Keeper Awards: Stephen Yoakam
Stephen Yoakam’s ability to connect age-old stories with current events stretches back to his Vietnam War-era time spent at Macalester.
Image credit: Marshall Franklin Long
At first glance, this year’s Keepers are a ragtag bunch. Their mediums run the gamut from good old-fashioned pen and paper to the human body; their habitats are classrooms, venerable theater stages and rock clubs. But here’s where this diverse group converges: Each Keeper has talent to spare, and is an indispensible cog in the wheel of Twin Cities culture. For that, we hereby present them with fancy words, pretty pictures -- and an illustration by fellow keeper Robert Algeo -- in an attempt to flatter them into never leaving town.
As he wanders the halls of the Guthrie Theater, Stephen Yoakam crosses paths with an array of fellow thespians, set builders in hard hats and suit-clad theater employees. It’s a diverse group, but each person’s response to the actor is the same: a wide grin, enlivened eyes and an exclamation of “Hey, Yoak!” followed by a hug or handshake.
The 58-year-old’s welcoming voice and nonchalant aura make it easy to see why he’s adored. It’s a little difficult to imagine him commanding the stage in some of the Guthrie’s most dramatic productions, but he’s done so dozens of times.
Raised in Bloomington, Ind., Yoakam moved to Minnesota in 1971 to study English at Macalester College. He has since been in more than 70 Guthrie productions, most recently Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes, which is based on Sophocles’ Antigone. Yoakam played Creon, the hapless and ill-suited leader of Thebes who ultimately causes the demise of those around him.
“I didn’t really like Creon at first,” says Yoakam. “I thought, ‘This guy is an asshole.’” After research, rehearsals and attempting to find alternate ways to identify with the character, he noticed parallels between the current political landscape and that of Thebes, leading him to relate Creon with today’s leaders. “[Creon] had to be the man, otherwise there was chaos…but he became rigid and his recklessness and pride caused him to pay the price. There’s a rigidity of political discourse and civil dialogue right now that’s not helping anybody,” he says.
Yoakam’s ability to connect age-old stories with current events stretches back to his Vietnam War-era time spent at Macalester and in the first Mixed Blood Theatre group. “We had a strong political ethos and a strong aesthetic,” he says of that time. “The plays we chose to do had a political, rebellious tinge to them.”
After a two-year stint in California—where he was “a fish out of water”—Yoakam returned to Minnesota in 1978, acted in a few movies (including 2005’s Sweet Land) then re-focused his attention on theater. Our state is “a great place to spend a career,” he says. “I never had the time or reason to go to New York—and that’s a joy for me to be able to say that.”
Illustration by Robert Algeo. Download a high-res image here.
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