The play runs and then ends? Chapter 35

The play ran for six months. All during that time I did 195 performances straight without missing one performance. I went on wether I was sick or with a hangover.

After a couple of months into the run it became like a revolving door with actors coming and going as different members of the original cast left to do other acting jobs and their parts filled by graduates of the famous CONSERVATORIES. It was amazing. I knew plenty of actors that would sell their souls to work at this theater but parts were given to upper middle class graduates of these CONSERVATORIES wether they had great talent or not.

I felt very fortunate to be working there and as a matter of fact I thought I had made it in the acting business which turned out to be a huge mistake.

The play finally came to an end but I had not secured an agent. I didn't care that much as now I was back on Unemployment and living the bum's life again. I thought for sure that the other big time theaters in town would bring me in as I had done so well , at least I thought, at the big prestigious theater. It's not that I was rejected by the agents but that I made no attempt to seek them out.

Now I was not content to go back to off-off but waited and waited for the big call that was surely to come. After a few months of nothing I got off my ass and started to check out what was going on out there. I discovered that the producers of a pilot for TV that was going to be shot right here in New York, saw the play I did at the big theater. Well, if they saw the play they saw me and I was good so therefore I Will contact them directly without an agent which was forbidden.

The Best of Times. Chapter 32

After this initial performance the rest of the run ran smoothly. The audiences were picking up on the play's light humor and I was getting real good feed back, mainly from the audience which now was in the palm of my hand.

Here I was, a working class guy from Queens doing an Off-Broadway show in the most prestigious theaters in New York. I noticed some resentment from some of the people who worked backstage or in the offices. After-all these people have been kissing ass for years to get the opportunity I was getting without having to pay thousands upon thousands to go to CONSERVATORIES of theater.

During this initial period of rehearsals and workshop I mainly kept my mouth shut and went along. I should have used this time to call agents and try to move my career up but I didn't. I felt I had made it already and why should I start kissing ass now. The show was pulling in full houses every night but we were not reviewed because the play was still considered a workshop production.

The big producer, seeing he had a hit on his hands, moved the play to a bigger theater, we received a raise in pay and now would be getting much wider exposure with all the big shot reviewers from NY Times etc. coming in to review the show.

First Performance.{ continued} Chapter 31

After the incident with the security guard I went back to the dressing room as angry as I had been since my navy days. Here I am, making my off Broadway debut in a comedy and the security guard almost throws me out of the theater.

Now this play was very light and if the audience didn't see the comedy, they would hate it. Anyway when I got back to the dressing room I wanted to go back and beat the shit out of the guard for ruining my debut. Luckily another actor was there and talked me out of it.

I had 2 other scenes in the play but I can't remember how they went but looking back, it was my "exciting sense of authenticity" as one critic called a past production of mine. After the show the other actors in the play and the director were very sympathetic to me and said it was a compliment, which it was.

Going home, after a couple of drinks in the bar across the street from the theater, I doubted myself. Was the lack of response from the audience from the security guard situation or that I was now in front of a sophisticated New York audience which didn't accept me.

I decided I would go with what I had and if they didn't like it, screw'em.

First Performance Chapter 30

Rehearsals went pretty smooth and I was given liberty to find the charactor on my own. The style was fast paced , so any pauses or slowdown of delivery had to be completely justified.

Now as I said , I was playing a homeless guy in this comedy and when we had rehearsals and run throughs anyone watching my scenes would laugh and this gave me a lot of confidence in what I was doing. I knew if I did well here in this cathedral of theater, it would open up many doors for me in acting and life would be rosy after that.

The first performance came in this workshop production but the audience was full of people. I had the first scene in the play. This was my big moment. Even though it was still a workshop production, that was good enough for me.

I entered thru the audience while the lead character was on stage hailing a cab. I was to walk thru the audience, walk up on stage and ask for a quarter.

Well. the play started and the lead was out yelling "Taxi Taxi". I walked in and just as I was about to step on the stage, an arm grabbed me that I didn't expect and I swung around angry. It was the security guard thinking I was a real homeless and tried to throw me out. I whispered loudly and angry that I was in the show. The guard not sure let me go but stood right there ready to jump on me if I was lying. This was witnessed by the whole audience and put a sense of danger in the scene. This would have been good in a drama having the audience's acute attention but this was a comedy. I said my first line and the security guard went away but no laughter from the audience at all for the whole scene. (continued)

In review Chapter 25

So what have we learned so far? One of the most important tool that is needed to be a good actor is concentration. You have to be in the moment always. What do I mean by this? All the research that is done , all the rehearsal that you have done all must be thrown out the window when you are entering a scene.

For example: if the scene calls for you to have a big argument with your mate when you come home from work, well first of all the character has not read the play so therefore, the only action you would have when you come home is to maybe just relax and have a drink after a hard day at work, but your mate interrupts you with something that makes you angry.

Now you don't walk in angry, you don't know what they will say, so your first action is to do whatever you do after a hard day. This is playing moment to moment. Concentration is needed to block out any distractions like a close up of you with the camera in your face.

The second is listening, let the other actors help your performance. The better they are , the better you are. There are too many actors that are afraid of working with really strong actors because they think people will not notice them . If you are listening and playing your character's Motivations then a good actor can only help you get there and the audience will be wrapped up in the scene and the story and that is why you are there in the first place.

I thought I was learning the craft of acting pretty good. The part that I neglected was the social and networking. I thought that just being a good actor was enough. I didn't think a good actor as myself would have to kiss ass. I was wrong.

Zoo Story (continued) chapter 13

When it was time to open, I told everyone in the world about it. By this time I was totally consumed by this play and was ready to put it all on the line. I sent flyers to every agent in town and called the ones that said " L:et me know if your in something".

Opening night came and we had a full house, about 50 seats, with a few standing. The lights went up on Peter already on stage reading his book in the park. I entered thru the back of the audience. I stood there at the top of the theater just staring at Peter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some people turn and look at me standing there. They must have wondered was I part of the show or was I some nut that wondered in from the street.

When I finally walked on stage, I could feel the tension in the audience. I could feel the creative juices in-me flowing. I was momentarily enjoying the feeling of having the audience's acute attention. I had to grab all the powers of my concentration and put the audience out of my mind. I had to grab onto Jerry, who was at the lowest point in his life while I was personally going thru the best moment of my life.

I concentrated on my overall objective which was to commit suicide. This triggered the minor objective of having a stranger kill me. And if I was going to get him to kill me I first had to gain his confidence.

My first line got a laugh. A release of tension laugh. Then it happened, the audience hung on every word I said and laughed 3/4ths the way thru until the play takes a dark turn.

At the end of the play when we went out to take our bows, the audience was silent at first then erupted in-loud applause and cheering. I looked out at the audience and there was many a wet eye. Granted there were some in the audience that knew me personally but most of them did not come to praise Caesar but to bury him. There were many friends who thought acting was a phase I was going thru, But now they knew. I saw it in the way they reacted when we went out afterwards I was like I had become someone else they didn't know. (continued)

The Glass Menagerie Chapter 8

I was really into the acting scene now , auditioning around town for non-union plays that paid no money but were providing me with the experience that I needed. I was also hanging out at night at a actor's bar in the theater district where I was learning the business end of acting from actors that had been around for years. 80% hardly ever had a paying acting job and when a working actor would come around everyone paid them the utmost respect.

About this time I received a call from a small basement theater in the east Village that was rehearsing "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams . They needed a replacement for an actor that quit the show. I jumped at the chance to do a famous Tennessee Williams play.

Once in rehearsal I soon realized that the few scenes that I had done in class and supporting parts in small plays were nothing to doing Tom Wingfield in "The Glass Menagerie". Not only was this the biggest part I had ever done but the character actually comes out to the audience to deliver 5 monologues. My inexperience and lack of technique came to bare in rehearsal. I would do ok in the scenes with the other characters but the monologues sounded, or so the director kept telling , like I was reciting lines. Plus I had to do a southern accent which came to me easier than I thought it would, maybe because the time I spent in the Navy helped me with it, as I was around sailors from all over the country and especially the south.

I tried everything I was taught at HB studios. I made substitutions, I played actions, I imagined myself as Tom Wingfield all the time , in the cab, at the bar. When the play opened I was still going on basic instinct, some performances were good and the audience really appreciated it, and some were ok and the audience would quietely leave the theater after the show.

Occasionally something would happen on stage and I would go into a zone and the performance was great. I would be totally free and have the audience in the palm of my hand. Other times I would be aware of myself on stage instead of living thru the character. I did ok with the monologues but never realized their full potential. I might add the director was no help except to tell me when I stunk.

My first Performance! Chapter 5

Now here I am backstage, waiting to go on stage in front of an audience for the first time in my life. The irony of being in a play before I had ever seen a live performance of a play crossed my mind. There was a musician playing the intro to the play on a piano and at that moment I felt proud. There were friends of mine in the audience that knew me all my life and were not to shy to let me know that they thought this acting thing was just a whim and eventually I would come back to the real world. But the guy playing the piano was great and it instilled in me some confidence.
Well, I was able to get thru it without any major screw ups. The one thing I came away from it was not to push for laughs from the audience. I had some funny lines and would punch them out, pleading for laughs from the audience.. I got them but they were polite laughs, not the spontaneous bursts that a good actor gets..I would rather get no response than laughs from an audience that has mercy on me. In looking back, the best I did was the very first audition where I wasn't trying to be funny but truthful to the character. That honesty and simplicity was what made it funny in the first place. After that first time it was no longer spontaneous. I was playing for results instead of just portraying the character..But for my first time in front of a real audience I did ok. Still didn't sing though but basically mouthed the songs that were song with the whole cast.
I was totally hooked on acting, I had overcome my first experience with stage fright and by the last performance, I was having fun on stage.
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