Don't Want To Give It Away, But . . .

 

SCAPINO - 1976. That's me on the dock

There's quite a thrill involved when you do sonething you love and get paid for it.  I spent 21 years as a Touring Professional Actor/Director. Meaning I got paid for performing and sharing my craft. Then, after moving to Spokane, spent about 10 more years as a Working Actor.  After being able to put food on my table by indulging in a profession I adore, I must say it's difficult to "give it away".  Opportunities to work professionally in this area are few and far between, but the draw of the stage remains strong. 

So now comes the difficult question -- I want to get back on stage, but I don't want to jump into just ANY production. Especially since I would be donating my time and talents to do so.

I often ask other actors to name a play they've done and would NEVER want to do again. For me, that was the musical A WONDERFUL LIFE.  I thought the script needed a LOT of work, even though playing Clarence was enjoyable.  Then, 15 years later, I was giventhe opportunity to do the show again - but this time I was getting a hefty paycheck for my efforts.  Did I put my opinions aside for the sake of income???

Yes, I took the job

A good friend (PT) has said acting is the Second Oldest Profession. You are told "Be at this place at this time, here's what you'll wear, and when you're done the money will be on the dresser" (actually the check will be with your agent, but still) But I digress . . . 

So, do I take whatever roles are available just to feed my habit, or do I exercise discretion and select projects I really WANT to do and suffer the consequences? (see previous post about the Project That Never Came About - "A Mild Rant")  To quote one of my least favorite playwrights -- "There's The Rub"

Until next time.

The Many Faces of Me

Seems like I am making a career of playing multiple characters in a single production.  Not that there's anything wrong with that - in fact, it's a lot of fun!  Going back to my 21 years on the road with The Covenant Players, we would spend every program playing different characters, but it was usually in different short plays.  In an hour, we would perform 3 to 6 short pieces, and I could play up to 6 different people.  But I am talking about something different here.  The chance to be different people in the same play while interacting with the same characters in different scenes. (Did I loose you yet?)

The first in this string was THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (abridged).  3 of us presented the entire history of our country, going from Columbus to President Clinton, in a little over an hour.  I don't think any one of us had less than 12 costume changes.  We did 2 performances in the Park as part of their 4th Of July celebration, then 3 more inside a real theater.  I played Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, and Humphrey Bogart/Sam Spade, to name a few.

Next came SYLVIA by A. R. Gurney.  To be honest, I only auditioned for it because I DIDN'T get cast in A TUNA CHRISTMAS (another play where 2 actors play 20 plus characters), so when I got the 3 parts in SYLVIA, I started calling the production TUNA LIGHT.  I got to play a macho New York sports fan, a Freudian-slipping society matron, and a "sexually ambiguous" psychologist.  The rest of the cast was a dream to work with and it made for a VERY fun run.  In fact, we sold out every show!

Have you ever seen the Alfred Hitchcock film THE 39 STEPS?  Imagine it on stage, a comedy, and performed by 4 actors.  The lead, Richard Hannay, was played by one man, 4 women were portrayed by a wonderful actress, and "Clown 1" (me) and "Clown 2" played everybody else.  Child, adult, male, female -- whatever.  We were pulling props onto stage from the wings, from the audience, even pulling AUDIENCE onto the stage!  These characters included a traveling salesman, a paper boy, London cop,  Nazi spy, Wife of Scottish hotel keeper, and a baby.  And this is only SOME of the roles.

And finally, THE BOYS NEXT DOOR.  Only 3 characters this time, but a dream cast to work with.  The show is a comedy about 4 developmentally disabled men who share an apartment, and I got to interact with them as a Golf Student, a Theater Manager, and a State Senator.

The next play where I am only doing one character is going to seem rather dull by comparison.