Second-year student hits stage in first MHCC production

Zack Lewis

A second-year student is portraying an angry farmer and channeling this character by using his love of voice acting in the Children’s Theatre production of ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

For Zack Lewis, this is his first MHCC production.

“I am Bean the cider and turkey farmer, I brew alcoholic cider and I am always drinking it. I’m this type, I would say, ex-military personnel so much so that I’m still wearing my uniform long out of service,” he said.

The story line for “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is centered on Mr. Fox who has been stealing food from three farmers, and the farmers are out for revenge. “He’s very bitter, they say he is the clever one out of the three killer B’s as we like to call them, (Boggis, Bunce and Bean),” Lewis said.

“I feel like Bean is the most obsessed, out of the three of getting this fox, so that by the end of the show he is losing it, you know, mentally as they are chasing this fox,” Lewis said.

Lewis is working on his associate of arts transfer degree with hopes of majoring in education. “I just do it because it’s fun,” Lewis said of his acting, as he has no plans to pursue it professionally.

“I guess if I taught theater that would be fine, but I don’t love it enough to get a degree in it,” he said.

Lewis got into acting during his freshman year of Sam Barlow High School. “My mom gave be an ultimatum: either I had to take a gym class as an extracurricular or I could do something artsy,” he said.

Zack Lewis, Shown at a rehearsal in October, portrays the character, of Bean, in the Children’s Theatre Production of ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.’

“I fell in love with it, really I did, and I did shows all throughout my high school career, eventually ending my senior year with being president of the thespian club, and getting leading roles. While that does sound like I’m very into theater — I do love it — but I just feel like as a career choice, it’s not what I want to do,” Lewis said.

“I’ve dabbled in the professional atmosphere, but it’s not the same as everyone who’s doing it because they like it. That’s not to say that professional actors don’t like it, but they are so much more serious about it,” he said.

“I love voice acting. If I was going to do acting, it’d be voice acting. Cartoons, video games, that kind of stuff. I really love doing voices,” Lewis said.

When Lewis is in character for Bean, he channels a raspy, creepy, cranky voice. “I just threw this in. I’m sure I could do Bean in just this voice but my voice isn’t very menacing,” he said.

“He’s growing on me, really. When I first was cast as Bean, I was kind of baffled, because I like to think of myself as a nice guy and a fairly kind-looking person and Bean is supposed to be this nasty, gross, just hateful person,” Lewis said. “It was actually once we got costumes that I really understood who this person was. Because when I’m not doing my Bean scowl, my costume looks like I’m a park ranger; without you know investing in the character, I look like I’m chasing after Yogi Bear, rather than the fantastic Mr. Fox, so it was really a combination, I think, of voice and costume that helped me find this character,” he said.

Lewis may try out for the MHCC winter musical, “RENT.”

Advocate Staff