a poor player

Dunkirk NY – I suppose it’s disingenuous of me to write about “what actors want.” Perhaps this will more accurately be a reflection of what I want to see for actors in this country, based upon the reasons I became an actor and the reasons I chose to leave the profession as a full-time option for myself. But in reading all the back-and-forth between Mike Daisey, Todd Olson and Thomas Garvey concerning the plight of actors in regional theatre today, the most obvious element that is missing is from the discussion is that no one is asking actual actors how they feel about their current situation and what they might want.

Actors in theatre today are a collection of people without a true voice. Actors’ Equity is not a legitimate voice for actors, because it is nothing but a labor union built to negotiate working conditions for its members only. That is its only concern; if you are an actor who is not a member, AEA has nothing for you. There really isn’t any other national organization which has the welfare of all actors – union and non-union alike – as its concern. So I think that, when one comes to talking about what actors want, I think it’s first and foremost important to talk about what people want in general, because actors are, first and foremost, people. Continue Reading »

Dunkirk NY – When Augusto Boal died, it took the New York Times a week to publish his obituary. No explanation ever surfaced for the delay. When Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson die, the media falls all over itself in overindulgence, covering every possible inch of the story. That’s all you need to know.  -twl

Dunkirk NY – This is probably important enough to pass it on to anyone crusing through here today. It’s the NY Times story about the meeting held on Monday at 59E59 concerning the perceived production disparity between male and female playwright. Some widely-held assumptions are true, others not so much. It’s clearly worth a read.

Also, please note that on the sidebar to the story are two related PDF files. The first is the text of the study, and the second are the Powerpoint slides which accompanied Ms. Sands’ talk. For you convenience I have also linked them here. Here is the text of the research, and here are the slides. I do like it when someone does research on widely held assumptions. There is so little of this in theatre; perhaps that’s why we have such fruitless conversations. -twl

Dunkirk NY – I am quite loathe to admit it, but it becomes increasingly clearer to me each year that the physicality of acting takes a deeper toll on my body than I think it will. The result has been that I find I need all the rest I can get inbetween performances, and when you’re performing six days a week that does not leave much time for recuperation. Even blogging becomes an effort.

So while you’re waiting for Rock and a Hard Place Part 3, here are two links for your consideration. This link is a review of The Tempest. Summary: an entertaining evening with a questionable concept. This link is to a situation in Buffalo theatre which would be laughable if it weren’t so sad. Buffalo is the butt of so many national jokes, and this particular incident makes a Polish Joke out of Buffalo and Canisius College. If you feel inclined to let the powers that be at Canisius know your feelings about this incident, feel free to click here. It may make some difference to them if they feel some national attention is being paid to this incident.  -twl

Dunkirk NY -  In the last post I mentioned all the reasons I became an actor. That’s “the rock.” What I think is fair to say about me artistically at this point is that my interest in acting in today’s theatrical climate is waning. If I had to sum it up all in one thought, it is simply that I feel that the theatre, at almost every level, has become commercialized and commodified. That holds little interest for me. That’s “the hard place.”

“Show business” is the reality of the day, and I was not, never have been, and probably never will be a good businessman. As I’ve mentioned before, early on in my career – about three years into pursuing a professional career in New York City in the late 70s and my subsequent failed attempt at NYU – I realized that the business aspects of theatre were going to be my professional undoing. I just didn’t like that aspect of it, and I think if you’re going to be a professional actor you really have to like all that as well as the time you spend on the stage. Hence the choice to become an educator. Continue Reading »

Dunkirk NY – A quick time-out from the “Rock and a Hard Place” series to announce a new project I have always wanted to try and finally got up and running over this week. It’s called Acting in America and it is an attempt to create a space and place on the web for actors to share their stories about their art and craft. I’ve always thought that having actors speak about their careers in their own words is the best means to find out exactly what the situation is in this country as far as being an actor is concerned. I hope a collection of first-person accounts will offer people interested in acting as a career a chance to hear actors speak about their struggles and successes in their own words. For further information, and/or to contribute your story, click right here.  And feel free to spread the word! -twl

Dunkirk NY – Last night we were at the park for our first rehearsal on stage. The rehearsal ended a little early for me and my partner-in-comedy Gerry (playing Trinculo), so we decided to head off to a local watering hole and catch the last few innings of the Yankees-Red Sox game before heading home. Delaware Park is located just north of the “Elmwood Strip” in Buffalo, which is one of three locations in the city which cater to a younger crowd. Gerry and I were fortunate to be able to grab two stools at the very end of the bar in front of the TV which had the ballgame on. Conversation was perforce limited due to the general loud volume of the music and the crowd, but our talk did turn to why the both of us continue to act. Given that the atmosphere was not conducive to any sort of lengthy philosophical response, my in-a-nutshell response was, “It’s the only thing I know how to do.”

For the past 10 days or so I had been pondering this question posed by Leonard Jacobs over at the Clyde Fitch Report:

There is also a deeper question here, and it’s one that Back Stage never really got into sufficiently, I think, during all my years there: Why do actors become actors? Or, better put, Why should actors become actors? Is it to entertain or is it really more for validation — that hunger for acclaim?

I’ve also been reading the various postings and discussions prompted by Isaac’s reporting from the TCG Conference. All of this had gotten me to the point of asking myself where am I headed artistically. It’s taken quite some time to filter all the various issues though my brain, but I think I’m ready to begin to take a stab at some things and work it all through in a series of posts. My working space in my house is far quieter than a bar, and more conducive to philosophical ramblings. Continue Reading »