As an avid thespian, Anthony Nikolchev ’08 has been on many a Wesleyan stage. You’ve seen him improvising in the WestCo cafe, becoming that mythical mother-lover Oedipus while wearing a creepy leather mask and women’s shoes, and soon, you will see him embody his very own father and a bunch of his other Bulgarian family members in his non-thesis thesis. But for now, come on this journey with me to meet the man behind the mask, the true Anthony Nikolchev.
Annalee: You’ve been described as a “soccer quitter, theater loyalist, Bukowski enthusiast.” Would you say this is an accurate description of yourself?
Anthony: Well, I did quit soccer for theater. But I know being a Bukowski enthusiast is a little contentious.
AP: You’re actually the second soccer player turned theater star that I’ve interviewed in two weeks. Are there a lot of you?
AN: Um, yeah, I think there’s something very theatrical about being a soccer player.
AP: In what way?
AN: Uh, I don’t know if that’s true…we do take showers naked together, so that’s kind of a performance.
AP: One of the things you were most recently in was Oedipus Rex. Where did you draw your inspiration to be this true mama’s boy?
AN: I mean, aside from the Method acting that I followed, you know, in the steps of Daniel Day Lewis, one of the great actors of our time, I went home to California tried my method acting…didn’t really work well.
AP: With your mom?
AN: With my mom.
AP: That was probably awkward.
AN: Yeah, yeah. I had to revert to, you know, things that were like that since I couldn’t really do that.
AP: I don’t know if I want to ask what those things were.
AN: Yeah… That was a crazy semester. I think I expired that semester. It was basically 24 hours a week of rehearsals. And we were wearing these leather masks and high heels. It was like this sadistic boot camp. Like running around, crashing into that dangerous set, getting cuts all over your body.
AP: Uh, was it enjoyable at all?
AN: Yeah, no, it was cool to play Oedipus, because everyone has a concept of that role, because everyone knows Oedipus. And so, when you present your idea of that role to people, they’re gonna have their ideas of what it should and shouldn’t be. And so I had to remove myself from that and think about this guy Oedipus, but also he’s a myth, he killed a Sphinx. So I’m not thinking about what it was like to have any of these real experiences, so the whole thing became very performative.
AP: What was it like wearing the masks?
AN: It was weird. We did this mask work, these white neutral masks, and it was like, lie down and forget everything you know about the world and wake up as if you’re a completely new organism and you just appeared on Earth. And that was one of the coolest things we did. We did it for like, two hours and we were silent.
AP: Two hours just wandering around a room pretending you’ve been reborn?
AN: Yeah, it was crazy. So that was a little of going back into your infantile stage.
AP: So are you doing anymore acting this semester?
AN: Yeah, I’m doing my own senior thesis that I’m not doing through the [Theater] department. I’m just doing it for myself.
AP: Oh, so it’s not official?
AN: No, it’s not official at all, but I call it a thesis so that I can feel some kind of credibility [laughs]. It’s basically entirely my own project.
AP: What’s it about?
AN: I went to Bulgaria this summer to live at my grandparents’ apartment. My grandparents and my dad live in the United States, but they’re from Bulgaria. So when Communism fell they bought an apartment there to visit. I was there doing research basically [on] Bulgaria’s history and my Dad’s family illegally immigrated out of there, so that’s the subject of the play. It’s a solo performance.
AP: So you wrote the play?
AN: Yeah, and it’s basically detailing their trip out of there to the United States. Kind of exploring how I as the next generation try to understand that, but can’t really fully understand what they went through.
AP: When is it going up?
AN: April 17, 18, and 19.
AP: You also do a lot of improv through Desperate Measures. One of my favorite things is the 24-hour show. That seems like a really intense experience. What’s that been like?
AN: It’s ridiculous, it’s absolutely absurd, I don’t know how we do it. But it’s cool because at that moment you start this project, you have 24 hours, you can’t get out of it, you might as well just keep doing it. And in terms of improv, you’re pulling stuff from your head and the more debilitated your head gets from like being awake and doing improv for so long, [the more] I don’t know, some would say “interesting,” some would say “stupid” things get. And as much as it fails, it just has these moments of everyone’s been there for so long and we just connect.
AP: What the coolest thing you’ve done in the past year?
AN: I swam naked in the Mediterranean Sea.
AP: Tell me your life story in 15 words or less.
AN: Inspired by the autobiography of Lee Iacocca.
AP: What’s your motto? Or perhaps, since I’ve been told you’re quite thephilosopher, what is your life philosophy?
AN: Biological nihilism.
AP: If the story of your life was made into a movie, who would play you and what would be the name of the film?
AN: Billy Bob Thornton would play me and it’d be called “Sling Blade.” Oh! Or…Ellen Davis and it would be “Juno”…Or…Arnold Schwarzenegger would play me and it would be called “Total Recall.”
AP: That’s covering it all, teen pregnancy…
AN: Yeah, those are like, the three pivotal moments in my life, like, I don’t know what happened in “Sling Blade,” but then I was pregnant and then I went to Mars.
AP: Killed people, got pregnant, went to Mars, okay.
AN: Oh yeah, that’s what it was. But I didn’t really know what I was doing, I thought I was helping people. Right?
AP: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
AN: I’ve been pretending this whole time.
AP: Favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
AN: Write sequels to “The Boxcar Children” books. (And go to Jonathan Sirlin’s Senior Thesis Concert, this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Crowell!!!)
AP: Do you have any deep dark secrets? If yes, please elaborate.
AN: In’n’Out Burger supports pro-life organizations.AP: What is one thing you want to do before you graduate?
AN: Try to remember that Wesleyan isn’t really trying to become just another sterile US News & World Report top ten school, no matter what Usdan, the lack of drugs, closing down open rehearsal spaces, nomuseum, no Zonker Harris, no streaking, no flash dances, no Moconsoapbox, too many trustees, smooth talking and flashy smiles may seemto suggest. Right? Right?
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