An Open, More Mature McKinley Belcher III Revisits 'A Guide for the Homesick' Off-Broadway

"A Guide for the Homesick" is an 80-minute tale of two strangers who meet in a hotel bar in Amsterdam. When 30-something Teddy (McKinley Belcher III) invites 20-something Jeremy (Uly Schlesinger) back to his shabby room for a drink and a likely hookup, the duo find they have much more in common than just the desire for a little company. Guilt, shame, loneliness, and fear unfold in an intimate, erotically charged rollercoaster ride that builds to a crescendo of emotional carnage that'll leave you speechless. The actors each play two roles, and the lightning-round speed of their interchanging roles makes for riveting theater.

The play premiered at The Huntington Theatre in Boston in 2017, where McKinley Belcher III originated the role of Teddy/Nicholas and won the Boston Theater Critics Association Elliot Norton Award for Best Actor. He is back to the role seven years later for its New York premiere. Belcher's credits include TV's "Ozark," Netflix's "Marriage Story," and the role of Happy Loman in the groundbreaking 2022 Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."

Recently EDGE had the chance to chat with McKinley about his return to "A Guide for the Homesick," plus a little bit about his work with Tony winner Andre De Shields.

EDGE: You did this play at the Huntington seven years ago. What brought you back to it?

McKinley Belcher III: This has never happened before in my journey as an actor. Getting to revisit something I did seven years ago is like stepping back through a bunch of things that have changed me a lot. I've grown, opened, and matured. I was curious how that would manifest in a piece I've done already. On another front, I've become friends with Ken Urban, the playwright, and this was the piece I really wanted to champion and to sort of make sure it got its New York debut. I think it's an important thing for a play to be seen in New York, and so it was important to me to do what I could to help usher it through. When I did the play the first time, I used a documentary called "Call Me Kuchu" for research to listen to the accent and understand the social context of what was happening in Uganda. I've become friends with one of the guys that was in one of the documentaries. He has since moved to Boston as a refugee, so I had a personal stake in honoring his journey, a journey that I understand with more nuance now than I did before.

EDGE: Did the playwright make any changes to the script between productions?

McKinley Belcher III: I believe this was the third production of the play. I know Ken was toying with making Jeremy and Teddy from New York and New Jersey instead of Roxbury and Boston, but ultimately he didn't change that. He tweaked a couple of things here and there, like taking out a word for clarity, and then toward the end there's about a two-page span that has been rewritten. I think it was to clarify some things with Jeremy's arc, but also just to make sure the audience didn't miss some things.

EDGE: Do you think it would have been different if the characters were from New Jersey and New York?

McKinley Belcher III: I think there are some jokes in the play that wouldn't be there if they were from Jersey and New York, and there's a way the characters sound that would be slightly different. But no, I don't think it would be hugely different.

EDGE: What are you doing differently your second time around?

McKinley Belcher III: I got to record John, the Ugandan refugee, saying my lines as Nicholas. I was relieved that it was very close to what I was doing the first time, but there are some nuances that I was not able to get right the first time. Having a direct connect to someone from Uganda enabled me to get it right.

I had been acting for probably six or seven years professionally when we did it in Boston, whereas now I've been acting professionally for 15 years. There are some things about the emotional arc that were kind of terrifying when we did it the first time, and I surprised myself that I was able to get to these places. Doing it this time, because I had already done it, I was able to trust myself more. I think there's more ease in the artfulness of it, at least in my experience of it, and it's a more pleasurable experience. I'm not terrified.

It's also different because I'm acting with a very different actor. They're two very different people, and that changes a lot because it's just the two of us. It makes a difference in the telling of the story when you have a different scene partner. Maybe it wouldn't make a huge difference if they were very similar in temperament and similar in their approach to the role, but they actually aren't at all similar in their temperament or their approach to the two characters they're playing. It means that the ball I'm being thrown in New York is actually quite different than the ball I was being thrown in Boston, and therefore my response has to be in kind. And that's great, because it wouldn't serve much purpose for me to just rinse and recycle the performance I did in Boston, like I just dusted it off and then presented it in New York.

And [directors] Shira [Milikowsky] and Coleman [Domingo] are very different, so the process and journey and feeling are very different. It's a new journey of discovery in which I'm figuring out what this story is now with these people.

EDGE: When I saw the play there was an awkward silence in the audience when it was over. Eventually someone clapped and then applause came, but it was uncomfortable at first. How important is the audience's response to you?

McKinley Belcher III: The experience of what we receive from the audience, or the third cast member as we call them, is so varied that I don't know if I have a singular experience to share. Sometimes it's thunderous applause immediately. Sometimes people literally say, "Wow." And every now and then it happens that after we hug at the end then break hug in the blackout, we come to the lip of the stage and sort of bow in complete silence because people are sort of stunned. They're not sure what they're supposed to do, not sure it's over. They don't want to be the first one to clap. Sometimes I think it's disconcerting for the audience. They're not sure what they just saw. They're still metabolizing it. It's heavy in a way. Sometimes your immediate response is to somehow process what you just saw.

To me, it's a good thing. It means something's happening. The first time it happened we were like, "Okay, what do we do?" But we've learned to be comfortable in the silence because it means that you guys are with us. Something is happening out there that is different than what usually happens when you see a play. That's a beautiful thing to be experiencing in the theater.

EDGE: There's a lot of physical intimacy on the stage. Is it at all awkward?

McKinley Belcher III: When you're initially in front of an audience, there's a little bit of awkwardness, just burying your body in that way depending on the level of undress. But if you're really comfortable with each other, and you feel safe with each other, that awkwardness actually fades away really quickly. When it's going well, I'm not thinking about how I look, what people see, or are all the things in the right place. I'm focused on him, he's focused on me, and we're going through something together. It's actually quite an intense moment for both characters. If things are happening the way they should, I'm not thinking about it at all.

EDGE: Does the intimacy translate to a friendship off-stage?

McKinley Belcher III: It better, because we share a dressing room, we're together all the time. [Laughs] One of the things we joked about early on is that we're going to get to know each other really well, both in the terms of physical proximity – we have to touch each other everywhere – and then the ability to trust each other on stage. If something goes wrong, we're really in each other's hands. And the beauty of it is that we're both humans, so sometimes things do go wrong, but the audience would never know because we take care of each other.

It [the friendship] was not instant when we first met, but over the time we've been working together it's a thing that's grown. We're both actually quite fond of each other. It's a special thing. We're not in love with each other, but we've grown to know and appreciate each other in a way that is atypical to a creative experience.

EDGE: Are you sick of each other at the end of each week?

McKinley Belcher III: No, not sick of each other, but we do crave that one day off to just not do the play, to not be in that space. We talk about this. Sometimes when we're in the dressing room before the show we talk about what a gift it is to get to do this kind of thing on stage. But it's also really taxing, so there are days when your body is, "I don't want to do this."

EDGE: How do you keep the intensity of the play show after show?

McKinley Belcher III: Some of it is building the muscle over the course of rehearsal. You teach your body what's required, and then you just have to jump in. I get myself in a place where I'm good to go, and I just kind of jump off the cliff at the beginning. It kind of works itself out. I'm not thinking deeply about it, I'm just jumping.

EDGE: I'm sure a lot of people ask you about your work on "Ozark," but I want to hear about "Death of a Salesman."

McKinley Belcher III: I never thought I would get to do that play, so that the reality that it even happened and that I got the call saying, "Do you wanna?," I am still dumbfounded by. It's an immense honor for someone who looks like me to get to do it on Broadway. What a gift.

Another fun fact: Rebecca Miller, the playwright's daughter, who is also an amazing documentary filmmaker and writer, said, "I've seen this play, I can't tell you how many times, but I've never heard it like this." In a way, she was describing hearing the play anew because of the rhythms and influences being different even though the text is the same. To me, that's a great way to do a revival of a classic.

EDGE: Not only did you got to work with Andre De Shields, but he officiated at your wedding.

McKinley Belcher III: I felt very honored that he wanted to do that for us. It's a very special thing to me. The play we were doing together is special, and the fact that we connected in a way that he felt like he wanted to do that was beautiful.

EDGE: What's next for you?

McKinley Belcher III: There's something that I can't talk about yet, but it's exciting. And on February 20 on Netflix there's a limited series called "Zero Day." It's a political conspiracy thriller with a whole lot of fancy people and me! Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons, Connie Britton. I have a pretty significant role in it, and it was a sort of cool bucket list item to get to act almost all my scenes with Robert De Niro. Bob, as he likes to be called.

I also did a couple guest spots on "Law and Order: Organized Crime," and Alan Brown directed a queer indie film called "Other People's Bodies" that we'll be doing a festival circuit with, and hopefully there'll be a limited release in theaters.

EDGE: Do you think actors still have to worry about being labeled as a queer actor?

McKinley Belcher III: I think there will always be corners and pockets of the industry where it's limiting in some way, but it's something I choose not to worry about. I feel very strongly and passionately that I am the most powerful version of myself when I live my life and stand on my own two feet. The best way for me to do my job is not hiding anything. Being queer is an important part of who I am, but it's only a part. There are many other parts of me, and even my queerness isn't easily definable. I don't think about it at all, really, but I believe I should live out as loudly as possible, because that's important to me.

"A Guide for the Homesick" continues through February 2 at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street, New York, NY. For more information, visit the show's website.