This Saturday Canadian actor, uber-geek, and thespian Jedi Master Charles Ross will be performing his solo creation One-Man Star Wars Trilogy at Proctors Theater (two performances 1:30 PM and 7:00 PM). In his mind-bending, whirlwind show, Ross retells the classic sci-fi trilogy in 60 minutes with no costumes, no props, and no sets, just him doing all the characters, music, the ships, and epic battles.

I saw the show when it was at Proctors a few years ago and really enjoyed it and thought it would be awesome if I could interview him as Star Wars does fall under the comic book genre and something I have written about over the years

(What is this STAR WARS Thing You Speak Of? and Star Wars Trade Show at Guilderland Public Library)

Here is a short video from a few years ago to give you a taste of his performance:

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Charles was kind enough to do an email interview about his show and what influenced it:

How did you get into Star Wars (Do you remember what hooked you?) Who is your favorite character / least favorite character?

The way I first heard about Star Wars was a combination of seeing a toy commercial during Saturday morning cartoons, and having my friend, Darren, tell me about this film. At this point, I’d only ever seen maybe two films in the theater. Somehow just watching the toy commercials and hearing about this almost mythical thing called Star Wars made me desperately want to see it.

My favorite character, when I was a kid, was Luke Skywalker. As I got older, I found myself liking Darth Vader a lot more. My least favorite character isn’t even something from the original trilogy, it’s Jar Jar Binks.

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Do you read Comic books if so what was the first one that you remember

The first comic book I ever had was a Fantastic Four comic. Eventually, I got a bunch of Star Wars comics and Battlestar Galactica comics. I also read a lot of Mad, Cracked and Hot Rod Magazine.

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Tell me a bit about One Man Star Wars and the inspiration behind it?

The inspiration behind one man Star Wars originated when I tried to do write a solo show that encapsulated all the history in history.

When I sat down to begin writing it, I started with the film my new best A New Hope, the very first Star Wars. My first draft ran about 25 minutes (just A New Hope), I had an opportunity to perform what I had for a group of people, and it really went well. So well, that I abandoned the idea of doing a show about all film, and focussed instead on the Star Wars trilogy.

I think that every actor, director, artist, etc.. want to have some form of independence with their career. Trying One Man Star Wars as a solo show was sort of that. Finding my way to a form of independence.

I was more motivated to work on my own creation rather than audition for something in hopes of maybe getting cast in a show for 2 1/2 months.

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What was the hardest and easiest part about putting a “one-man show” together?

The hardest part of putting together the solo show was simply getting my head around the idea of it being just me on stage. No costume, no stats, and no orchestral music. I had to take a huge leap of faith that the audience- if they even existed- would be able to keep up with me. The pace, the ridiculous style, and even the light poking fun at the story. Luckily, everything worked out OK.

The easiest part was getting cast, if I can’t get cast in my own solo show, there’s nothing for it.

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I assume you had to get some sort of permission from Lucasfilm, can you talk about that process… do you know if George Lucas has seen the show or if you met him his thoughts?

I did have to get permission from Lucasfilm. However, I didn’t appreciate that fact when I first started doing the one man Star Wars show. It was only after having done the show for a year that Lucasfilm got in contact with me. They were very nice, which I found to be a relief

I got a formal licensing agreement with Lucasfilm when I performed the show off-Broadway, in New York City.

I have worked with them- and now Disney- they’ve been a dream to work with.

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If you had to pick a comic book movie or series to perform as a one-man show, what would it be?

I’m currently working on a one-man Avengers, so that will be based upon the movie series, but with the graphic novels/comic books as an information guide. I find that the comics inform me to make better edits from the movies to my solo shows.

*Charles also performs a One-Man Lord of the Rings

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Is there anything that you would like to say that may pique the interest of people to attend the show?

If you’ve seen the original Star Wars trilogy, this show will surprise and delight. It doesn’t matter if you are five years old or 105 years old, this show embodies the spirit of Star Wars.

I am one person, or use no costumes, no sets, no talent, and re-create the original Star Wars trilogy in one hour. If that doesn’t pique your interest, then I believe there are still tickets available for Mama Mia.

I would further like to mention that if you haven’t seen Star Wars, this has got to be the most economical way, both time and money wise to see it

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Tickets are still available for both performances and are available through the Proctors Theater’s website and box office.