Photo by Ross Zentner
Jonathan Smoots in A Small Fire
Jonathan Smoots in "A Small Fire" by Adam Bock at Next Act Theatre in 2020.
Milwaukee actor Jonathan Smoots had a gift for reading aloud when he was growing up in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park in the 1950s. That talent pleased his mother, the daughter of a Lutheran minister.
“My mother always thought I was going to be a minister,” said Smoots in a 2008 interview. “Of course, there are a lot of parallels between acting and preaching.”
Smoots, the husband of fellow actor/director Laura Gordon, died on Friday, March 21, at age 71, after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. The couple had traveled to Portland, Oregon, to take advantage of the state’s Death With Dignity Act, allowing him to face his final days on his own terms.
The gifted actor with the stentorian voice was a well-known fixture in Milwaukee’s theater scene, performing with the Milwaukee Rep, Next Act Theatre, and other troupes. He also was one of the longest lasting core cast company members of American Players Theatre, the classical performance company in Spring Green. Smoots, a graduate of Northwestern University graduate, won the only slot awarded to one of hundreds of Chicago-area actors auditioning for the company when it first formed in 1980.
In fact, as Thesus, Smoots spoke the first lines of the first play – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – ever performed by APT on its Hill Theatre stage that year: “Now fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws apace. Four days brings in another moon and we will marry.”
Artistic Director
In 1990, he served as Next Act’s first artistic director, guiding the fledgling company for two years before handing the role over to producing artistic director emeritus David Cecsarini. Smoots continued to contribute substantially to Next Act’s artistic programming, serving for three years as artistic associate, directing 10 of the company’s productions and appearing in another 10.
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“Jonathan was a titan of the Milwaukee theatre scene,” reads a Next Act Theatre post, “remembered by audiences and colleagues alike for his enormous stage presence, passionate portrayals of some of the greatest characters in both the classical and contemporary stage canons, and fierce loyalty to, and love for, his friends.”
Smoots embodied many characters during carer, occasionally working under wife Laura Gordon’s direction, and even taking a run at Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Milwaukee Rep’s productions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
“Jonathan was a wonderful actor, a tour-de-force, who in addition to his many memorable roles on the numerous stages in our city and region, was also renowned for always making himself available to offer sage advice to young performers, stage managers, and creatives at the start of their careers,” wrote Artistic Director Mark Clements on the Rep web site. “Our industry has truly lost a passionate and beloved artist far too soon. He was a man who had such an enormous appetite for the arts, loved his special people, and possessed such a great verve for life.”
Jonathan Smoots was an actor’s actor, and so much more. He will be missed by family, friends and fans alike. American Players Theatre is dedicating its entire 2025 season to Smoots.
