in 1973.
Chamberlin said that’s where it all started for him.
“I didn’t realize I had talent or anything until I auditioned for Tom Sawyer and he cast me as Huck Finn,” Chamberlin said. “Then it was sort of an addiction. I became addicted to theater.”
He continued performing with the Moorestown Summer Theater program, acting in shows such as “Peter Pan,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Oliver,” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” and continued his acting career at Moorestown High School until graduating in 1981.
He then continued to Rutgers University and began acting in regional theater shows. His first Broadway show “My Favorite Year,” he said, was a flop, but he enjoyed it and began seeking more work.
As someone now experienced in the art of theater, he said he mostly enjoys the live audience interaction that comes along with the job. He’s also enjoyed the people he’s met.
“It’s a great way to meet people. Theater folk are the most interesting people. When you’re not around them, regular people become kind of boring,” he said.
Between flying coast-to-coast for work, Chamberlin makes his way back to his hometown from time to time, once stopping in to offer advice to Moorestown High School students acting in their version of “Seussical.”
Chamberlin said it’s never been a goal of his to win a Tony Award; it’s just been “a nice perk” to receive a nomination.
“The odds of you actually getting nominated are very slim. There are so many performances a season, so to be able to be singled out for your performance is a real honor,” Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin’s performance as Uncle Fester was up against actors Robin De Jesús (“La Cage aux Folles”), Christopher Fitzgerald (“Finian’s Rainbow”), Kreis and Bobby Steggert for his role in “Ragtime.”
