First published in the July 29 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
It’s been a big year for James Reynolds, Daytime Emmy Award-winning star of the soap opera “Days of Our Lives.” He was nominated again for a Daytime Emmy and the theater he co-founded with his wife, Lissa, in South Pasadena has been moving in a new direction.
While he did not win a Daytime Emmy at the recent ceremony, Reynolds said the experience was wonderful. He won a Daytime Emmy in 2018 for his lead portrayal of Abe Carver on the series.
He said the ceremony was the first to be held in-person since the pandemic.
His frequent scene partner is comedic actress Jackée Harry, who plays his wife and recently underwent knee surgery, which Reynolds said has been very painful for her.
She has often been shown in scenes sitting down, which raised concerns for some fans.
However, Harry has said she is now able to get around.
He said the show’s producers have been very “gracious” in working with her to keep her in the show.
“I only knew Jackée from her reputation… She’s fantastic. She’s extraordinarily professional,” Reynolds said. “She loves acting — working as an actor.”
Regarding the Fremont Centre Theatre, which was founded in 1997, Reynolds said he valued being able to offer the 75-seat venue for new writers and directors as well as actors.
“We wanted to do original pieces, so it doesn’t mean that everything is heavy and very thought-providing. It means everything stimulates something in the audience, humor or emotion or sadness, tears or laughter, and we’ve been successful in doing that,” he said.
Often actors and directors would donate their talents.
However, this year, the national Actors Equity Association modified the rules for theater actors in Los Angeles County.
In many cases, actors no longer will be allowed to volunteer their time rehearsing and performing in a play in a theater with 99 or fewer seats. They had to be paid, at that time, the county’s $9 minimum wage, something that was difficult for some theaters, Reynolds said. Today, the minimum wage in L.A. County is $15.96, exacerbating the situation.
It’s different from musicians and visual artists who can pick up an instrument or paintbrush and go out and do their craft without worry of compensation.
Therefore, in part, the Fremont Theater has entered a partnership with Young Stars Theatre, which produces shows often featuring young actors, who are mixed sometimes with older non-union actors.
Reynolds said that, because he and his wife actually own the theater, they have more leeway financially.
“I’ve often called California the Saudi Arabia of talent,” he said. “New York is going to argue with that, but there are so many people who are very talented” and an equity waiver filled that opportunity.
“They used to be paid little to be in a non-equity show,” he added. “It probably wouldn’t pay for a tank of gas, but it was a gesture.”
Reynolds said the change, by his estimation, increased of costs of productions by 35% to 40%.
“Young Stars came in, and they’re very nice folks,” Reynolds said. The group was launched by Gloria and the late Jack Bennett.
“They have an extremely loyal following,” Reynolds said, adding the Fremont will be producing its own productions again “at some point.”
Reynolds said Jack Bennett played the lead character, Harold Hill, in a past Young Stars production of “The Music Man.” He returned home after a performance, took a shower and then died of a massive heart attack, he said.
Reynolds, who has been playing the lead male on “Days of Our Lives” for more than 40 years, acknowledges that he is one of the first actors of color in a long-running series on television.
In the 1960s, producers began discovering that people of color had stories to tell and could be featured in television shows.
Over those years, there were shows featuring actors of color such as “Julia,” starring actress and singer Diahann Carroll, as well as “I Spy,” with Bill Cosby and the ground-breaking family comedy “The Cosby Show” in the 1980s.
Reynolds and his wife recently produced a show called “We, Too, Are America” at South Pasadena High School as part of the city’s Fourth of July celebration.
The show featured a blend of poems, songs, speeches and pieces of history, highlighting the diversity, joy and struggle of the American experience, along with music by Hank Mehren’s Here and Now Trio.
Mayor Michael Cacciotti initially approached them about putting together a show about diversity.
“It takes in a lot of different groups,” he said. “It was an overwhelmingly busy time.”
“There are 185 languages spoken in L.A. County, something like that. It’s a large number,” he said, adding that it includes members of the Black, Latino Asian, Native American and LGBTQ communities.
