GUIDING LIGHT's Robert Newman volunteers his feelings on everything from hurricane victims to who he would really go to prison to protect.
Soap Opera Weekly: Why were you so moved by the cast's volunteer efforts with Hurricane Katrina victims in Biloxi, Miss.?
Robert Newman: It was an extremely honest, real experience. We are at a place in this country where people really want to do something. The war in Iraq is so huge — and Katrina or the [Indonesian] tsunami, they're just so big — that we feel there's not a whole lot that we can do. From the moment [GL executive producer] Ellen Wheeler told us about it, it was a sense of: "Wow, this exactly what I really had been wanting to do." I knew there was something missing in the way that I was contributing to our society. I do a lot of different kind of work through my church, but for some reason this struck me in a more honest way. There's this incredible need down there, a massive amount of devastation that still exists that hasn't been dealt with. The government supplies trailers, but beyond that they haven't really helped many people. The insurance companies failed miserably. It grabbed my heart in a way that not much has.
Weekly: You recently testified before Congress about volunteerism. Is this a new passion for you?
Newman: It definitely is at this point. I don't know if it's something I'll pursue for five years or one year; I don't want to presume that. But sometimes things are just right in life. It's almost like a calling. I didn't ask to be invited down to New Orleans. I didn't ask to be invited to testify in front of Congress. Those things have come my way. There is this path that I'm on right now involving volunteerism that feels right, and I will continue to walk down it.
Weekly: Let’s talk about GUIDING LIGHT. How do you keep Josh fresh after all these years?
Newman: It's really got to be a day-to-day thing. One of the things I like about this medium is there's a different script every day. Sometimes they're brilliant and the words come flying out of you, and other days it's just another day on the show and you're just trying to get through it to get home. But it stays fresh partially because every day brings a different challenge. Every week is a different schedule. The directors, the writers, the actors you work with are different. There are things that Josh does that I go, "Wow, that's weird or not very bright. I wouldn't do that." But there is a freedom to embracing whatever challenge they throw at me, whether I agree with how a story point is being told or not. That's part of being fresh, too. I have to find different ways to make it work on a daily basis.
Weekly: Josh recently went to prison to protect Cassie. Is there anyone you would go to prison for?
Newman: That's a loaded question. I saw on another television show not long ago a guy was willing to go take the rap for his son or daughter. It sounds soapy to me, not like a real-life situation, but there are people in my life I would give practically anything for. The two most obvious would be [my children] Connor and Kendal. I would do pretty much anything to protect them. In Josh's crazy view of the world — and I don't have the same view that Joshua has — protecting them might include going to jail for them.
For more from Newman, check out the June 19 issue of Soap Opera Weekly.
