Jim Coleman had had a decent career in television and movies. Five years ago, he was figuring on retiring and acting in the occasional commercial – if it didn’t interfere too much with his golfing.
Lo and behold, but Coleman was asked by a friend to audition for the role of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton -- the first recognized Black U.S. Catholic priest who is now being considered for sainthood -- for a stage show about Tolton’s life and times. Except that Coleman had never performed live theater.
“A good friend of mine informed me of the role, said I should audition for it. I only really do television and film. Theater wasn’t on my radar,” Coleman said from Winchester, Virginia, where he was performing “Tolton: From Slave to Priest” prior to two performances in Washington on Sunday and Monday, Nov. 19-20 at The Catholic University of America’s Maloney Hall in the Della Ratta Auditorium, 620 Michigan Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C. (The curtain rises at 7 p.m., and there is a freewill offering.)
“She said God laid it on her heart to tell me about her role,” Coleman continued. “I still wasn’t interested in it.” Nonetheless, he auditioned – and didn’t get the part.
“I told my mother and my mother-in law. When I told them I didn’t get the role, they didn’t believe it; (they said), ‘we’re still praying for you. You need this. God wants you to do this.’”
Another actor was cast for the one-man show, but lasted only three months. “I got the call, rehearsed three weeks and I went out on the road,” Coleman said. “I guess this is something I was destined to do.” It was then that he learned first-hand the difference between acting in front of a camera and acting in front of a live audience.
“In television and film, you fly out, you’re picked up in a town car, you’re taken to a five-star hotel and treated like royalty,” Coleman said. For theater, “I get into a new town and I rent a Penske truck. I set up (the stage), I break down. It’s humbling. It’s the best experience of my life. It’s an experience of what it means to be true performer. I greet the crowd.
“I think most actors start this way, and end up doing television and film. I love it. It keeps me young,” said Coleman, who has six adult children and 13 grandchildren. “I go out on the road to do the show for schoolchildren – and to see their acceptance and bring them closer to God, and to hear young people say they want to be priest, it’s more than I could ever ask for.”
Strong words from the son of Baptist preacher. The Dallas-born Coleman said that, given his father’s line of work, “Catholicism wasn’t an option. I had never really heard of it.” But his religious leanings came up in the audition before Leonardo Defilippis, founder of Saint Luke Productions, which developed “Tolton.” “I assured him my love for Christ, my love for the Virgin Mary, my love for God are all right there. ... I’ve been in the church all my life.”
Coleman, who lives in Orlando, Florida, is on the road from late August until June with “Tolton,” although he’s getting the Thanksgiving holiday off. He estimates he’s done 300 performances in 38 states and innumerable cities – about 80 shows a year – and has never been too ill to hit the stage. Except for a year and a half when he didn’t perform due to the COVID pandemic, Coleman’s schedule is fairly well packed.
He portrayed Tolton in a film version of the stage play. The film is still undergoing editing and other post-production tweaks.
Coleman’s cousin is Russell Martin, who caught for 14 seasons in the major leagues, principally with the Dodgers and Blue Jays, but who also spent time with the Pirates and Yankees. “My grandfather was a Pullman porter. He took a train to Canada (Martin’s birthplace) and just stayed,” Coleman said.
Asked what about Tolton’s life resonates most with his own, Coleman is quick to say, “His mother. His praying mother. It is the most amazing thing. I think she is the star of the show most times. There is nothing more important than a praying mother. His mother was a driving force. She was taught Catholicism by her slave owners. And she sought out the Catholic Church for her child. There’s nothing more important than the love of a mother.”
Coleman added, “I have a praying mother, every day, every show. She’s 83 years old, she has early-onset dementia. I picked her up from Dallas and she’s staying with me (in Orlando). When I get back home I’ll be brushing her hair. She’s seen the show and she absolutely loved it.”
