Brendan Griffin is an actor currently starring in the West Coast premiere of  “The Power of Duff” at the Geffen Playhouse. Griffin has had a diverse career on stage as well as in television and film. He performed in the Tony Award winning "Clybourne Park" at the Walter Kerr Theatre as well as countless other shows. Some of his regional work includes shows at the Mark Taper Forum, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Old Globe Theatre and Chicago’s Dog and Pony Theatre Company.  

“The Power of Duff,” now playing at the Geffen Playhouse, tells the story of news anchor Charlie Duff who begins closing his broadcasts with a prayer. An increasing number of followers start to question whether these prayers will be answered, which causes their faith in each other to be tested. Brendan Griffin plays the part of John Ebbs, a sports anchor for a news channel in Rochester, New York. This is the second time Griffin has played John Ebbs, playing him once before in The Huntington Theatre company’s production in Boston. Griffin spoke with Neon Tommy contributor Caitlin Kilgore about his career leading up to this point, his life outside of acting, and his role in “The Power of Duff.” 

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“[It’s been] turbulent like most actors. I graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio. I was in Chicago for a couple years just kind of cutting my teeth on life a little bit ... trying to figure out how to pay for things and be a human.”

After he got his first agent, Griffin did some on camera work and moved to New York where he lived for ten years. He moved to San Diego in 2008 to do an Itamar Moses play (“Back Back Back”) at the Old Globe Theatre where he worked on and off for about a year. 

Griffin spoke about how his career path has been different than he imagined, and how “being successful caught [him] by surprise.” 

“After having done a play on broadway [that] won a Tony award for best play ["Clybourne Park"], I kind of looked back on everything and thought to myself ‘Wow.’ I’ve had some rare opportunities — things came along that I didn’t really expect and that’s kind of nice to reflect on.”

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Griffin shared with Neon Tommy how “The Power of Duff” has evolved since he was first a part of it in Boston. He explained how his perspective on the character of John Ebbs has changed and how exhilarating it is to reprise the character in the West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. 

“I first performed it in Boston and now looking back, the play has changed a great deal. It started as a screen play, and then Stephen Belber [the playwright] reworked it as a play. It kind of straddles the two mediums in that there’s a lot of projections because it centers around news broadcasting. It’s also been interesting because the script and story have changed a lot. It’s been fun to be a part of that because a lot of times when you’re working on plays, the concept is well set. But this was different. The first time I did this play, Steve [Belber] had two completely different versions of act two. The first day of rehearsal we read the play through once and then we read it through again with a different second act. So that’s kind of how open this process has been. It’s also been highly technical so tech rehearsals have been intense. I think there are about 33 scene changes and all of them involve projections, video, music, lighting and set pieces. All of those cues have to be built, so it’s been quite a process.”

“I’m a few years older than I was when I first did the show. I had one child at the time and ... now I have a second. When events outside of your career take place, it changes the way that you perform. I keep collecting all these experiences that sort of accumulate to inform the way I see myself as an actor and the way that other people see me as an actor. So it’s really fun to get to reinhabit somebody you thought you knew and have it feel completely different. I’ve lived a lot of life since the first time I’ve played it and now I get to kind of come out of it with a different perspective that helps me to appreciate him [John Ebbs] all over again and in a brand new way.”

It is clear that Griffin has spent a lot of time as John Ebbs and has a thorough understanding of who this character is and what makes him tick. Griffin describes him as the wacky sports anchor for Channel Ten News in Rochester, New York . 

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“He’s a guy who does not have a great understanding of vocal modulation nor is he someone who has a great respect for other people’s personal space, but as a result you kind of love him despite yourself. And he’s also a person of great color and a specific experience that informs the way he behaves. As the play goes on you learn things about him that broaden your perspective on why he is the way he is and I think it gives him a real sense of purpose and gravity in the play, especially when it comes to his relationship with Charles Duff.”

Josh Stamberg, Eric Laden, Brendan Griffin, and Elizabeth Rodriguez in "The Power of Duff." (Photo by Michael Lamont)

Brendan Griffin then spoke about how the show provides commentary on how influential people in the media can be.

“A lot of different news outlets have different missions or perspectives but those missions are always couched within the framework of journalism which reports itself with honesty, integrity, and precision. So when someone actually steps outside of themselves or outside of that mantel of delivering information and says something that they feel, they’re immediately lambasted for that ... You have all of these people that do this job and they’re deeply feeling and deeply sensitive people — that’s why they do what they do, that’s why they tell the stories that they tell because they want these profound things that are happening in the planet to be exposed to the world, but they themselves are not allowed to posit their own opinion ... I think that this play gives a glimpse into what happens when someone who’s job is to present information actually presents an opinion as well. I think that people in the news probably have the most unique perspective when it comes to examining humanity.”

Griffin added that “it’s unfortunate that people can’t express belief in something without it having to be ascribed to a belief system ... it’s just their perspective and I think that we kind of forbid ourselves from interacting on that level and as a result you have great wars of faith. This play kind of touches on that over and over and over again. Someone can pray without being a Christian, someone can pray without being a Muslim, and that doesn’t have to be a divisive element in the way that people interact.“The Power of Duff” also deals with faith in the media and in humanity. Griffin discusses the complexities that faith brings to a conversation due to the alienation that it can often cause. People tend to associate the word faith with a particular dogma or belief system; Instead, Griffin brings up the point that there is “the spiritual element of faith —having faith in the world at large and having faith in the people around you ... I think faith and spirituality are two things that have so much potential when it comes to people interacting with one another on.” 

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Griffin continued by describing his character’s perspective on the events surrounding Charlie Duff and the role of faith with this character.

“You have to give your character somewhere to go ... [He] starts with a certain kind of skepticism and then as people start to get excited, John starts to get excited and the prayers for John become this element of assemblage that lets him feel a kind of excitement that he hasn’t felt for a while because he sees people interacting in a way that’s positive. It has nothing to do with religion; it has everything to do with the fact that something is happening and that doesn’t always happen. I think that’s kind of John’s journey — he admires Charlie so much. So when Charlie does something that is risky but meaningful it becomes a flashpoint of enthusiasm for John.”

The artistic life can be a roller coaster of good and bad times. Brendan discloses some advice to artists who reach rough patches in their careers. His recommendation to help artists through these hard times is to “[read] an article about the Stockdale Effect (Stockdale Paradox).” Admiral Stockdale was a United States officer held captive for eight years durin g the Vietnam War. Griffin describes the unique perspective that Admiral Stockdale developed during his years as a captive. 

Brendan Griffin, Josh Stamberg, and Elizabeth Rodriguez in "The Power of Duff." (Photo by Michael Lamont)

“He developed this theory that all is lost, but we’re going to make it ... His subordinates ...[that] believed they were going to be out by Christmas or believed that the war was going to be over and they were going to be out by Thanksgiving or next June ... were the ones that never survived. But those who were able to embrace the hardship of it and accept the fact that they may never survive — but still believed in themselves and in the people around them — those were the guys that made it through. I think that as artists we deal with so much unknown and so much self doubt. When you do feel self doubt remind yourself that you’re not always going to feel that way. Have endurance cause things are really hard, but if you accept that you may never work again, that you may never book your first job, it’s going to make it a much more gratifying experience when you actually do.”

He ends with some advice he would tell himself if he could go back in time to when he was first entering the professional world.

“Shut your mouth. You don’t always have to argue your point. Be quiet and be humble. When you get out of college you think you know so much but you’re also so scared of everything ... It’s easy to want to argue your point because you’re afraid that you’re wrong because you really don’t know anything. So when someone gives you an adjustment or tells you to do something differently don’t fight them just do it. Because in doing that you’re going to discover something about yourself.”

“The Power of Duff” is playing at the Geffen Playhouse (10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles) through May 17th. For more information please visit GeffenPlayhouse.com.

Contact Contributor Caitlin Kilgore here.

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