That led to other small movies. Then some plays, a little training, a TV guest spot here and there, and still piano moving. Somehow he landed an agent. Along the way, Mr. Payne promised himself that he’d never do extra or understudy work. “I just found it so frustrating to be so close to the heat, and not be a part of it,” he said.
But when he read “August: Osage County,” directed by Ms. Shapiro, he signed on. He rarely went onstage, but he bought a house with the money that not acting earned. And a Harley Davidson. More understudy roles followed. More nights spent standing at the back of the theater, so close to the honey, so close to the heat, just watching.
When he did get to go on, he’d try to play the role just as the named actor had. “If you start changing blocking or trying to get cute when you’re out there, expressing yourself — no,” he said. “It’s not something that understudies — it’s not one of their perks.”
“There’s no glory attendant,” he said.
At first, Ed in “Straight White Men” was one more understudy gig. (By this time, Mr. Payne had become a reliable understudy for Ms. Shapiro. “She knew that I wouldn’t get in the way,” he said.) But Tom Skerritt left the show in what Ms. Shapiro, described as “a sad and amicable parting,” citing stamina issues. And then his replacement, Denis Arndt, brought in just before previews began, left, too.
At the first preview, there was Mr. Payne onstage, wearing Ed’s sweaters, dancing Ed’s dances, keeping the part warm. He hadn’t had any real rehearsal. He’d only run the play twice. He’d never had the luxury of conversations with the playwright or director.
But “because he’s a longtime understudy and he’s a badass and he doesn’t complain and he’s hardworking and honorable,” Ms. Shapiro said, he did it anyway. And he did it without the hope that he’d ever win the role.
“I was way past the whole mythology of the understudy getting the part,” Mr. Payne said.
Ms. Shapiro was in talks with other actors to replace him. But Ms. Lee, as well as Armie Hammer, Josh Charles and Paul Schneider, the actors who play Ed’s sons, came to her and told her that they wanted Mr. Payne to have the role — for keeps.
