Alec Baldwin will make his Buffalo theater debut on July 12 in a staged reading of Yasmina Reza’s play, Art, as a benefit for Road Less Traveled Productions. His participation in the event is highly characteristic of Baldwin, a major movie star who, despite fame, has always maintained a strong connection to live theater, to social and political causes and to helping out the little guy.

Art is the story of three friends who react differently to a modernist painting—an almost blank canvas, purchased by one of them at great expense. The play enjoyed an enormously successful run on Broadway and has been seen at Studio Arena Theatre. Baldwin has never appeared in the play before, but agreed to take on the role as a favor to Road Less Traveled founder Scott Behrend. The two became acquainted earlier this year when Behrend served as the assistant director for New York City’s Roundabout Theatre Company production of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr. Sloan, in which Baldwin starred.

“I adore Scott,” said Baldwin by telephone, “and when I can, I like to help out the little guy. Don’t take that the wrong way; what I mean is that Scott has started up a theater company and, from what I understand, he’s been quite successful, and I’m glad to support that. Scott approached me at a really good moment, when I was coming off Entertaining Mr. Sloan. After doing a play, all the acting muscles are working and you are anxious to take on something right away. I’m glad to be doing Art. In fact, I’m really looking forward to coming to Buffalo and am grateful for this opportunity.”

Behrend founded Road Less Traveled Productions in 2002. The first production was Jon Elston’s highly regarded play, Project, which traveled to the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival. Subsequent productions have included Elston’s Interrogation Room, Private Viewing and The Peddler’s Bones, as well as Two to the Head by Darryl Schneider.

Baldwin’s film appearances include The Hunt for Red October, Miami Blues, Prelude to a Kiss, Malice, The Shadow, Glengarry Glen Ross, Heaven’s Prisoners, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Edge, Pearl Harbor and Cat in the Hat, among others. In 2004, he received a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his role in Wayne Kramer’s The Cooler, a performance that also earned him the National Board of Review Best Supporting Actor honor. Other films include The Last Shot with Mathew Broderick and Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, as well as Cameron Crowe’s film Elizabethtown and the recent Jim Carrey comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, also starring Tea Leoni and directed by Dean Parisot.

Baldwin explains that live theater fulfills an important artistic need in his life. “We do not live in a time when there is any pretense that studios want to make quality films,” he said. “Make no mistake, I enjoy making movies. I have done many films that are nobody’s idea of great movies, but I had a good time on the set every day. The work was a pleasure. I enjoyed working with Dean Parisot on Fun with Dick and Jane. Theater gives balance to my career. Actors fall into two categories—and it is two sides of the same coin—those who work in the theater because they elect to, and those who do it because they have to.”

Baldwin’s stage credits are surprisingly diverse and impressive. They include the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2004 revival of The Twentieth Century, directed by Walter Bobbie and co-starring Anne Heche. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in the 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Jessica Lange and won an Obie Award for the 1991 off-Broadway production of Craig Lucas’ Prelude to a Kiss. His 1986 Broadway appearance in Joe Orton’s Loot earned him a Theater World Award. Baldwin reveals that 20 years ago he was up for the part of Mr. Sloan, to replace Maxwell Caulfield on Broadway. He expected to get the role, but the production closed. Hugely disappointed, Baldwin exclaimed, “Great, now I’ll have to wait 25 years to play the older character!” Ironically that’s exactly what happened.

The experience of working in the theater is far different from the life of a movie star, explains Baldwin.

“On a movie set, the personal attention you receive defies belief. There is someone to attend to your every need, including whether there is enough chipped ice in your drink! The theater, obviously, is not like that. Of course, the other side of that is the attention you get in the tabloids and the scrutiny placed on your personal life. I’ve had my share. Look at Tom Cruise—so much of that is his own business; they should just get off his case…I think of Anne Heche, she took the Broadway production of Proof after a whole lot of unwelcome attention on her personal life. She replaced Mary Louise Parker and she was terrific. The theater experience in an excellent play came at an important time for her. After that, she and I did Twentieth Century together, and I loved working with her. That was a great experience for both of us.”

Baldwin and Heche projected a marvelous chemistry in The Twentieth Century. They demonstrated a hilarious talent for broad comedy playing feuding Hollywood personalities making a cross-country journey in Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s Depression-era play.

“Anne and I had done a film together with Demi Moore, The Juror, in which we had a heavy melodramatic scene; I was the evil guy who killed her. It was great to be able to work together on stage, going back day after day to refine the jokes, to perfect each moment. That is a luxury you have in theater that you do not get in film. You need several weeks to really get inside a role. In film, you only get a few rehearsals and then its over.”

Baldwin’s support of Scott Behrend and Road Less Traveled Productions is one more example of a community spirit that fills much of his life. He has been an outspoken supporter of many social and political causes, including the environment, the government’s support of the arts, campaign finance reform, animal rights and gun control. He serves on the board of directors of the Bay Street Theatre on his native Long Island, the New York University/Brennan Center for Justice Program Advisory Board, People for the American Way and the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, dedicated in honor of his mother.

The reading of Art will also star local actors Gerry Maher and Brendan Powers, under the direction of Scott Behrend, and will take place on Wednesday, July 12, in Asbury Hall at the Church, 341 Delaware Avenue at 8pm. For tickets and information call 716-629-3069.