Nathaniel Shaw couldn’t make out what was happening on the other end of his phone.

Two weeks ago, the producing artistic director of the Firehouse Theatre had local actor Adam Turck on the line. Driving their respective cars, Shaw and Turck were discussing the Richmond theater scene when Shaw heard some background noise coming from Turck’s end.

It took Shaw a moment to realize what was taking place.

“He pulled over to help somebody who had broken down on the side of the road,” recalls Shaw. “While we were having this conversation, he hooked up the jumper cables and jumped this person’s car.”

An idolizer of Superman, Turck frequently helped people in need.

On Aug. 2, the Richmond actor was fatally shot while intervening in a violent domestic dispute that he came across while walking his dog in Shockoe Bottom. When Turck intervened, 19-year-old Destin Grady pulled a handgun from a backpack and shot Turck, then himself. Both have since died.

“The police said that if he had not intervened, that the woman involved would have been killed,” says Phil Crosby, managing director of Richmond Triangle Players. “He was not only one of the most uniquely talented actors, but he was one of the kindest human beings I have ever met.”

Turck’s shooting led to an outpouring of grief in the local theater community for a gifted actor who was a near constant presence on Richmond’s stages over the past decade. The story of Turck and his heroism made national and international news, including being featured in People, The Independent, the Daily Mail and the Hindustan Times. Many compared him to his beloved Superman.

“He is the best of us,” says Shaw, former artistic director of Virginia Rep. “He is the most compassionate, most empathetic, most generous friend I’ve maybe ever had. He is the first to go out of his way for other people and goes further than anyone else.”

A winner of the 2018 Best Actor award from the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle*, Turck played a range of roles but had a special flare for portraying dark and comedic characters. He also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Quill Theatre’s** 2019 production of “The Tempest” and Best Lead Performance for RTP’s 2022 production of “The Inheritance.”

Those who knew him best describe a man who was at once intense but gentle, competitive but preoccupied with caring for others. He loved inside jokes, creating funny characters and inventing comedic bits.

“He was playful and clever, he was strong and wise, he was wildly competitive and had a moral compass made of steel,” wrote his family in a statement. “Adam was fiercely devoted to his craft, his loved ones, and finding joy in any corner. He was also stubborn, too smart for his own good, and when he started a bit, oh, that man would not quit. But above all else, he was kind.”

“Found his groove” in RVA

Turck grew up in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, with his parents, two brothers and a rotating pack of large dogs. After studying drama at Ithaca College in New York, Turck cut his teeth with the Maryland-based National Players, America’s longest-running touring theater company.

With the National Players, Turck joined nine other 20-somethings and hit the road, performing three plays at a time in repertory. In addition to the challenges of memorizing three plays at once, the actors had to contend with 12-hour days of driving and suboptimal sleeping arrangements.

“On the road, we would sleep two to a bed, four to a room. Sometimes the treat was if you got your own bed,” says Jacob Mundell, a Chicago-based actor and friend of Turck who performed alongside him. “One time we did five performances in four days in three different states.”

Because of the grueling schedule, Mundell says most actors only take part in the National Players once: Mundell did two rotations; Turck did three.

Back then, Mundell says Turck was struggling to find himself.

“He was not very confident and was very self-conscious,” Mundell recalls. “That was a battle for him. He had a lot of turmoil before he found his confidence.”

According to Mundell, Turck’s transformation was largely due to the community he found in Richmond’s theater scene.

“He loved this place,” says Chandler Hubbard, a local actor and playwright. “This place helped him find his groove.”

Turck’s decision to move to Richmond came after he was cast in Virginia Rep’s 2015 children’s show “The House at Pooh Corner.” Turck played the bouncy toy tiger Tigger; Hubbard was cast as the uptight character Rabbit.

“We were both perfectly matched for our characters, let’s just say that,” explains Hubbard, who would come to jokingly refer to Turck as his “straight boyfriend.” “On our first day [of rehearsal] I had such conflicted feelings: Am I in love with this man or do I hate him? He was just everything I wanted to be and everything I knew I couldn’t be.”

A year and a half later, Hubbard invited Turck to be housemates with him in Manchester, putting up a large sign that read “The House at Pooh Corner”; for the past two and a half years, Turck lived in Shockoe Bottom with his “platonic soulmate” Chelsea Burke, a local director.

As an actor, Turck was always prepared. Without being showy about it, Turck usually had his script memorized by the time rehearsals began so he could experiment. Leading up to Richmond Triangle Players’ exemplary 2022 staging of “The Inheritance,” Turck was only able to attend one rehearsal per week. Even with those timing constraints, Lucian Restivo, RTP’s artistic director and director of the show, says he was confident in casting Turck as a lead in a two-part play that ran longer than six hours.

“To any other director, it would have scared the shit out of them, but I knew I could trust Adam in every way,” says Restivo. “He came in prepared to the fullest: always off book, always knew his blocking, and was ready to play and try new things.”

Turck received an RTCC award nomination for the role.

Tyler Stevens, who starred opposite Turck in Quill Theatre’s 2020 “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” says Turck was the definition of a “powerhouse actor.”

“[He] made big, awesome choices. A scene partner’s dream to work with. He probably challenged me more than any actor I’d ever worked with before,” Stevens says. “He’ll always be my Guildenstern.”

Evan Nasteff, who played Eeyore in “The House at Pooh Corner” and later lived with Turck and Hubbard, sought out Turck’s advice on everything from relationships to workout routines to which comic book series he should get into next.

“Anything he did, he put every single ounce of his soul into it,” Nasteff says. “He didn’t half-ass anything. He was, and will remain, the most intense person I’ve ever met in my life, and I mean that as the highest compliment.”

In addition to his work as an actor, Turck was employed as a personal trainer at Tequila & Deadlifts in the Fan. Recognizing that having a personal trainer might be out of reach for some because of the cost, Turck offered his services at a sliding scale or for barter to make it more affordable.

“He set up his lifestyle to be able to help people, even if they couldn’t afford his full rate,” says CJ Bergin, a friend and environmental attorney. “Adam had a very strong sense of right and wrong, and he was unwilling to compromise either his lifestyle or any part of his personality.”

A week before the shooting, Bergin ran into Turck near Chimborazo Park as he was tending to a man who had just been beaten up.

“He had no idea who the guy was; sat down and checked the guy for a concussion,” Bergin recalls. “Just took time out of his day to help this dude.”

Mornings at the gym, Turck would often play two characters as a gag: one that constantly handed his co-workers objects that they didn’t need and one that would take away whatever object a trainer was about to use with a client.

“He would do this for 15 minutes straight,” says Rachel Garmon-Williams, a coworker and executive director of Bridge 9 Theater. “He was a ray of light at all times. He was the person that was there to champion you through absolutely everything.”

Kerith Rae, owner of Tequila & Deadlifts, says Turck was an important early supporter in forming the gym.

“The only reason that I have Tequila & Deadlifts is because I had his faith in me,” says Rae, who plans to engrave Turck’s weightlifting rack with his name and a Superman shield. “He didn’t just change your life; he changed you for the better.”

Memorials to Superman

Last Thursday, an honor walk was held for Turck at VCU Medical Center to commemorate the donation of his organs. Phil Crosby, RTP’s managing director, says a VCU Medical staff member told him it was the largest honor walk gathering that she’d ever seen. Turck’s organs will save the lives of eight people.

“Damn, we’re going to miss him,” Crosby says. “That was a unique light in the universe, and we’re going to miss him.”

Last week, the local theater community erected a memorial to Turck at the site of the shooting with flowers, framed photos and messages for him written in chalk on the sidewalk. The Virginia Rep costume department contributed a red cape that now hangs from a nearby street sign. Plans are in the works for a more permanent memorial.

Hubbard stresses that for all the comparisons to Superman, Turck was a normal person.

“In order to be a superhuman, you have to be a human,” Hubbard says. “Adam was a guy who gave himself to everyone and he did it with a smile on his face, but he was still just a guy. He had flaws, he had doubts. He was often afraid, he was often sad, and you wouldn’t know that just by being with him because he was so dedicated to uplifting other people.”

Burke recalls an escape room that she, Turck and some friends took part in years ago. At the end of the game, one member of the team was asked to “sacrifice” themselves so that the rest of the team could live. Turck, wanting to be the hero, volunteered; the ending was a trick, and he survived while the rest of the team was incinerated.

Driving home afterwords, Turck admitted that he was “a little upset.”

“I wanted to save my friends,” he said.

* – now known as the Richmond Theatre Community Circle. Full disclosure: Griset is a former RTCC member

** – now known as Richmond Shakespeare