The world on a string

He’s only 23, but Tobias Segal is already an award-winning performer. When he earned a coveted Barrymore Award for best supporting actor in 2002, he became the youngest man ever to receive the honor.

Now, two years later, Segal has been nominated for another Barrymore, with the winners to be announced Nov. 15 in a gala ceremony.

But the South Philly actor is much too busy to think about awards.

He’s currently on stage at the Mum Puppettheatre in Old City, playing the title role in The Puppetmaster of Lodz, which opened last night.

It’s a demanding — even daunting — role. Or, as Segal puts it, "an emotional roller coaster."

The actor plays Finkelbaum, a puppet master from the Polish town of Lodz, a Jew who managed to escape from the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. Although it’s five years since the war’s end, he’s still hiding out in an attic, convinced the defeat of the Nazis is a deception meant to lure and capture Jews in hiding.

To re-create his lost life, Finkelbaum spends his time building puppets that represent his wife, family and friends.

Segal was drawn to the script as soon as he read it.

"I was really touched by it," he says. "I felt an instant connection emotionally."

That didn’t mean it was easy for the young actor to take on the role of a Holocaust survivor suffering from post-traumatic shock. Segal prepared himself by reading several books about the Holocaust, especially first-person memoirs.

"I wanted to understand how someone deals with a tragic past," he says. "I started thinking about how I could relate to the character."

Once rehearsals began, there was the added challenge of working with puppets for the first time.

Throughout the play, Finkelbaum prepares puppets for a future show. Although it will never really take place, the puppet master works to complete his work as the audience watches. He uses scraps and found objects, including bottle caps, burnt-out light bulbs and old doorknobs.

Handling all these objects while simultaneously speaking lines requires considerable dexterity and stage presence.

It’s even more difficult for Segal because he’s onstage throughout the play, except for a few brief moments. Three other actors have supporting roles.

Mum artistic director Robert Smythe knew Segal’s talents well from his performance in the company’s award-winning production of Equus. And he sought him out for the difficult part of the puppet master. In fact, the Mum theater didn’t make the final decision to present this drama until Segal had agreed to take the title role.

It’s a part that actually involves more than one character. Segal not only speaks the lines of the puppet master, but he also changes character for each puppet and has to manipulate them.

"They have to be kept very still," explains Segal, who during rehearsals took the puppets home to practice. "You can’t have lots of movement because this will distract the audience. So I have to keep their movements as simple as possible."

Despite the challenge, the actor found himself intrigued by the puppets. "They instantly take on a character of their own," he says. "It’s fascinating."

The Malvern native has been fascinated by theater ever since his high-school days. In 10th grade at Great Valley High, he landed one of the leads in the school production of Carnival.

"It was a fantastic experience," Segal says. "After that, I knew I wanted to continue to perform, although not as a career — just for fun."

He continued to win supporting or leading roles in high-school shows. Then, at Temple University, he was a theater major who had roles in four productions in his freshman year alone.

"By this time, I had fallen in love with theater," Segal says.

The relationship was so complete that performing won out over academics. At the end of his sophomore year, Segal got a call from one of his former Temple classmates, Heather Rogers, who was then a managing director at the Mum Puppettheatre. She encouraged him to audition for the theater’s production of Equus.

"As soon as I read the script, I cried. It was so intense — a beautifully written piece," Segal says.

He then threw himself wholeheartedly into preparing for the audition. And it paid off. "It was the best audition I ever had," he recalls. "Everything just clicked."

One week later, he was offered a role. Rehearsals began in early September, at the start of the college semester. Anticipating schedule conflicts, Segal decided to drop out for a semester. This was his professional debut, and he wanted it to go well.

It did — but with one unpleasant surprise. The first review after opening night was totally negative. "The critic tore it to pieces," says Segal. "We were devastated."

But not for long. Several days later, a glowing review was published.

"And after that, all the reviews were incredible," the actor says. "By the end of the run, we were packed every night."

Other major roles followed, and soon Segal dropped his plan to return to Temple so that he could focus solely on his acting career. His credits since then include roles at the Arden Theatre and at People’s Light and Theatre Company. Segal also had a leading part in the film The Other America, which was part of the recent Philadelphia Film Festival.

Last spring marked another milestone for this rising theater star. In the Philadelphia Theatre Company production of According to Goldman, Segal had one of three leading roles. His portrayal of a rigid fundamentalist student was pivotal to the drama.

He played it so well that he was nominated a second time for a Barrymore Award, again for best supporting actor.

Such early acclaim might lead some actors to overconfidence or arrogance. But not Segal. The earnest, slim performer is entirely without pretension. However, he does exude an air of intensity and energy that serves him well onstage.

Segal unwinds at home in South Philly. Music is a special interest: He played trumpet in junior high school and enjoys listening to popular bands and attending performances by his musician friends.

But for the next few weeks, as he performs at the Mum Puppettheatre, he won’t have much time to relax.

This latest role has been a valuable learning experience, Segal says.

"I’ve learned so much about how people deal with tragic situations — and also about the resilience of the human spirit," he says. "If you want to hold on and live, you find a way. So this is an inspiring story, an affirmation of life and the human spirit."

The Mum Puppettheatre at 115 Arch St. presents The Puppetmaster of Lodz through Nov. 20. Tickets, $25, are available at the box office, by phone at 215-925-7686 or online at www.mumpuppet.org.