When “Night Must Fall” opens this weekend at the Ojai Art Center Theater, David Nelson Taylor will bring his myriad talents to the leading part of “Dan.” A transplant to Ojai from the New York theater scene, Taylor said he was intrigued by this production for a chance to work with director Richard Camp. “I’ve been a fan of his since I moved here in 2016 and saw the quality of his productions,” Taylor said. “We worked briefly together on a staged reading in the Libbey Bowl for Ojai’s Centennial Celebration and I think we both wanted to continue collaborating!”
Taylor is a resident teaching artist with the Ojai Youth Opera and teaches improvisational acting to children and adults.
He studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. As Taylor’s career progressed, he found a great love of improvisational acting, which became a turning point for him.
“Until then, I didn’t have a sense of the creative process inherent in improvisation,” he said. “I had a lot of misconceptions. But after working with improv giants like Scotty Watson, David Razowsky and Gary Austin, I discovered a true love of the art form, which combines the basis for all acting — emotional honesty moment to moment, with verbal and physical reaction and response without forethought. It’s the closest thing to real life, and the most applicable.”
Using his improv skills to bring the character of Dan to life in “Night Must Fall,” Taylor commented on how “Dan is a people watcher. He can very quickly assess a room full of people and identify what makes them tick, and how to play a role for them that will further his personal agenda. As an actor/improviser, I have cultivated those same skills.”
Camp says, “I am espe- cially pleased that David is able to glean a good deal of humor from this story, with- out losing the spellbinding sense that this is essentially a psychological thriller/mur- der mystery.”
“Night Must Fall” has held its relevance from 1936 to 2019, showing how humans want to connect. “So many of the characters are desperately trying to connect with each other, while Dan is able to connect superficially with many of them,” Taylor said. “Just like every one of us, when we strip away the facade, that truth can be hard to look at.”
“Night Must Fall” runs weekends from Feb. 15 to March 10, with Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Box office opens 45 minutes before each show. Ticket prices are $25 general admission, $20 seniors and Art Center members, and $10 for those under 25. Tickets may be purchased online at https://www.ojai- act.org or call 805-640-8797