BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:

Subject: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Sean Belt
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:14 AM

It's not music, but it's interesting to some of us, nonetheless! Over in the "How Did You Get Your Mudcat Name?" thread, there's an ongoing discussion of who is and isn't/has been/never was an actor. What say we move that over to here and let the previous thread get back to its main topic?

So... spill, y'all. What are your random thoughts on acting and actors in general? If you've done it, what were your greatest/oddest moments on stage, screen, or radio? If you've not done it yet, would you like to? Here's your chance to tell all.

Bread & roses, - Sean

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:17 AM

I belonged to a drama club as a teenager. I was bloody useless.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:21 AM

I do Renaissance faires and other period interactive street theatre

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Kim C
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:37 AM

I love acting although I haven't really done it much since college, unless you count historical reenacting as acting. Sometimes historical sites have programs that require a little bit of acting.... a couple years ago I played a young woman who had witnessed the Battle of Franklin. That was great fun. No pay in it, except the site bought us pizza.

I will freely admit I love being the center of attention (as long as I can do it on my own terms) so I enjoy performing, whether it's music or acting.

My favorite acting moment was probably in college when our drama troupe did "School for Scandal." They actually had a real costume maker make us real costumes, especially for this play, which is set in the 18th century. I had a lovely blue and cream gown and let me tell you, I felt like a princess. I don't presently remember the character I played, but she was a busybody and a gossip. At one point I had to exit the stage laughing this very evil laugh, which was probably my very favorite moment. The other was when I got to shout, "A curse upon you ALL!"

Another time we did this very strange Eugene Ionesco play, in English AND in French.

I just LOVE the stage........

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:39 AM

I had a theater minor in college. Not too much as an actor, but I was pretty good on makeup.

Later in my life I became a magician, which is really a branch of theater. I specialized in closeup magic, and walked around with a 25 minute show in my pockets at all times.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Alice
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 11:57 AM

In the Mikado, then a few television ads (no speaking parts in those), radio announcing, but no radio theatre. I think it would be a kick to do character voices for animation. I don't live anywhere near a studio that does that, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:01 PM

I was an actor for a number of years, did a mixture of professional work, semi-pro, university theatre, comedy performing and writing, and some musicals. Lots of everything. I was unable to stand the strain of always being auditioned -- as a friend of mine said: how come actors are required to have a skin too few, and yet are constantly being rejected? How can you have a thick skin and a thin one simultaneously? I was never able to work that out. Lots of people in the same boat with me.

The interesting thing for me recently is that I was never, ever shy in the theatre. I never dried up once. But now to play the guitar or sing a folk song in company is torture. This kind of performance is virtually impossible for me. I have no idea why -- lack of distance probably. It scares the hell out of me, all the time. I dry up, can't remember my own name, basic chords, anything. Completely strange. I am working through it, but it is totally new in my experience.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peg
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:09 PM

I got bit by that bug in junior high school. Sang in choirs before that but drama was a different thing. Did skits in grade school, not the same...did the ninth grade assembly thing where we get to do our own writing, directing etc. and we did some rip-off of Saturday Night Live (I was Roseanne Rosanna Danna) and I decided I liked this being on stage thing.

Was in a Neil Simon play, a couple other plays and musicals in high school, decided I wanted to study acting in college, auditioned for SUNY Purchase and got wait-listed but not admitted. Went to the second-best of the SUNY schools (since I had no money for school and my folks did not quite get that I was smart enough--13th in a class of 365-- to get scholarships etc. to wherever I wanted to go, but oh well) for drama and dance, also studied voice.

Had a great time, did a wee bit of professional regional theatre after graduating...not much here in Boston, despite it's being a city that could easily support a decent and lively theatre scene...

High points/fun anecdotes on acting (warning: these are often about ego and receiving validation that you are good at what you do--hey I was younger!):

1) getting an offer at my first freshman college audition to play the musical lead in "The Beggar's Opera"; it actually went to the music director's daughter (a senior); which freed my up to get a lead in Picnic that many other females in the Department wanted...establishing me as a threat, in a good way...got raves from the other acting professors in the dept. who both cast me in great stuff.

2) Auditioning for the Bald Soprano. The director, unbeknownst to the actors auditioning, decided he wanted to cast the Maid (a great part) as a man in drag. So at thened of the night, without having had anyone read for the part, he said all the women could go home. So we figured it out and were understandably kinda pissed off. Some of the females did in fact leave, but of course some of us wanted to see how the men did... and they did okay. But I wanted this damn part! So at one point said director (a cool guy whose kid I ended up babysitting a few times) said "Any other men want to read?" and I cleared my throat and said in my lowest gruff voice, "Yeah, me!" He laughed and looked around and said "Oh, all right" to indulge me. I guess somethign worked, cuz next morning on the cast list my name was up there as The Maid...

2) playing Lucy in a dinner theatre production of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and deciding not to wimp out on the songs; they go to an "E" and it was right on my break and most young actresses I had seen do it could not get the proper amount of "Lucy" into their voices, shiftinginto head voice on the high notes...but I worked at it til I could sing everything in a loud brassy belt; boy what a lotta fun that show was. Despite its being kidstuff and having done some much more serious stuff, people still say this was their favorite thing they ever saw me do...

3) being asked after doing a staged reading audition in Rochester, NY if, as they did not have a role for me, if I wanted to audition for a professional production (A Christmas Carol)...did I! I took time off work to go. I read from the script with no one oppoosite, that "assistant in the chair" thing you see so often on TV portrayals. After a couple minutes the director said "That's fine." Okay I thought, don't call us, we'll call you. He had a sly smile on his face. "Sit down," he said. I did. "Where'd you learn to act like that?" he asked. I was pleasantly surprised. I knew I had read well but that doesn't always mean anything, tastes being what they are. I told him where I went to school. He said the part I read (Belle) was cast but he wanted to cast me as daughter Martha Cratchit and that, since the script was still being developed, he would put in a word for the part to have more lines added if he coudl look forward to someoen like me in the role...wow! I accepted. But later had to drop out before rehearsal started because, since there were kids in the cast, they rehearsed DAYS and occasionally NIGHTS and, since I could not figure out a way to quit my job and do something that flexible (I was just out of college remember and clueless about certain things like, oh, the fact that most professional actors wait tables)...oh well, blew that. Mr. Director was not pleased, I heard thru the grapevine. I heard in later years this director was a jerk to work with...

4) Same city: audition for Extremities. Lead already cast ( along haired brunette like me). Read for two other roles. Clear choice for one of them: another long haired brunette. Ran into the lead actress a week later after hearing a blonde (pretty, not anywhere near as strong an audition as mine) got the third female role. She said she felt bad cuz the director wanted to cast me but could not. Said she actually wanted to offer HER part to me! I thought that was damn sweet. Got a personal note from the director that week saying she was so sorry she could not use me but wanted a more visual balance in the cast (three brunettes of similar build and looks, too many). She had no reason to explain but she took the time to do so; I though that was pretty classy.

5) Same city: played Young Mona in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean...several gay women and one gay man in the cast. We had a blast and the production was great. Perhaps because I had been in a dateless slump for several months (I was not far outta college and did not know many people in this city) I developed an inexplicable crush on my young gay male love interest; he even had a steady boyfriend...we played opposite each other so maybe that is just what happens...we remained friends and I even took dance classes with him. I later (many years later) heard that another young woman in the cast was extremely jealous of and threatened by me because I was not in awe of her. A friend of hers told me once she figured out how we knew each other...I found this fascinating since this young actress seemed to have the world on a string. Go figure.

6) As a result of being in a college production of Hair the year of its 20th anniversary, our cast got invited to sing back-up and dance at a revival performance at the United Nations in NYC, with many of the original cast members from the stage and film versions, as well as international stage productions with big stars when they just started out (like Donna Summer, who was in the German cast of Hair). Met some big stars, some of whom were nice. Some were not. But the whole thing was outrageous in so many ways: censorship, corruption, ego, embezzlement, etc. It's a long story, one I may tell some day...

7)Years later in graduate school: Once had to choose between playing a fabulous part (Widow Quin in Playboy of the Western World) and starting a job at a proessional regional theatre as a literary assistant. I told the director I wanted the part and would find a way. One of the guys in charge of hiring at the theatre (the Dramaturg) said I could not do both as he would need me the nights of the performance, etc. Mind you, I still did not have the job but was competing against one other guy. (He was from Yale as was the Artistic Director; I was at UMASS as was the Dramaturg). I spent the whole day at work one day on the phone back and forth trying to find a way to do both. Took the birds in the bush instead of the one in the hand...Of course the Yale guy got the job, and was fired six months later. (The Dramaturg was perplexed as to why did not reapply for the job!) I had to tell the director I could not play the part and he was very disappointed but he understood it was a career move (not that it ended up being one, but...). He cast a young woman who was a very attractivce and consummate actress, but, in her words, she would play the part "as someone who would have sex with Christy just to get what she wanted; Your Widow would have sex with him cuz it's fun to roll around on the barn floor." My brogue was better than hers, too, but she did do a very nice job. The production went on to win first place in the regional College Theatre Competition, and was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. One of the cast members (Christy) has a pretty nice TV career going on...I also played opposite him in Marat/Sade (he was the Marquis de Sade with padding and ugly make up, and I was Charlotte Corday).

8)At least one of my fellow actors from college days is now doing rather well for himself. Liev Schreiber (now up for an Emmy for his portrayal of the young Orson Welles in an HBO special), who starred in Jakob the Liar, A Walk on the Moon, Sphere, Walking and Talking, etc etc. We were in "The Merchant of Venice" together: he was the merchant. My part was complicated to expain but suffice to say it involved a total costume change in less than thirty seconds (from a Joan Jett clone in a skin-tight black leather dress and combat boots, to Marilyn Monroe in a silver lame evening gown and heels--oh, and singing to sound like them) and I got to come and go through a trap door in the stage floor...

9) In college, did a bawdy rendition of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, borne of a late-night, last-minute rehearsal for a Shakspeare "seminar" a few of us more industrious and good-hearted students wre putting together for a local high school. We knew we didn't know all the lines for the mad scene from Hamlet, the confrontation in the Scottish play, etc. but we did know that balcony scene cold. We saved it for last, so we could end the rehearsal on a high note. We were punchy, it was late, the security guard came by and inplied she wanted us to finish up so she could lock the building. Not sure which one of us started doing it, me or Romeo, but we started reading as much bawdy innuendo into the dialogue as we could, and started acting it out...our pals and colleagues went nuts and, while we could not do such a thing before the innocent high school kids the next day, we DID work up a version to be performed before a more adult audience at a monthly variety thing we did. (We were busy little beavers in those days; I used to run three miles a day and maintain a 3.4 average, too) It was a hit; particularly with the Bald Soprano director, who, halfway through the scene stood up and pointed and laughingly scolded "Now stop that!" (He believed in encouraging audience/performer confrontation and in fact almost produced Peter Handke's Offending the Audience there, but met with resistance because of its politically-volatile content)

Oh, there's more but that is enough for now...

peg

ex-drama-rama

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Sean Belt
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:22 PM

Bert, no one is completely useless. There's always a need for good audience members, at the very least.
MMario, As long as it's not mime, it's fine by me. (He said as if his opinions on street mime really matered!:-))
Kim C, Of course historical reenacting can be theater! Now you've got me curious; where do you perform music?
Alice,The Mikado is one of my favorites. I just recently saw a really fun amateur production of it. Ages and abilities ranged all over the map. But, boy, were they having a good time on that stage!
Peter T., your musical shyness is not so strange. I experience it myself. Never when acting. But when I'm performing music up there by myself and only have my voice and guitar/banjo/whatever between me ant the audience, there a palpable wave of nerves. It never happens when I'm playing in a social or jamming situation. But put me in front of an audience and I'm a mess. I've managed to get enough control over it that I now expect it to happen and can deal with it and put it away in the first song or so. I hope you can do the same and get more enjoyment out of sharing your music with others.

All these answers! I don't know why I'm feeling so chatty this morning!
- Sean

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:29 PM

Acting, what a life!

If anyone thinks professional musicians have it rough, they should see what actors go through.

I've acted in a number of productions, and what really stands out is how DISCIPLINED thespians are compared to musicians. Early morning rehearsals, absolute job insecurity, and the curious concept of a director telling you HOW to act.

The first production I was in (keep in mind I was always hired because they needed a musician who could also speak lines and not trip over the scenery) was directed by a local legend named Geo. Luscombe. On the first day of rehearsal he had the cast DANCING around the stage (he owned the theatre) as a warm up to the first read-through. I politely declined, stating that I BECAME a musician 'cause I couldn't dance. He stared me down and shouted at me to "get off my ass and dance"! Til that point I wasn't aware that the director's whims were law, so I just smiled and said "no thanks". Got screamed at again. Told him to perform a little dance of his own, packed up the instruments and left.

A friend of mine got hired as a replacement...and WASN'T REQUIRED TO DANCE! Ha Ha! Although I knew I'd been "unprofessional" I figured the director had learned that musicians were too stupid to be intimidated. T'was a good show. Peter T might remember it. It was called "10 Lost Years".

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: kendall
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:36 PM

I played Scrooge in grammar school, and, the fair young maiden in a Barnacle Bill skit. What do I think of actors? they are ok as long as they dont become president.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:38 PM

I've never been in a play, movie, ad or anything. But I keep up a good face about my X2B for my twins!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: MMario
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:38 PM

No - not mime. Just over the top, larger then life (which at my size is hard) inaccuate potrayals of "normal" day to day life from another time period....

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:45 PM

I havn't acted since college but two of the actors I worked with in high school have done well. One was Karen Austin. The best role I remember her in was as a rape victim in "The Jagged Edge". The other one was Terrence Mann who was in the original Broadway casts of "Cats" , "Les Miz" { Tony Nomination } and as the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast". It makes me wish I'd kept up with my acting. But thats one tough way to make a living.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:53 PM

That's a great story Rick. Funny thing is that I had not been on stage at all since my days in the drama club as a teenager. 'Till one time in the late Sixties I performed as a folk dancer in a performance of 'The Bartered Bride' at The Royal Festival Hall in London.

Bert.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Shanti
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:27 PM

Lord, but it's difficult to keep up with the responses on this thread, particularly since I didn't get in at the beginning.

Have never acted professionally, but started in community theater at KCU (now Univ of Mo at KC)when I was seven. Fondest memory is of being the youngest member of the chorus (age 14) in a production of OF THEE I SING (first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize). Did some acting in high school and some folk singing. I agree with whoever said it that it's MUCH more difficult to sing and play an instrument, up there by yourself, than it is to become someone else in a play. Decided not to pursue a singing career because I just flat out don't have the temperament for it. Get too nervous and I HATE auditioning for anything.

Sounds like we've got quite a few erstwhile actors in the mudhole...no wonder I feel at home.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:37 PM

I acted the first time I tried getting a college education and between coffeehouses and one play per term, I forgot all about classes. Finally began to figure out what acting was all about during the last production I was in. It seems that if people can tell you're doing it, you ain't doing it right. Or something like that.

Most interesting show I ever did was Marat/Sade, even though I was in a very minor role. That show contains some absolutely mind-blowing concepts.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:48 PM

One advantage musicians seem to have over actors is that they can play around with their skills to relax. I mean like sitting and singing songs. Actors are either on or off: only very occasionally will they get together with other actors to read or perform for the hell of it, without an audience. It is a curious kind of life and skill.

Contrary to what Rick says (who I almost never contradict on any subject) musicians seem to me to be much more disciplined than most actors. They at least have to practice to keep their skills up: while many actors take classes and do voice exercises, there are lots of famous actors who just rely on their charisma. Totally undisciplined.

Of course there are different sorts of musicians. Would I be making an invidious comparison if I compared a classical pianist or opera singer who has to practice 2 to 3 hours a day, to most folk musicians? I assume there are folk musicians who do that, maybe even more -- but is it the norm? Actors as a rule use rehearsals and performances to keep their skills in shape. Very few go in for dance, movement, voice, stuff. An actor who trained 2 to 3 hours a day as well as peforming would be considered really weird.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Brendy
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:59 PM

I've played guitar in some of the Lloyd Webber 'productions' (otherwise known as 'The Orchestra'), and played the part of Clifford Anderson in a production of Ira Levin's Deathtrap by an amateur dramatic group in the west of Ireland.

On opening night, as all of the subsequent nights, the leading character, Sidney had to kiss me on the lips.
Fair enough, that's what you have to do, sometimes. But as a 'little welcome' to the world of the Boards, on the opening night, Sidney stuck his tongue down my throat. I had the next line!!!
Naah..., but I made it OK. It's not all that much different to replying to a heckle from the audience. The same mental rules apply, anyway.

B

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Mbo
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 02:11 PM

Wes, you know Terrence V. Mann?! Wow! He's so cool!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Sean Belt
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 02:24 PM

Rick,
It's interesting that you should say that actors are more disciplined than musicians. I'd never really thought much about. Then a musician friend who had been cast in an out of town production of mentioned to me how much harder he thought that actors had it than musicians. When I asked him what he meant he said, "Why, at the end of the run of the play, they wouldn't give me my paycheck until I'd cleaned out my dressing room. I never have to do that when I'm playing a gig with my band."
True story.
- Sean

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 03:12 PM

Jeez Brendy!! You've got nerves of steel! I'd have passed out!

In every production I was in, I quickly sensed that I was seen as the "hired picker" rather than a member of the "acting troupe". Fair enough, but learning the superstitions (and getting up at 8am...that's what I mean by discipline, Peter) was at first tricky. Not that I was going to be sitting in the dressing room whistling and saying "MacBeth" over and over again, but just things like giving each other presents on opening night. Nobody told me...so I didn't, and I was embarassed.

In a production of O'Neil's "Desire Under the Elms" I played the drunken fiddler neighbour who gets the old man dancing faster and faster. To my horror, one night he tripped and danced (fell) right through the wall of the set! I didn't know whether to keep playing, say "holy shit!" or whatever. (this was something the director never prepared me for) I watched in amazement as Wanda Cannon (playing his new young wife) reached through the shattered wall, pulled her aging husband back, and in a decidedly un-O'Neil-like line, say, "I guess my lovin's bin makin' ya strong!!"

If anyone's interested I have a photo from the production taken about 2 seconds before this incident happened. I can ask Tony Burns to post it.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 03:55 PM

It's interesting that you should say that actors are more disciplined than musicians. That's the difference. In acting, particularly with certain plays, there is no encouragement for ad libbing, and straying from the script is frowned upon.... Do that in a musical situation and it immediately becomes harmony, jazz, or a session. And that's nice.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Morticia
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:06 PM

I've been acting in amateur productions for ages.....everything from Under Milk Wood to pantomime. My bestest story was about a production of Cinderella where I was playing about 7 different roles, one of which involved the quickest quick change in the world..about 45 seconds to get out of a ball gown and into a bunny girl costume.We couldn't find a made up bow tie so it had to be done from scratch....usually by whoever I could grab to do it whilst I was slithering into the rest of the outfit...actors who share dressing space not being particularly shy.
So one night I grab this chap who was wondering aimlessly round back stage and get him to tie this wretched thing while I adjust my tits, straighten my fishnets and sort myself out into this black onepiece and cannot understand why he is blushing, sweating and trying to tie the thing whilst looking at the ceiling.....turns out the poor man is the vicar... only there to deliver a note to someone else. Wonder if he ever got over it?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Mbo
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:14 PM

Oops I forgot to say I was Algy in "The Importance of Being Earnest."

--Matt (confirmed Bunburyist)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:16 PM

I've done quite a bit of time in the theatre, but that was a few years ago... Even won a couple of Best Actor awards in festivals and such... The theatre is still my first lovem but I have more fun, and make more money as a folk musician...

{~`

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: bbelle
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:20 PM

It doesn't surprise me, at all, that there are so many of us who are actors. Many times, when I was gigging fulltime, I had to playact to get through the gig ... not feeling well, goofy audience, etc.

When I was 8 years old, I formed a neighborhood circus and I was the ringmaster (or ringmistress or dominatrix, whatever).

In high school, played the part of Mammy Yokum in L'l Abner and Kim in Bye Bye Birdie.

Have played Eliza Doolittle and Mrs. Pierce in My Fair Lady (2 different productions); Nettie in Carousel; Ado Annie in Oklahoma!; several Chekhov farcical playlets; Nelly in South Pacific.

It was all great fun but it takes up so much time, i.e., thrice-weekly rehearsals; everynight dress rehearsals; and then the actual performances.

Rick and Brendy ... those are very funny stories. Most of my leading men were gay, so it was like kissing a brother.

moonchild

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Mbo
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:27 PM

Oh yeah, when I was 5, I was the first of 3 Royal guards in "Why The King & Queen Wouldn't Speak". It was fun 'cause I got to wear a tunic and carry a sword, and arrest my best friends Raymond, who was a pirate!

--M

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:47 PM

Rick, what lunatic made you get up at 8 a.m.? No theatre actor in history ever got up at 8 a.m, unless they were making a movie, or going to a real job. They hardly even get to bed by 8 a.m. Oh, I guess in rehearsal mode they might get up earlier. But not once a performance was underway.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:51 PM

Rick, I sure would like to see that picture from the "Desire Under the Elms" play. What a story!

Bonnie

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:57 PM

It's a pretty scary picture. I've seen it. Not a patch on the Afro phase, but scary.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Sourdough
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 09:36 PM

Although I posted as a theater type in another thread, I wanted to move my message over to a more appropriate thread so if you've read part of this before, I apologise.

I worked in summer stock in New Hampshire with an old, established company and i ran a dinner theater in New hven where I did one-acts, somewhat more challenging in content than what you normally find in dinner theaters. It was real low budget but in a university town it drew enough patrons to keep stumbling on week to week. Having access to Yale Drama School students was a big plus, too.

One of the more "far out" places I worked was with Judith Malina and Julian Beck at The Living Theatre in New York on plays like The Connection, In The Jungle of Cities and one play that was based on the I Ching. When I mentioned the I CHing in that other thread, someone asked how you make a play out of The I Ching. This is what I wrote to him.

Playwright Jackson Maclow threw a lot of yarrow sticks to get the words he would use in the play. He mixed the words up and then assigned clumps of words to characters he named. I don't remember where he got the names though.

The director, Julian Beck, then read through the "script" looking for images suggested by the random falling of the words. He came up with a scenario of six scenes. Now it was time to stage this puppy.

Rehearsals were recorded on audiotape and they were also filmed on 16 mm silent B&W stock. The audiotape was cut up at random with non-magnetic scissors and the strips were reassembled in random order.

The main character was an actor named Henry, I think he was called "The Man in White" in the program. Throughout the production, he stood at a lectern up right on the stage, rolling dice. When he rolled a seven, he threw a switch. More about that later.

Between scenes a scrim was lowered in the front of the stage. For those who don't recognize the word, it is a gauze curtain with a wonderful characteristic: if you light something behind it, the scrim becomes transparent. If you project light onto the front of it, it acts as a screen, reflecting the light back towards the audience.

In this case, Julian had both done simultaneously. Henry was bathed in a greenish downlight behind the scrim house left. A movie projector played footage from the rehearsal footage, the actors in street clothes, working out the play, sometimes serious, sometimes laughing.

Now, back to the switch. WHen Henry threw a seven, he toggled the switch turning on a red light above the stage manager's station. That was my cue to play the tape or to shut it off. (This was the "Music by John Cage".) So, as the actors were saying disconnected lines like "Thunder water rolls morning yellow" The cut-up audio recording of the randomly associated words that had been reassembled even more randomly rang out with sentences such as "Young goats three boat". You could get a screaming headache trying to find patterns of meaning.

You would think this would have been enough to satisfy the I Ching's call to randomness but there was more. Jackson had prepared 1000 playing cards that were places in a large shoe, the sort you would see in a gambling casino. Each card had an action on it. "Jump", "Spin around three times", "Take seven running steps in whatever direction you are facing", "screech", etc.. There was even one card, and I quote, "pick left nostril with right hand (any finger).

The play itself was a dazzling display of people shreiking unconnected words, running offstage and back, falling to the floor, jumping into the audience, doing contortions and other actions that Jackson had put together. Meanwhile that same audience was being bathed in the words and images from the I Ching. Of course, no performance was ever the same.

This play was not a popular success.

On the other hand, it helped to establish the Living Theatre as one of the premiere avant-garde companies in the country. It was a hangout for beat poets, dancers like Merce Cunningham, abstract expressionist painters, the movie made from The Connection won a silver palm at Cannes, but I have to tell you, that play made from the I Ching would drive you mad.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: celticblues5
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 09:58 PM

Hey, Shanti, always nice to see mention of KC - we lived there & environs (KCMO, Liberty, Holt, Tonganoxie) for about 20 years. Were you there long enough to grow up & go to the Grand Emporium? Ever do any Foolkiller classes?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Pseudolus
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:08 AM

Love that theatre thing.... I've been Pseudolus (duh!), the Cowardly Lion (twice!), Rueben (the oldest brother) in Joseph (met my wife in that one!), the telephone repairman in Neil Simon's barefoot in the Park (Funniest 7 minutes of my life!), and many, many others. Lots of similarities in selling a song and selling a role so I'm not surprised at all with the folks heavily involved in both.

Funniest theatre story? I can't top baring all in front of the Vicar but this was pretty funny... While playing the part of Albert Peterson in "Bye Bye Birdie", I was supposed to make an entrance after Mr Macaffee finished a paragrah or so of dialog. He lost it after one line. I was about to go in and it sounded like he caught himself, then he lost it again, I started to go in again and he started talking again!! This happened several times and finally I just barged in and everyone, Mr. Macaffee, the kid, and the ENTIRE AUDIENCE was staring at me. The guy playing Mr. Macaffee (God rest his soul...) had a knack for losing his lines and a BETTER knack for making it look like it was your fault!!! I just smiled and continued.....

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:58 AM

Started out in grade school, putting on and acting the lead in Hansel and Gretel; always was making up and putting on little plays at home. Dad still calls me a *ham actor*.

Several others throughout high school, including Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. One of the criteria to getting into drama club was improv. The *role* I drew was to act like a soggy teabag! I guess I did okay as they accepted me.

Danced in another production of Hansel & Gretel. Also had the cast party at our house, as we had a great big, spooky looking old Victorian out in the country at the end of a long dirt driveway. We painted a BIG psychedelic sign which said, "Witch's House" and put it at the end of the driveway. A picture of it, with the review, showed up in the paper the next day.

Since I was in orchestra it took precendence. I have to say my most memorable theatre experience was playing in the first violin section during a really well-done production of Showboat. I really loved my part, plus it was one of those times when everyone just meshed so well; everything just clicked.

Oh, and I was in heaven, when my sister, who majored in drama and acted in everything, was in college and asked me to play a black cat in something she was putting on. I was about 13 and had an instant crush on the leading man. Had a blast acting all grown up and sexy in slinky black leotard and tights!

If I was able now, I'd go for some of the roles like Kathy Bates does...I think I'd have a knack for them...according to himself and other family members there is still no lack of the high dramatics evident in my early years. *BG*

Fun thread, nice to read about ya'll.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Barky
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 01:21 AM

(sorry to go way back in the thread, but)
Alice: What part did you play in the Mikado? That is my all time favorite G&S light opera. Have you seen Topsy Turvy? That is the greatest movie!
My acting experience? Not much for acting, but I love improv. I played Susanna Walcott in The Crucible last year, and two years ago I played first trumpet in the pit orchestra to a really well done production of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Boy was that fun!

~Barky

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Callie
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 03:35 AM

I ran a young people's theatre for 5 years. I loved it, and/but it nearly killed me!

I like the kind of theatre that has something to say. Our theatre was very community based - brought young people's concerns to audiences. There were some wonderful productions, and I met some complete nutcases!

The mainstream theatres treated us with some scorn, and I guess it was vice versa! Our state theatre company has a full subscription series but produces a lot of crap.

I don't enjoy acting myself. i prefer to create opportunities for other people to do it. I don't have any actors in my circle of friends, but it's mainly a philosophical divide rather than a personal dislike.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Sean Belt
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 08:40 AM

Okay, time to blow my own horn for a little. I just found out that I've been given the "Best Actor in a Leading Role for the 1999 - 2000 Season" award by a group here in St. Louis for playing the lead in Strindberg's The Father. Last year, I got one from another set of folks for playing Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman.

Now, I've never been much for awards and the like. I've always been a big believer that the satisfaction of a job well done was enough. Too, I've always thought of myself as a musician first and an actor second. But when your fellow actors and techies give you a gift like this, well, it feels pretty darned good.

Now if I can only get a part where the poor guy doesn't die at the end....
- Sean

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Naemanson
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 09:11 AM

Three years ago the Chocolate Church decided to produce its own major musical as part of the celebration of its 20th anniversry. They settled on Jesus Christ Superstar. Up til then I had never considered doing any theater but that play has always been a favorite and I auditioned on a whim. To my surprise I was cast as the Apostle Paul, not a major part but a good one. I had a great time, the play got rave reviews, and I was hooked. For those of you who have seen me, or pictures of me, you should recognise that I am somewhat conspicuous on stage due to my size and hulking walk.

The next year the major musical produced by the Chocolate Church was Tommy. This time I was cast as the minister. Once again great fun and a close family feeling in the cast. Many of the Superstar cast played in this one.

After that I played Don Alhambra in Gilbert & Sullivan's Gondoliers for Merrymeeting Community Players. Not a great experience but it provided great experience if you know what I mean.

This year we did Fiddler On The Roof at the Chocolate Church. My part was a very bit part partly because I had outside interests taking up some of my time (Roll & Go is working on recording our first CD). Still it was a great experience.

The Chocolate Church has gained, in these three productions, a reputation for quality and professionalism that is hard to find in community theater. The pit band for each of these productions started rehearsing 6 to 8 weeks out from when the actors step on to the stage. The music was as near to perfect as could be achieved. The costumes were well executed. The only place where each production suffered was in the dancing. As hard as they tried it was still difficult to impossible for the choreographer to turn us into graceful dancers. Having said that I would like to point out that the bottle dance in Fiddler was done without glue or velcro!

Funny(?) Story – While doing the last supper scene in Superstar we were each given a small piece of bread toeat because the pantomime wasn't working. During the actual performancve I got a piece of bread lodged in my throat and started to choke, literally unable to breathe. I was in some distress while the audience watched unaware. The Apostle song was coming up too! Fortunately the piece dislodged before I had to leave the stage but I was unable to sing in the first verse of the song.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 09:51 AM

Congratulations Sean.

Interesting (and funny) thread.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: GUEST,Michael in Swansea
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:11 AM

I was 6 when I played one of the kings in the school nativity play, I had one line, word really "Frankincense" At the end we all sang "We Will Rock You" (the gentle Jesus sweetly sleep version). 10 years later I was back on stage as the Scarecrow but I've mentioned that before. My only other "acting" experience was for something I can't remember. I was a spaceman dressed in Bacofoil and I had to say "I have travelled 3'000 light years, take me to your toilet" Ah well Michael

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:26 AM

Enjoyable thread isn't it? Not really surprising that acting would be a part of 'Catter make-up though is it?

I loved the plays in jr. high, high school, and college. I never did any really wonderful things, just the usual old standards-----Teahouse,Arsenic,Harvey, Our Town.....we did do Bound for Glory in college, but that wasn't much acting wise. I got a couple of best actor awards and just enjoyed the experience immensely. At the small time, school/college level I was involved at, my biggest asset was my ability to memorize things quickly which I'm sure overshadowed any talent I may have had!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:29 AM

Oh, stories. I was in a summer stock production of "Taming of the Shrew" playing Petruchio, and as usually happens in these things, the Kate and the Petruchio either fall in love or hate each other. In this case, before the end, we hated each other. There are two big fight scenes in the play -- the first meeting, and the starvation scene. They are two acts apart. The second performance night, the first scene got way out of hand, and turned into a physical brawl. The audience had no idea. The Kate hissed to me at the end of it: I am going to kill you in the dinner scene. Since she got to throw dishes around, this was no idle threat. I went off stage and spoke to the stage manager, who was an old hand, and had actually choreographed our stage fights. In the interval, he went home, and brought me back something. The play continued. We are in Renaissance garb, and the dinner scene begins -- it was a bit raucous, and then what happens is that food is brought in, but she is not allowed to eat any of it, which is when things get rough. She reached out to pick up various utensils and dishes to fling at me, and out from under my cloak I pulled a handgun and fired a shot in the air (it was a blank). The audience loved it, and the rest of the scene went really quietly. She sort of threw things in my direction and shrieked a bit, but she had become a bit wary. At the end of the play she stomped on my toe in the banqueting scene, but we sort of calmed down after that. The rest of the run went smoothly. We parted wary colleagues. The cast did give her a holster as a joke gift at the cast party, which she took in good part. Ah youth!

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:38 AM

LMAO!!!! Geeziz, I'm sorry I missed that one Peter!!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Peter T.
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:51 AM

I never had any luck with women in Taming of the Shrew -- the second production I was in, which was much later, the Kate left two nights before the opening to take a professional job. We fought on and off stage too, but not on the same scale. She went on to be a wellknown Canadian actress -- I still hate her!!!! To have a really nice relationship with actresses in Shakespeare, you need Much Ado About Nothing, or the equivalent. I have always wanted to try out Macbeth/Lady Macbeth, though an actress I know who has done it says that it is very frustrating for women actresses since she only gets the sleepwalking scene in the last half of the play -- she sits around a lot. Still

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: MichaelM
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 11:40 AM

I haven't been onstage (in a play) for about ten years. I had the same experience Peter T. did with zero lack of stage fright as long as I was playing someone else. Being able to completely immerse myself in a role that called for me to say and do things that I would never do was incredibly exciting.

Worst thing that happened? In my first production of Jesus Christ Superstar (I know, once is experimentation; twice is perversion) I was playing Pontius Pilate. The set was modern with three ramps spaced at right angles for entrances and exits. The centre ramp was substantially steeper than the flanking ones to allow a throne to be placed at the top for the trial scenes. That throne was were I was to be for my first song after a procession across the stage. Everything went fine for the first week of performances. We were dark for two nights during which time the techies were going to tighten up the set, re-focus the lights and generally restore the set to a fresh appearance. Unfortunately the person put in charge of repainting the traffic areas was not terribly bright. The original paint had been a matte finish with sand added for traction. He decided to use a couple of coats of glossy with no sand. The first night back the actors were complaining to the stage manager about how slippery things were underfoot. None of them had yet had to tackle the "Ramp of Death". I come out for my first scene working up a little extra speed to ensure I will get to the top of this thing. I got halfway up, turned partly to acknowledge the figures standing beside me and slid, standing up, about six feet to the bottom of the ramp. Second attempt: I turn to the audience, start singing (as my musical cue has arrived and the band doesn't stop for nothing) and place one foot carefully behind me as far up the ramp as I could reach. I put as much of my weight as I can manage onto that foot, move my other foot back and the weight-bearing foot flies out from under me. I managed to catch myself with my other foot with my ass bare inches off the ground lookin like I was about to attempt some Yogic flying. According to the other cast members I didn't miss a syllable or change expression on my way down. The same could not be said of the actor playing Christ who was having (back to the audience) uncontrollable giggles.

Ah, the theatre!

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 11:48 AM

OK, 'Spaw, I'm trying to guess what parts you played. In "TeaHouse" you were the "moon" ,right? In "Harvey" you were the unseen Pookie (great part!),in "Arsenic and old lace" you were the corpse,am I close?
Yours, etc.,
The distinctly unthespian village idiot,RtS (hey if the Shrub can get the Presidential nomination perhaps I should try for county idiot)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 02:09 PM

I'm not going into that Skiff...........But I will tell you that the WORST piece of casting the world has ever known was thought to be Marlon Brando in Teahouse.........I'm here to say that I made him look REAL good! At the time, I was 6 foot tall and weighed about 220........Just about the same as now. It didn't seem to strike anyone odd that the "Japanese" guy was BIGGER than most of the American guys. Ah, the midwest...........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Mbo
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 02:17 PM

Actually Spaw, I thought that Brando as Sakini was great. The movie is one of our favorites. We lived on Okinawa for 3 years...though I can tell you that Tobiki is not a real place, several real cities & towns are mentioned in the movie. At the crossroads where the meet to old woman with the goat is Awase, not to far from the former site of Camp Lester, where I first learned to play guitar.

--Matt (Socks up, Boss)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 02:49 PM

LOL Meebs........yeah, it figures you would have been to Okinawa. Let's say that Brando's makeup was a lot better than mine and I had to stoop over a lot more!!! But here in the great midwest, we'll but anything....even Corn Relish!

John Patrick adapted the play from the book of the same name. Its a really light and fun read too. Iread it then and it still pops up for a comeback occasionally. Its far more convoluted than the play, but it gives you some interesting "mindsets" of the characters.

Patrick had another "standard" that was more fun to do for me called "Curious Savage" which takes place in an asylum where you realize the "inmates" are more sane than the guests from outside........kinda' like the 'Cat.....or the NYCFTTS. Needless to say, I played an inmate.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 04:09 PM

MMm, vicars in theatres eh?

As head chorister, I got to meet our new vicar in an unusal fashion. We were doing a Royal Wedding revue, I was 2nd Can can (OK Gervase, Micca and Morty, get up and stop that snorting) girl. We progressed through the dance, all properly attired and all that, and of course at the end, we did the skirt over the head, arses in the air towards the audience bit. We are all wearing varying degrees of hens bum knickers (ask Morticia) only mine have a pair of big handprints on the back of them....... Vicar got a considerably better view than anyone else, because as guest of honour, he got the front row seat!

[Incidentally, this was the same vicar who threw me out of church for laughing too loudly when there wasn't even a service going on! - we never did get on.....]

Me, wearing a very short tennis skirt (same hens bum knickers) and kissing the other choir member who was playing Prince Charles wasn't high on his list of amusing things to do either!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Morticia
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 07:35 PM

Hens bum knickers ( I think I coined the phrase but I could have 'borrowed' it from elsewhere, I do that a lot) are those in which circles of lace are arranged in concentric circles......usually seen on small children and apparently, on Liz.........you live and learn, dontcha?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 01:33 PM

I must admit that I haven't acted on stage since the early days of secondary school (I preferred to be one of the tech crew - more scope for mischief ;->) but I've been involved in re-enacting (if that counts) for some 25 years (I know, sad innit), which had got me some "extra" (sorry! "background artist"<1>) work on TV. Does re-enacting count if there are no public present? (Oh the joy of sitting in a trench at 2 am on a November morning).

Regards

Walrus

<1> Pretentious title or what?

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: Elise
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 09:04 PM

Theater major. 'Nuff said. (That and a buck'll get me a cheap latte)

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: PoohBear
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 01:25 AM

I was in a theatre group in high school - and very much out-classed by most of the other kids. In the chorus of "Joseph and the Amazing.....", Dames at Sea. did costuming for Side by Side by Sondheim and No, No, Nanette. Haven't done any 'formal' theatre since (say, in about 100 years!!) Our local theatre is about to do Arsenic and Old Lace and I'm trying to work up the courage to audition for the part of Elaine....

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: DougR
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 10:54 PM

Kendall: Surprised you would say that, considering the fact that you owe your current prosperity to the fact that we had an actor as President. :>) DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Mudcat theatrical call board:
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 11:00 PM

Geez Doug, I thought Clinton played sax and was a lawyer. Nice to know he also acted!!! I am surprised though that you would know so much about his background. Did you work for Ken Starr or something?

Spaw