J. Todd Adams, a charming and charismatic actor who was one of North Coast Repertory Theatre’s most popular leading men, passed away on Thursday while staying with relatives in Utah.
He was 51.
Adams had played lead roles in North Coast Rep’s “Blithe Spirit” and “Holmes and Watson” in 2018, and co-starred last year in “A Walk in the Woods” with company artistic director David Ellenstein, who remembered Adams on Sunday as both a generous stage partner and a dear friend.
“He was as smart as anybody I knew and and an extremely talented and gifted actor. Everyone who knew him or worked with him liked him,” Ellenstein said. “But he battled these dark demons he had that often got the better of him, and ultimately that was his downfall.”
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J. Todd Adams, right, with Teagan Rose in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s 2018 production of “Blithe Spirit.”
(Courtesy of Aaron Rumley)
Ellenstein first met Adams in 2001, when he was directing a Nevada Shakespeare Festival production of “Romeo and Juliet.” He cast the Utah native as Romeo’s hotheaded friend, Mercutio.
“Obviously, he was the choice. He was brilliant in the role,” Ellenstein said. “We became friends and colleagues and worked together a bunch of times after that.”
Born in Utah on Jan. 26, 1969, Adams held a master’s degree in acting from the American Conservatory Theater and was a trained magician. He had a long and prolific stage career. Among his credits were four seasons with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, five seasons with the Great Lakes Theatre, four seasons with Idaho Shakespeare Festival and four seasons with Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He also performed regionally at San Diego Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory and the Mark Taper Forum.
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Twice divorced with no children, Adams had lived for many years in both Los Angeles and New York, but lately had been moving from city to city for the shows he was doing. Whenever he was performing in San Diego, he would hang out with Ellenstein’s family, where he loved playing with their pets and enjoyed long conversations with Ellenstein’s wife, Denise Young, and their children.
His final appearance at North Coast Rep was last summer, when he played the restrained American negotiator to Ellenstein’s gregarious Soviet diplomat in Lee Blessing’s “A Walk in the Woods.”
“He was generous, right there in the moment, willing to go with whatever happened. We had great camaraderie backstage and onstage,” Ellenstein said.
Most recently, Adams had played Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” in Alaska and was in rehearsals for a staging of Neil Simon’s “Rumors” when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the production in March. He then flew to Utah to shelter in place with family.
“That’s when the whole downward spiral began,” said Ellenstein, who said Adams struggled for many years with mental health issues. “I’d texted him to see how he was doing on April 1. He wrote back ‘You’re my favorite person after my family. I love you.’ I texted back: ‘I love you, too, J. Todd.’ I realize now that he was probably saying goodbye.”
Adams is survived by his mother, two brothers and a sister. Private services are planned in Utah. Ellenstein said that when North Coast Rep is able to reopen, the theater plans to memorialize Adams in the program for its next show, “Human Error,” which is tentatively scheduled to open in June but could be postponed or canceled.
“He was just a sweet, sweet-souled person who couldn’t get past the darkness that hung on him,” Ellenstein said. “He was a light. He was really a light, both in life and in person.”
J. Todd Adams in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s 2018 production of “Holmes and Watson.”
(Courtesy of Aaron Rumley)
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