Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

Stepping Into The Limelight…

Hello gentle reader,

My first time walking into Limelight Actors’ Theater was filled with so much anxiety. By now, you probably are thinking “Jeez, what doesn’t make you anxious?”

Touche’ hahahahaha

I was brought into this project by some fabulous friends, so I felt it super important to make a good impression on the director-fella, Kevin Heath, who is also happens to be the co-owner of the company, along with Alan Obata.

Weeeeelllll, walking into rehearsal 15 minutes late was NOT the way that I wanted to start off our first encounter.

Now, lemme ‘splain.

I had my GPS set for the Limelight address… but for one that was from a while ago. LOL! And what, bummed me out is that I circled the block twice with 10 minutes to spare trying to see if I was in the right spot because the only place that looked open was a car repair shop. Then somehow, I managed to recall that our fearless leader had sent an email about the location for our read through.

One minute after the scheduled meeting time, I sent him a message letting him know of my goof and he was kind and understanding. So I drove down the street and made it to the proper spot and shamefully walked into the venue.

Right away, Kevin popped up out of his chair with a big smile and a ready handshake. Easily one of the kindest people, I have had the pleasure of meeting. We traded pleasantries around the table as we took seats to begin the reading. Like the first read through of “Super Villain” at the Pear Theater, I giggled the whole way through, and in the process stumbled on some of the words.

When we reconvened, after a month and a half away, we got to work putting this show on its feet. I felt a little like I was bumbling along through the blocking, because I needed to get my awkwardness into gear. I hoped that it didn’t look too spastic when I panicked. Then when we were told that a piece of the furniture was going to be a bean bag that I jumped on, I felt my stomach flip flop. A big guy like me? Jumping on a bean bag? C’mon!!!!! Talk about panic.

We rehearsed and rehearsed with no problems. Things were piecing together. The motions a bit more natural even though they sometimes were opposite of what I would normally want to do, thanks to my want of being a dancer. Graceful wasn’t what Robert was about.

Preview snuck up so fast! The people that were there got to bear witness to my fear ever since the announcement of the bean bag.

The Bean Bag Incident…

Yes, dear reader. You can probably guessed what is to come.

All I remember is putting the handbag I was suppose to hide in its place then rushing over to get the bean bag. I recall getting my hands on the white, smooth, faux leather and jumping in the air and suddenly hearing “pfwhoosh!!” Then an eruption of laughter.

I flailed around on this ever shrinking bag of beans and the laughter escalates in the midst of my flailing! I finally feel the giggles dying down and calm my motions as well for the scene to continue. Oh boy! When I stand up, there is a mess of little white puff balls littering the stage and I worry that someone is going to fall. GAH!! Why a bean bag? LOL!

Take that bean bag!!! Me :1 Bean bag: 0

It wasn’t until after the performance that I was told that every flail resulted in those little beans flying out of the hole in the bag which happened to be near my crotch, thus making me look like a seahorse on dry land birthing my offspring. Can’t visualize it? Check out the bottom of this post.

After that first audience, I always had to mentally prep myself for the possibility that it could happen again. That’s when I found Leo (image at top). He was just a pattern on the back of the set. The natural lines in a wood pattern that my brain decided looked like a lion. Every night there after though, I would take a moment and run down that particular sequence of events so that everything would be fine. He was like my little mascot for the show.

I really don’t want to gush about how fabulous it was to work for the Limelight Actors Theater Company. Not because it isn’t true. Absolutely not. I had a marvelous time! I don’t want to gush because then everyone is going to want to work there and they should, but I don’t want to have so much competition for roles. Selfish? Totally. I wholeheartedly admit it.

That being said, I think people should experience what it is like to work for someone who cares so much that the actors are able to focus on their roles and fosters an environment that truly feels like we are creating something in tandem. We were welcome to try out as much as we wanted, and believe you me, I took full advantage of that. I don’t think I did anything the same more than twice while we were rehearsing because I kept having different feelings appear in my noggin so I would run with it. Sometimes it worked out better than the last thing I thought of, and sometimes it didn’t. I appreciated that whenever I would say “it feels weird to do…” this motion or that one, I knew that I was heard and got to talk about it.

*sigh* I already miss the place. Not to mention the amazing people that I had the chance to work with! I always love getting to work with my buddy Aaron Weisberg and the superb Cindy Powell, but to play on a stage with the very funny trio; Christine McElroy, Rachel Perry and Heather Bass was sheer joy! Everyone was genuinely interested in our castmates’ lives outside of Boeing Boeing and it was so fun getting to really know these outstanding beautiful people.

So… thank you to Kevin and Alan of LAT for letting me be a part this crazy and kooky show with a whole slew of great people. Alas, now it comes time to depart for the next destination, but I can’t wait to be for a return visit!

As promised!!

SEAHORSE!!!

It’s the Bittersweet Symphony, That’s Life…

HELLO Gentle Reader!!

mousewheel

These last three months seem to have flown by in the blink of an eye!! I just turned around and whoosh…

Evita opened and closed. I loved meeting so many new people and young talent. It was educational watching Lexi Dorsett Sharp and Jesse Sharp as they continuously sought or created opportunity for themselves. The show had a wonderful run, but then it was on to Boeing Boeing which ended up having the same rehearsal period at the same time as Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang. Even now, I still hear fabulous comments regarding Evita as the audience of Boeing leaves. Lucky for me, we are now two weekends into Boeing and Chitty is set to open next week. So I was very excited about the prospect of possibly having a week or two off to relax or what have you, BUT it turns out my next project, Corridos, begins rehearsals next week. The commute is about twice as long as the other two shows, but I am really looking forward to the experience with The Western Stage Company. After that, then I get a bit of a break before reprising my role as Father Mouse for a children’s play during Christmas. It is a fun little gig and I get to be silly and make children laugh. What’s not to love about it?

While this year has had a number of new experiences and opportunities for me, I have come to find out that I need to pump the brakes a bit and handle some non-theatre business. It saddens me that I need coast for awhile instead of building on my momentum that I have gained these last few months. Selfish of me to say, I know. You don’t have to point it out.

Personal

I try to keep this blog upbeat and free from personal family stuff. Sometimes, though, the family stuff will blend into a topic. Today is such a day. Not to worry, dear reader, I shall be brief. I know I have made mention of my father in the past and have said how incredibly supportive he is of all my endeavors. I have also mentioned that he has had his share of demons, like drugs and alcohol. I have been told that the life he led is beginning to take a toll on him.

My brother told me of an incident where he watched as my dad spoke to his parents, asking them to “come and get him because he is ready.” My grandparents died a long time ago. I never actually met my paternal grandfather. My mom said he has periods of depression and he won’t eat. My sister has said he complains that he has no one to talk to. His own brothers and sisters make no effort to contact him.

As you can see, all of this information has been received from other people and it breaks my heart that I have been so in pursuit of this theater goal that I have brushed off so many things and so many people. The amount of guilt and sadness I feel is hard to admit out loud. So many missed opportunities. With that in mind, I have made it a point to try harder to visit.

Most recently, I snuck in a quick visit on Sunday before my matinee show to find he was in the garage cleaning my mom’s car. He was joking like he used to and it was a good sight, but then to hear, “oh, you hear I’m dying, then you come around.” While I know he meant it jokingly, it was so tough to take. And like most good jokes, there is a kernel of truth, so I have no right to get defensive about that. So I told him, “don’t be selfish. We’re all dying.”

Yeah, that is how my family jokes. You may think it’s harsh, but if you grew up in our house, you would understand.

In order to spend a bit more time with my family, I have decided that it would be best for me not to add anymore projects to my current schedule. I will complete my commitments for 2015 and maybe pick up an acting or improv class. Most of my evenings and weekends will be free and I will spend some time making the rounds and reconnecting with not only my parents, but my siblings as well. We were never really all that close, but it will be nice to tighten the net a bit.

With that in mind, I will be able to see more shows and cheer on more actors and finish completing my own website. SHWAAAA?? Oh yes, kiddies. I will be launching an official artist website soon. It will have production info as well as random backstage footage shot during shows. Just silly stuff. But be on the look out for that announcement.

Thanks for your patience and hopefully, I will see you after one my next few shows!

Love!

Here’s A Few Things I Learned From My TBA Audition…

"If I don't move, maybe they won't notice me!" — “If I don’t move, maybe they won’t notice me!”

I have never been so happy to get off a stage than at that audition. I usually tend to think negatively about my auditions, so I didn’t think about it at all after and went back to working on Evita. Then came the meetings at the TBA offices and at this last meeting, we actually got forms from the different companies rating our performances that day and if they may be interested in working with us. We were given some examples of what we should keep in mind and not get discouraged from these pages, like there is a company that is exclusively women, so I probably wouldn’t fit in there. The important thing is to take this feedback and process it and make decisions with these in mind. So here goes:

List classes from conservatories separately. One company said “no” as I had no Shakespeare training. My resume listed my participation of AMTSJ’s conservatory but didn’t break down the courses which included some Shakespeare. My new resume will have the bulk of the classes listed going forward, I can assure you.

I need to remember to breathe. Auditions will not kill you even though it may feel like they will. As my group was taken from the “holding area,” I could feel my heart trying to jump out of the top of my head. I had to focus on breathing like I was gonna pass a baby or something. I swear my whole body shook with each beat. We had to enter the backstage area by going up two short flights of stairs and in that little jaunt, I could swear my eyes were going crossed. So I looked down because heck if they were getting a mind of their own, I didn’t want anyone to notice. Then, as I tried to focus on my shoes, I got light-headed and felt like I was going to float away, so I grabbed the railing and kind of just took a moment to assess what I was feeling. It was then that I realized that I may have been holding my breath from the time we began our journey backstage, because at that moment I had a loud inhalation; like I just discovered how to create gold from garbage on accident. It was such a fast moment but everything seemed to slow to the point that I could break it down into pieces.
Don’t rush/Don’t plan to fill up allotted time completely. I only left myself about 7 seconds to dead time for the two minutes we were given. Many comments said they wished my monologue had let the moments “land.” So do I, so do I. I went into my monologue, which is a long piece that I love because there are many ways to edit it and make it new almost every time. The only problem is that I know I only have about a minute and 20 seconds left and it has timed out at 1:15 each time I clocked it. My dilemma became: do I edit it on the fly, or not really stop for laughs? I opt for the latter choice because I wasn’t sure if editing would throw off the rhythm I had practiced and make it longer. I was glad that they laughed but I didn’t want to be the guy that got cut off like I hadn’t planned my pieces (which is pretty unprofessional.)
Let the resume do some of the talking or singing. My resume has 25 musicals listed and only 3 plays. I should probably opt for two contrasting monologues next time to show range since there were several comments made on this.

They like me! They really like me! They just don’t know what to do with me. As I look through the forms I see a lot of “yes, I would like to work with this actor.” and for every yes there are two “maybe – I like the work but not sure if they would fit into our company’s work” I knew I should have covered up my tentacles and dorsal fin. Hahaha. This for me is the hardest one to figure out because I am not sure if it is because I am short and heavy set or was it something else? Is it because they can’t figure out if I should play Mexican, Philipino, or other? Gah! I just wish I could find out so that I can try to adjust. I don’t even mind the no’s that I got, and there were a few, but the maybe’s? Those are a killer.

Hard work really does pay off, even if you do it out of doubt. I am my own biggest critic as is the case with most everyone. I get to the point where I can discourage myself out of things and projects even if they sound insanely fun or massively unique. This in turns makes me work harder at the things that I do get and create, but with auditions, there just isn’t any winning. If you asked me to rate my audition from 1 – 10, I would say a 5 or a high 4. Well, according to those sheets, the average was an 8. Are you shitting me? Wow! I can’t tell you how it feels because I don’t know how to process this info. LOL!

I hope that you find some thing in this list useful, like listing the classes individually for conservatories. Or just knowing that we are similar when it comes to talking ourselves out of things or doubting what we can do. Any suggestions on not passing out?

There’s a comment box below to share any tips or just to say “Hi-ya!” (I still can’t believe that was my first impression on those people.) *headdesk*

5 Reasons You Should “Plan” to See RTE’s Latest Production…

Here are 5 reasons that I think everyone should see Renegade’s The North Plan by Jason Wells:

5. This is the last show before RTE goes on a brief hiatus to recharge. Show your support for this award winning company and send them off with a sold out production!

4. I know, I know, you hear the words dark political comedy and a roaring good time is not what comes to mind. Let me assure you that this amazing and lightning quick script by Jason Wells has you giggling almost the entire time but in the back of your head the serious questions of civil rights protections and policing the government begin to make you think, and if you are paranoid like me, worry.

3. From the set design to the costumes, there is a solid feel about this world. Nothing is out of the ordinary in this set, which normally pulls me out of the play because I wonder what the use of that particular item would be, or why it was chosen to be on the stage. Every single thing on that stage is something that could be in a real police station and they use almost everything, yet the stage isn’t cluttered or heavy. The props which really have a massive role in the second act are flawless. Outstanding work by Gabriel Dominic, Carlos Aceves, and Dianne Vega (Costumes, Sets, Props respectively.)

2. The direction of Ana-Catrina Buchser kept this train moving perfectly. This script, to me, feels very much like a Neil Simon script. The talking is snappy, not rushed. There aren’t many drawn out silences and the ones that are there are smartly placed and make the comedy that much more funny. Bravo for such great work.

1. And finally, THE CAST!!! Kendall Callaghan, as Tanya Shepke, is perfect madness in the best way! Even before the lights come up, you know she is going to be a handful. The amount of energy this role requires is intimidating, but Ms. Callaghan never lets up and by the end, you feel like you ran a marathon. Marjorie Hazletine is intimidating and properly dislikable as Dale Pittman. Her look is severe and her posture totally reads “This is my turf.” When you find out the Plan, you really hope she gets her comeuppance. Tyler Della, as the young “rebel” Carlton Berg, is perfect for this role. I bet if you placed him in the actual DHS, he would blend right in. His earnest pleading, his desperation, and his flat out depression all worked to invoke empathy and sympathy from the viewer. Naomi Evans, admin officer Shonda Cox, had, I think, the toughest role to play. Not only did she have to play an officer of the law who is told she must not engage with the rebel, has to let his remarks about innocent people go unheard yet the civil justice seeker in her makes her want to help and it produces a conflict within her that she plays with wonderfully. What good can you do if you are caught helping a rebel? But how can you just stand by and watch? Ugh! She is so good. When Chief Swenson, played by Tom Gough, first enters I thought he was going to be the usual government lackey so as not to rock any boats, but as the play progresses, he becomes someone to root for, while still being the same character that walked in at the beginning of the show. This made me realize that he was playing a true officer of the law. You have to watch the show to see what I mean because I don’t want to give away ANYTHING!! And the lovesick Bob Lee, portrayed by Alex Prather rounds out the cast. Kinda dopey, kinda nice cop but always only has half of the situation known, Mr. Prather gets to play with another one of the fun roles in this show and does it so well. He is like a little puppy wanting approval and affection from his partner, Pittman, but make no mistake, he will get the job done… even if it is only the menial tasks.

Together, these five actors the other four reasons take you to a small town police station where one man finds out a secret regarding the lives of targeted innocent Americans that really make you think more about the type of government we have in place. Not just the simple, “he wants to take your guns away” so we shouldn’t vote for him or “not going to raise taxes on the rich” so we should vote for him garbage. Bigger thoughts, like the Patriot Act details and any new details that may have been revised in secret, of why the Whistleblower Protection Act doesn’t extend to federal workers like Snowden, or how could the town Ferguson censor the media that first day of it’s crisis and get away with it? How did it get away with a no fly zone? Were they expecting to get bombed or something? Who authorizes that and why? Things I only thought of while they were happening but never really looked into any further. What about you? Did you look further?

This brilliant play, while I laughed my ass off, made me think about these things well after I left the theatre. That’s what great theatre does and RTE has been doing it for 13 years. Support them before their big well deserved vacation.

Now go get your tickets!!!! I swear you won’t regret it…

Join the Revolution!

You’re A Good Man, Scott Stanley…

Mr. Scott Stanley

Last night, I learned that a theatre friend had passed away. I haven’t learned the details. Mostly because I just saw him like 2 or 3 weeks ago. He was happy and looked healthy. I kinda feel like if I knew how, it would be too real.

This is the first time someone in my theatre family has died, and I don’t know how to take it. I have known him for almost exactly 5 years.

I met Scott for the first time at auditions for Sweet Charity back in 2009. The very first thing he said to me was “I am not a dancer.” I told him “Don’t worry. Neither am I.” He gave this huff of air that said he didn’t believe me so I continued “I just want to see what your sense of movement is. Don’t worry about the steps as much as the energy.” He gave me a little nod and went to the back of the stage.

When we were talking about casting people, his picture came up and I said to Bill “I like him. He’s kinda weird.”

After the first week of choreo, Scott had this frustrated look and I asked him if he was okay. “I can’t do this. I have bad knees.” Good to know. We figured out some alternatives for him but every day I would ask him how his knees were. There was a lot of unfamiliar turning and body angles so I wanted to make sure no one got hurt. Every time he would answer “I’m okay, just gotta watch those knees.” He watched them and he worked so hard. I hope I didn’t make them worse.

Whenever I think of pained knees, he is always the first person that comes to mind. Even when it was my own, during A Chorus Line.

He was a wonderful and kind man. A great supporter of the theatre and an even more enthusiastic participant. I don’t know how he got to every theatre event in the area, but he did. Well at least it seemed that way. Sometimes I would swear he was a time traveller to be able to do it. He was a funny fellow and thought so cleverly that I would look forward to any comments he would make on people’s FaceBook posts. I am going to miss seeing him on the stage or in the audience. I going to miss those great comments.

I can only imagine how those closer to this great guy are taking this news.

Until our paths cross again, my friend, I shall look for your name in those bright lights in the sky.

Rest in peace, Scott.