We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rodolfo Pedroni a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rodolfo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One of the most meaningful projects to me was one of my final sharings as a training actor in NYC.
I’m was born and raised in Italy, prior to attending The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC I’ve pursued acting training since I was five years old in various schools with wonderful artists and mentors that helped me point the way towards something that sometimes I call my hobby, many times I call my passion, and every single time I call my dream.
Lucky for me I was given the wonderful opportunity to portray Joseph Merrick from the play “The Elephant Man” written by Bernard Pomerance, in one of the public sharings where all our peers and faculty members of the school could watch and support our work.
As soon as I heard that name I immediately knew I needed to step it up, the play is set in Victorian Era and the man I was going to portray was a real human being, tragically defined by a physical deformity that walked this very earth from 1862 to 1890.
Thanks to the guidance and support of my teachers I was able to bring this character to life.
My acting teacher, David Dean Bottrell, helped me develop a clear vision of the circumstances and my voice and speech teacher, Ibsen Santos, gave me the tools to sustain a resonant and dynamic voice even when physicalising the physical attributes that tragically defined Joseph Merrick for the entirety of his life.
The use of the Linklater method of voice work and script analysis was essential, the text and lines although essential and almost limited to a few words at a time, carried an entire lifetime of events in each word driven by a deep desire for love.
Understand the lines and deliver them with a tactical and bold nature driven by action was key, there was no room for mediocrity.
After many cups of coffees, many research sessions, many movement studies and many days and nights of work, I found myself weeks later, barefoot, with a cane, a suit and a wild beating heart standing right outside of the classroom where I was about to share the scene with everyone I knew at the school.
To relieve the nerves me and my friend Cito Mena (who was going to share a different scene right after mine but helped me and my scene partner by portraying a third character in our scene) started dancing, all of our classmates were looking at us and for a split second I forgot what I was about to do and the magnitude of this story…then I saw the door open and someone calling my name…it was time.
I looked at my scene partner Camryn Torres, we went in and no thought was on my mind, only the quietness of the present and obviously a big smile because of the moves me and my friend Cito pulled in the hallway.
The room was quite small already, and If it wasn’t for the fact that I needed to focus on setting up the stage for the scene with the props needed, I’d have died laughing…why?
Well… let’s say that seeing all your friends and faculty members stacked up one on top of the other, laying on the floor and basically breaking physically the fourth wall because of the lack of space was quite hilarious.
An then it hit me…the reason we go to the theatre…I looked at all the people there and there were no doubts, not regrets and especially no fear stemming from my heart, body, mind or soul.
I felt unbounded, limitless.
I closed my eyes and became Him, there was one shot at this.
We did the scene and all of a sudden it was done.
Before… everyone in that room was excited, electricity was in the air, me and my scene partner were there for our audience and our audience was there for us.
After…when everything was done and every scene was shared, that electricity settled down and became something softer, gentler, simply innocent.
Every person as they were leaving the room, looked me straight in the eyes and gave me a long warm hug.
In each gaze I saw melancholic joy and each and every hug felt as a humble recognition of what was just shared and experienced, for several a healing of the soul, for many a healing of the mind and a healing of the body.
Each and every one of those hugs felt as a recognition of the parts we often times forget, the parts that we need to give the most love, care and attention.
It felt and it was a healing of the Heart.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Here’s a brief description from my website:

“Rodolfo Pedroni is a New York City ​based actor born and raised in Milano, ​Italy. He has received formal training in ​Stanislavski and Meisner methodologies ​and is a recent graduate of The American ​Academy of Dramatic Arts where he had ​the opportunity to refine and hone his ​skills in theatre, film and television.

At the age of five he fell in love with acting by observing how people ​were changed thanks to the storytelling of a play, since then he ​surrounded himself with artists, actors, adventurers and lovers of life ​to explore life in all the ways this world can offer. It is a well known ​fact that you can win his love with a cup of properly made ​cappuccino.
He loves cooking for the people he loves, coffee, motorcycles and ​adventuring himself in the unknown and the understanding of ​life.
Rodolfo is an enthusiast and lover of the human condition.”

This description up here is very well put and organised but the truth is:
My love for life and people propelled me to investigate, understand, empathise and embody the stories of the human condition, to such an extent I made it my life calling.
I travelled all over the world and those experiences gave me the opportunity to witness with my own eyes so many beautiful shades of the human emotional spectrum, cultures, places and events.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Recently I’ve been pondering on the question “Why have I compromised my own self and my vision so many times just because I thought I wasn’t worth it?”
Often times we forget that all the resources we need are inside of us.
Shying away and Shaming away ourselves out of a self limiting belief stops us from showing up in an authentic way at our deepest core, in our own personal life, that will resonate in our craft, no matter what kind of Art is being shared with the world.
Authenticity is always rewarded with Respect.
Art truly is not about you, it’s about the people witnessing your art and the impact it has on the world, so…
Make bold and fearless choices. Protect your energy and remember that what is meant for you will find you, Always.

Most of it also especially comes from surrounding yourself with people you believe in and people who believe in you.
People that are aiming at the same goal that you have, people that have your same rigor and drive, people who share the same vision and love for what you do and believe in.
Remember “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”, make it count!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Since I was very little I was always curious and fascinated by the “why” people act how they act based on their previous experiences, their beliefs, their colture, their background and influences based on the time period people were born in.
Pain, Sufferance and Struggle are a very real existential conditions that I’ve seen define the whole entirety of so many peoples lives, no matter the status, color of the skin, heritage, background and culture, all of them in one way or another faced something that for better or worse changed the whole trajectory of their lives forever.
Pain, Sufferance and Struggle are very real but so are Compassion, Generosity, Empathy and Love.
There is no way to solve everyones problems, nor to fulfil everyones dreams but one thing truly is possible, to extend a compassionate hand towards one another through any “Act” in life, any challenge, any obstacle and say:

“You’re not Alone. You deserve to be Seen. You deserve to be Heard.”

Acting is that and I will do anything in my power to become a vessel, give a body and voice to those stories and those people, EVERYONE deserve to be seen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rodolfopedroni.my.canva.site/rodolfo-pedroni-actor
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodolfopedroni
• Other: BACKSTAGE:
  https://www.backstage.com/tal/rodolfo-pedroni

Image Credits

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jennie Scott