Photo, Ari Mintz Zach Grenier and Lisa Emery star in "Gabriel" at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City.

By John Soltes / Editor in Chief

NEW YORK (May 7, 2010) — You already know Zach Grenier, even if you don’t know him.

A self-proclaimed “proud member of the ‘That Guy’ club,” Grenier has been a character actor in film and television for years. From his roles in David Fincher’s “Zodiac” and “Fight Club” to Werner Herzog’s “Rescue Dawn” and Ang Lee’s “Ride with the Devil,” the actor is of the thespian breed that has been there, done that.

Lately, even though you can still catch him in a recurring role on TV’s “The Good Wife,” Grenier has been populating the stages of New York City, offering up memorable turns in a variety of dramatic endeavors. Last year, he was even nominated for a Tony Award for his portrayal of Ludwig van Beethoven in Moisés Kaufman’s “33 Variations” with Jane Fonda.

For his latest project, he has spun almost completely around on the theatrical axis to play a manipulative Nazi officer in Moira Buffini’s wartime drama, “Gabriel,” playing at the Atlantic Theater Company in Chelsea.

The on-stage chameleon has a weighty predicament in his latest incarnation: bringing to life Von Pfunz, a brutal military man who is stationed in the Channel Islands and once oversaw the deaths at Treblinka, the infamous extermination camp in Poland.

“I found it very difficult,” Grenier said recently during a phone interview. “How do I go about making this person a full human being? … It was very difficult to look at the ground plan of Treblinka and see how that factory of murder worked.”

Buffini recommended to Grenier that he read the book “Into That Darkness,” a real-life examination of the commandant of Treblinka, by Gitta Sereny. “The book brought me very close to it,” the actor said. “Although I still couldn’t step over that line and understand. It was very difficult to make him a sympathetic character. … It was a real challenge given what the man had done.”

Yet somehow a complete and realistically discomforting portrait does materialize on the stage of the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, where “Gabriel” plays through June 6.

In the play, Von Pfunz wreaks emotional havoc on a household on the Channel Islands during the Nazi occupation. It’s an oft-forgotten chapter in history that is brought to life with only a handful of actors. The play receives its title from a naked man — later called Gabriel — who washes ashore near the family house. Is the amnesiac man a patriotic hero, a scheming Nazi, someone to care for or someone to cast aside? Von Pfunz holds court over all these proceedings like a watchful father, showing up to play mind games with the matriarch of the family, portrayed by Lisa Emery.

As Grenier put it, his role is an outcast oddball who is very well educated and has a great sense of humor. But, as one character says during the play, no one likes him. The lesson for Grenier is that “wherever there is potential for fascism, you can find the most charming, sensitive people moving toward the dark side. That’s one of the reasons that it should be played. There’s a lesson there.”

Grenier became attached to the project largely because of the play’s director, David Esbjornson. “We always wanted to work together,” the actor said.

So, after recently finishing up another play in New York — “Lenin’s Embalmers” — Grenier found himself at the Atlantic Theater Company, taking this journey of discovery with a “group of perfectionists.”

The play, which was originally written in the 1990s, has been rewritten several times. Buffini penned the original draft when she was 29 years old, Grenier said. Then, “about three or four years ago, she decided to revisit the text, having a lot more under her belt. … A drama or a comedy, it must be well crafted. It must be well thought through. It must be written by someone who understands human nature.”

Grenier said that after reading “Gabriel” for the first time, he realized Buffini certainly excelled as a skillful interpreter of humanity.

The chance of playing Von Pfunz was the result of karmic timing, but also strategic planning. Grenier and his wife relocated from southern California to New York City last year. In Hollywood, he was certainly happy and working tirelessly — his résumé can prove that — but it was still the land of producers “doing the quickest, fastest, most flashy event to make money.” But the actor did find his calling in several nuanced roles — one of the most satisfying being the character of Andy Cramed on HBO’s “Deadwood.”

Grenier has since focused on theater. “I was having a jolly time on television in very supporting, supporting roles,” he said with a laugh. “But I was very hungry to get back on the stage … where characters can be examined night after night with great writing.”

And nowadays, Grenier seems comfortable setting up the microscope and taking a closer look.

“Gabriel” is currently playing the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater at 336 W. 20th St. in New York City. Visit www.atlantictheater.org for more information.