Richard Thomas, who plays Juror Number Eight in 12 Angry Men, is best known for playing John-Boy Walton in the TV series The Waltons.

In the past few years, Richard Thomas has found contentment in anger.

First, the anger.

In 2006, he signed on to play Juror Number Eight in a New York stage production of Reginald Rose's courthouse drama, 12 Angry Men, a story that is still best known thanks to Sydney Lumet's 1957 movie of the same name starring Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb.

The production, which also starred erstwhile Cheers trencherman George Wendt, proved to be a hit for the Roundabout Theatre, and when they decided to take the show on the road in the wake of that success, Thomas leapt at the chance, even though Wendt opted to remain in New York to do Hairspray. For Thomas it was a chance to experience something unique.

Musicals, he observes from his Cleveland hotel room, go on the road all the time.

"But (this is) a play," he points out. "One of the great challenges and promises of taking this out last year was to just get a play on the road. It doesn't happen that often.

"It used to happen all the time, but now, the 'taste' is just for musicals," he continues. "But I don't think it has to do with public taste. I think it has to do with the venues and the kind of money they can make."

Thomas's experience since then would seem to bear him out. That same touring production is now in its second year on the road and is poised to open a limited run tomorrow night at the Princess of Wales Theatre, in the wake of a Christmas break.

"That's been the most gratifying surprise," Thomas says. "No one expected it to do the kind of business it's done."

But while Thomas might not have expected that kind of success, he thinks he can explain it in hindsight.

Because of the movie, he posits, "It's a piece of theatre a lot of people will remember, but it's also very entertaining. It's a play they can get and they really enjoy it."

As for the time on the road, Thomas is not only unfazed by it, he's lapping it up.

"As far as the itinerant aspects of (touring a show), that's one of the reasons I took this tour," he says. "It was a new experience for me. Once I got on the road, aside from the wrenching quality of being away from my family and purely from the work aspect of it, it's absolutely a gas and it feels like an absolutely authentic version of the actor's life.

"It's a deeply satisfying experience -- for me, anyway."

And make no mistake. Even though Thomas may still be best known across North America as the iconic big brother, John-Boy Walton on the long-running television series, The Waltons, at 56 he sees himself primarily as a creature of the stage.

"I'm a stage actor," he says simply.

"I've worked in television my whole life," he concedes, "but most actors who do both regularly will tell you that, if they have a preference, it's definitely for the theatre."

By his lights, it all comes down to the final product, be it TV, stage or even movies. He's done 'em all.

"No bad movie ever made can cause more misery than a bad evening of theatre," he insists. "But a good evening of theatre is unparalleled."

And despite what certain naysayers have to say about the future of dramatic theatre, Thomas is confident that theatre will have a future. "I'm a happy pessimist," he says. "That's the way I live my life. I think the worst has already happened and keeps happening over and over again. Everything changes. No golden age is golden forever.

"As long as (good plays) are getting done and people are getting to see them, that's what matters."

So for now, he's content to stay on the road -- and stay Angry -- and see where it leads.