The turning point in the life of Adam Waxman came during the Toronto International Film Festival, a few months after the death of his father.
The lone son of Al Waxman, the celebrated Canadian actor who died of complications from heart surgery in January, 2001, was, with the exception of his creative parents, another drifting twentysomething struggling to get life under way in a meaningful manner.
Waxman and his mother, the writer Sara Waxman, were driving to the home of filmmaker Norman Jewison for his annual festival barbecue. The son was nattering from the driver's seat when his mother interrupted, ordering him to pull over immediately.
"I was talking a lot of nonsense," Waxman said recently in an interview. "She made me stop the car and she said, 'I'm tired of you making half-assed attempts and I want you to devote the next couple of years to giving acting a try. If it's not for you, then be honest with yourself and if it is, go for it. But stop talking about it and do it. Don't live another day saying what if.' Thank God for my mother," he said with a grateful sigh. "I'm lucky to have someone like that. I re-evaluated my life and I've never looked back from that stern talk.
"After my father died I was very much lost. I felt knocked out of orbit. I was trying different things but never with my heart. And then I realized I could no longer stand not doing what I knew in my heart I must do."
Al Waxman, who appeared in dozens of films and television shows, is best known as the star of The King of Kensington. It makes the younger Waxman a prince of sorts.
He made his professional acting debut this summer, not as a prince but a prince charming and a princess, too, in Romeo and Juliet and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Shakespeare by the Sea, the venerable and inventive Halifax theatre company, which is in its 11th season.
Shakespeare by the Sea is as advertised -- setting its shows in Point Pleasant Park amid crumbling forts, historic Martello towers and a hurricane-ravaged forest with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean as its backdrop.
Waxman comes to Halifax fresh from attending Manhattan's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, a school that has turned out actors such as Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen, Gregory Peck and Sydney Pollack -- and Al Waxman.
The earnest and charming 32-year-old may have come late to acting, but the bug was always there.
After studying political science and communications at York University, the junior Waxman took off travelling, finally ending up in Japan, where he did a little bit of everything and some things he never expected he might do. In the latter category, he worked as a housekeeper at the Four Seasons in Tokyo, and also as a disc jockey. Primarily, he worked as an English teacher.
He returned to Toronto after his father died, unsure of what to do with his life. He knew he wanted to act, but said he lacked the gumption and maybe the guts to "get off the couch and actually do it."
Then came his mother's steely speech, and acceptance to New York theatre school. By the time Shakespeare by the Sea artistic director Patrick Christopher arrived in Manhattan to audition for this season, Waxman was more than ready, his determination high and expectations middling.
"The audition was incredible," he said. "I thought I'd just go in and read but it was like an acting lesson. I really wanted to work for him. He really gets involved and has a very specific vision and methodology. He allows us to be creative and improvisational. For me, as an actor, that is a gift."
A couple of weeks later Waxman received a call informing him he had been chosen to play Romeo.
"I was just excited to work in this company. I didn't care what part I got. But to actually have the part of Romeo was overwhelming. I was excited and scared all at once. I felt really privileged to have the lead in one of the most famous plays ever."
Because of the open setting, Shakespeare by the Sea actors improvise and engage the audience more than usual. Waxman brings his own touch to the part by tossing in a bit of Japanese any time he spies a Japanese audience member.
"It's very liberating to perform this way," he said. "Everything is trial and error. It's been wonderful. This is something I really want to do every night."
Playing against gender as Snow White has been a challenge. Waxman lends the troubled princess an accent he described as falling somewhere between a Southern belle and Buckwheat.
"I'm extremely sexy," he said.
No doubt.
Although he plans to return to Toronto, the city his father loved deeply, after the season wraps in September, for now Waxman is calling Halifax home. He is renting a basement apartment in the home of Alexa McDonough, the popular NDP MP from Halifax.
He loves the city, despite this year's relatively cool and rainy weather, which adds another twist to his acting. The outdoor performances go on rain or shine, whether there is one person in the audience or 100. Acting school does not prepare you for this.
"None of us have any idea how it's going to go when we're walking out into the fog," he said. "Until we get going on any given night we are completely in the dark and sometimes we don't even know how it's going until it's all over. But it's fantastic. I want to be put to the test."
His eagerness and enthusiasm -- fed partially by his father's spirit -- makes up for time lost. After years of searching, Waxman has finally found himself.
"My dad was a titanic influence on me and he still is, though in a very different way now," Waxman said. "Every day after school I'd ride my bike over to CBC to watch him rehearse or do King of Kensington. I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be an actor since I was a kid. But I never had a good solid desire."
Earlier this summer, on opening night, the debut of his career, Waxman reserved a seat for his father; on the aisle, front-row centre, stage right.
"I knew that if there was any way in heaven that he could be there he would be," he said. "And that's where he would sit. And he would be so proud. He came to everything I ever did; every track meet, every judo competition. I thought about that a lot on my opening night. I think about him all the time."