First Folio's Kevin McKillip loves a challenge

Look up "versatile" in the dictionary and you ought to find a photograph of Kevin McKillip.

A classically trained actor and lontime artistic associate with Oak Brook's First Folio Theatre, McKillip has tackled some of Shakespeare's most demanding roles, including Richard III, for which he earned a 2007 Joseph Jefferson Award nomination.

He has appeared at Court and Goodman theaters among others. In 2002, he was named a fellow with Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He returned the following year as an ensemble member.

For the last six years, he has clowned around with the Big Apple Circus as a member of its Chicago Clown Care ensemble which entertains sick children.

First Folio artistic director Alison C. Vesely claims McKillip can juggle, ride a unicycle and breathe fire, presumably not at the same time. But with him, you never know.

And with First Folio's world premiere of his one-man show "Will Rogers: An American Original," he adds playwright to his list of accomplishments.

Put simply, McKillip has chops.

"He is a wonderful actor," says Vesely.

He is as adept at playing characters like the socially inept Gussie Fink-Nottle in First Folio's recent "Jeeves in Bloom" as he is playing Richard, one of Shakespeare's great villains, says Vesely.

"Will Rogers: An American Original" gives him another great role - that of the renowned American humorist and Hollywood star who famously said, "I never yet met a man that I didn't like."

The project grew out of McKillip's fascination with Rogers and his "desire to put his brilliance on display." The actor turned playwright spent the better part of a year researching the life of the man he described as "the voice and conscience of a nation."

Rogers starred on vaudeville and in film and also earned acclaim as a radio performer and newspaper columnist before he was killed in a 1935 plane crash at the age of 56.

"I find it staggering how famous this man was in his prime," says McKillip.

But when McKillip mentions Rogers, people typically confuse him with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. He hopes "An American Original" helps clear up the confusion.

"It's important to Kevin to make people aware of the legacy of this man who was so important in his time," says Vesely.

Not only did Rogers lay the foundation for contemporary standup comedy, says McKillip, but his social and political commentary remains as timely as ever, despite being written more than 75 years ago.

"His jokes about political parties are hysterical and they still ring true today," says McKillip.

McKillip's research involved reading Rogers' columns, watching his movies and listening to tapes of his broadcasts, as well as poring over newspaper articles and biographies. About a year ago, he visited Rogers' Clarmore, Okla., birthplace which houses a museum devoted to him. It was around that time McKillip first picked up a lasso, another skill he had to master to portray Rogers.

A little more than a week before opening, the author was still making minor adjustments.

"When you write something, it becomes very dear to you," McKillip says.

That makes it much harder to alter or eliminate. As an actor, McKillip understands that changes are sometimes necessary. As a writer, he found it harder to accept, yet he understands that every writer needs a good editor.

Ultimately, McKillip hopes to send audiences away happy and a little better informed about a man he has come to admire.

"He was exactly who everyone thinks he was," says McKillip. "He spoke his mind. He was honest, insightful and witty. I think that might be part of why everyone was so taken with him.

"You see so many people fabricating who they are," he says, "this man was the real thing."

• "Will Rogers: An American Original" runs through May 2 at 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook. (630) 986-8067 or www.firstfolio.org.