No Roles, This Guy was Real
I’ve always thought it is a bit strange when a celebrity dies and people who worked with the person, once, or met them at a premiere, once, feel the need to post that online with an outpouring of grief. I wonder what it says about our society that we need to feel “connected” if only minutely, to someone famous. I always thought it was weird…
That was until I heard the news that Michael Clarke Duncan died earlier this month and realized I really wanted to tell about my brush with his star.
To make it clear, I did not “know” Michael (I met him once) nor am I under any illusions that he remembered my name. But our brief encounter stayed with me for many years and news of his death brought back the feelings. I’d like to think that I can have this reaction to anyone, not just someone famous. But our encounter touched me so much, indeed, because he was famous and hugely talented, and how he acted, in spite of that.
I think this story can have relevance to the way we actors might strive to behave, both on and off screen/stage.
So here it goes:
Back in early 2000, I was freelancing as a producer for an international news agency in their TV division. For a young person, just out of journalism school, I got to go to A LOT of big events, and well, after a while, it could get a little ho-hum. Until this one morning….
Now here is a little secret I’m going to divulge about big “nomination days”…news editors are prepared for them well in advance. From the Nobel Peace Prize to the Oscars, news editors have a good sense of who might get nominations, and so they often position crews outside homes or hotels on the morning of such nominations, to record the first excited comments from nominees.
Occasionally, news editors get lucky, and a publicist (also very secure that their client is on the verge of a nomination) will work with the press to let them in on the moment.
That’s how I found myself in Michael Clarke Duncan’s hotel room (with a cameraman!!) around 5 AM, waiting to see if he would be nominated (as it was widely expected) for an Academy Award for his work in The Green Mile. There were just two news organizations there to see what would happen.
And it did.
And we watched this talented and cool actor totally lose his cool with happiness and excitement and absolute, genuine pride and joy. Then, he called his mom.
No one in that room could stop smiling.
I’ve met a lot of people in my life and done of a lot of interesting things. But that little moment in that hotel room was truly one of the most authentic things I’ve ever seen in another person. He was just so real and not afraid to show us how he felt. I guess that’s what made him a great actor as well.
In contrast, later in the day we interviewed a veteran, grumpy actor, nominated in another category, who was obviously tired of the press and just ready to give rote, short answers, devoid of real emotion. He played the part of “veteran actor commenting on another Oscar nomination.” But Michael Clarke Duncan, well, he was a human being, absolutely in the moment. And I was so lucky to be there.
Now to bring it back to the start of the blog… I did not “know” Michael Clarke Duncan and have no idea how he was outside of this one moment in time (though by all accounts I’ve heard, he was truly a wonderful guy.) But whenever I think of that moment, as I have often since he died, I can actually feel the emotions again that we had in that room.
And I think what the experience is telling me is that in life, that’s all we really have to do…. be real. As actors, as friends, as writers, as humans, the only way we can truly connect with another is if we stop playing a role and just go with the joy of the moment we are in. No matter if that is on stage, screen, in a hotel room or on the street. Don’t play roles, just be real. It’s the only way to connect.
Sunday Summary — September 16, 2002
This week, The Underdog Actor gave us his best tips for self-producing at Fringe NYC.
The Green Room Blog announced our newest feature — a monthly #ShowbizChat on Twitter!
Guest Poster Amanda told us why she thinks it’s crucial to have a website.
And The Restless Dramaturg shared her experiences with working on the exact same musical in two different productions at the same time.
Same Play, Different Day
Have you ever worked on the same play twice in a row? Different place, different people, same play. I recently had this experience. As you know from reading my TEACHING REVISITED post, I work for a High School in the afternoons and a Middle School in the evening. What that post did not mention was that I worked on the same play for both! I was literally in tech for HS Pippin the same days as MS Auditions. I got the rare chance to re-imagine a world that I had already seen created, just days before. I’ve always found it amazing how different actors can make you feel like you are meeting the character for the first time; and how different directors stylize their visions so that the you leave with a totally new experience every time. The Truth be told, this is the first musical I’ve worked on in a Dramaturgical capacity. The first time around, it was all research and textual analysis; but the second round of Pippin, my role became more about clarity of production.
How do you keep it new each day? After a while I found myself repeating the same information in my head and actually trying to change the words to make it sound like new information. It worked for a while, but, in the end, it was the style that saved me. Taking what has been done and deconstructing it just to then reconstruct it anew! That’s the fun for me. I’ve always been one who reads a play before she sees a play. I don’t want to be surprised by the story; I want to be surprised by how the story is told onstage. So say I spend the rest of my career doing Pippin (please, no!); I guarantee that each production would be severely different from the ones that came before, if for no other reason other than the fact that I’ve seen what has been done. Knowing your production history before walking into a rehearsal room is expected, but being able to recall what worked (and what didn’t work) in rehearsals for previous productions of the same play, that’s impressive. The nature of theatre is to be ever-changing and versatile, but sometimes, in order to be that, you must take on plays that you have done before. Actors may be playing the same role for years, but once a show opens, the Dramaturg must move on to the next, and so, I say, if you have to do the same play, make sure it ends up a very different show.
GUEST POST BY AMANDA: On Why It’s So Important to Have a Website
Today we are welcoming web designer Amanda to the blog! Amanda did a fabulous job of designing my brand, new website this summer, and I asked her to share with us why she thinks having an actor website is so important. I’ve already shared my thoughts about how crucial it is, but with her expertise, she does it so much more lucidly than I did!
Why Actors Need Websites
It’s surprisingly common for an actor to have little or no web presence. The web isn’t the future, it’s the present. Here a few of the many reasons having a professional web site should be a high priority for today’s actor:
1. Control The First Thing People Find In A Google Search
People who want to work with you are going to google you. If your domain name is your name or includes your name, it will most likely be the first thing to appear on a google search of your name. That gives you 100% control of the first impression you make on anyone interested in finding out more about you. The images you want, the information you want, the reviews you want.
2. Appear Professional and Serious About Your Work
What do you think of a business that you are considering using that has no website, or a shoddy website? That they don’t offer as good a service as the competition that has a sleek site? There are backward or not with it? As more and more actors get websites, you don’t want to be passed over for someone who presents an overall more professional package.
3. Express Your Uniqueness and Complexity
Your headshot is the most vital marketing tool as an actor, no one is arguing that. But a website is an amazing tool that can offer a deeper look into you as an actor than a single photo. Your home page could include more than one image, if you have multiple looks or types that you play. The design of the site itself and design choices such as color palette, fonts and graphical elements all assist in branding you and the image you put forth into the world.
4. Have Your Reel, Headshot and Resume in One Place
Rather than a headshot and resume stapled together and a link to a reel on youtube or an attached dvd, a casting director can quickly and easily view all three.
5. An Immediate Way To Submit Your Headshot and Resume
If you get a call for a job while you are away from your computer, you can quickly lead the caller to your website where they can download your headshot and resume, as well as getting a more complete look at you as an actor in the process. Or imagine meeting a casting director in an completely unrelated situation, and they are interested in your work; you don’t have your headshot or resume on you, but you could direct them to your website. (Here’s where it would come in handy to have a business card as well)
6. Stay Current
A website that you can update yourself will allow you to have all your latest information immediately available: your latest news, a new addition to your resume, a commercial you were in.
There are many options to create a site from using tools like iWeb, building a site on a template site like squarespace. To come across as a true professional, have a site built just for you by an experienced designer.
As it so happens, my company Web Design For Actors, builds web sites for actors. We offer a personal service of completely unique, affordable designs, updated by the actor. Visit http://www.customwebdesignforactors.com to learn about our service.
Thanks, Amanda! If you’d like to check out her work, head on over to her website, or check out what she did with mine. Make sure to tell her good ol’ Green Room Blog sent you!
NOW ANNOUNCING: Green Room Monthly Twitter Chat!
Guys, I am very excited to announce our newest Green Room Blog initiative:
a monthly showbiz twitter chat!
Starting in October, Green Room Blog will be hosting a live twitter chat on all things related to working in theatre, film, and television!
**Chats will take place on the first Tuesday of every month at 1 PM EST.**
To get involved, all you need is a twitter account and a desire to learn and share your wisdom with others. Follow @GreenRoomBlog and use the hashtag #ShowbizChat
Leave a comment below if you’re planning on attending!
What I learned from FringeNYC
First, my apologies for being MIA. I have been around, and if you were in NYC this summer, you probably knew that. I spent July and August promoting and producing the heck out of my solo show From Busk Till Dawn, which I did as part of FringeNYC. It’s over, which in the theater, always brings a little sadness, but in my case, I don’t have time, cause in 5 days, I’m getting married! Also, I am glad to have something else to worry about, which I will surely say in 2 weeks when the wedding and honeymoon are over, on to the next thing right?
Doing FringeNYC, and doing it alone, man do you learn a lot. I hope this can be a help to anyone producing in the future so I am just going to kind of let my fingers go here.
Number 1-if your show is 45 minutes long, tell Fringe it’s 55 minutes long. You don’t get penalized if your show is shorter, but if you go a second over, man, no dice.
Number 2-get rid of your postcards. If you order 5,000 postcards, give them away and give them away like they have the plague. There is nothing more annoying than this 1/2 box of 3,000 postcards I paid for and never handed out sitting in my already cramped apartment.
Number 3-know your tech for your show before you go in. You get hardly any time to tech it, your first two performances are basically teaching yourself (or your actors) where the light is. This is true of all festivals, but man that doesn’t make it cool.
Number 4-be wary of doing what other people do. I bought a much bigger ad in the program than I needed, because I panicked and didn’t do enough research, some of this was my fault, and some I blame on the guilting tactics Fringe uses to sell ads. On this same note, if you have a show that most likely won’t be put into a huge venue, think about advertising even more carefully. If you are in a theater that only has 50 seats, can you sell that out without spending another $3-500 on advertising?
Number 5-don’t expect anything from the fest. Yeah, I know Fringe does publicity and all that, but the fact is, my show was mixed in with 186 others, some good, some not so, but still 186 others. I managed to get decent crowds, but it was because I plugged the heck out of the show. I know some people who were very disappointed because they couldn’t get 15 people in let alone 50, and I asked them what kind of marketing and promotion they did, they didn’t.
Number 6-know, trust, be friends—with your Stage Manager, Light person, director. I say this from the solo perspective especially. Doing a lot of the events and required things as well as the fest experience as a whole can be lonely if you don’t have people you can trust working with and on your show. I get that some people have to hire for certain jobs, but if you can get friends who will be there with you for the experience, that helps a lot.
Number 7-don’t be so serious. I know, I know, I poured my heart and soul into this show for years and here I am putting it up right. But at the end of the day, it should be fun, and this fest, which has turned some shows into big hits (Urinetown, Matt and Ben) mostly just gives a lot of shows a chance to work things out. I got some good reviews, good responses, but no one called and asked me to put it up at the Roundabout. HBO hasn’t offered me millions to make a mini series, but that’s ok, cause I got to do it, my friends got to see it and I had fun.
Producing is always hard and lots of work, Fringe makes some things easier and some much harder due to the fact that there are 180 plus other shows. I hope some of what I learned can help you!
Sunday Summary — September 9, 2012
With the Labor Day holiday this week, posting was light. But there were still fabulous posts to check out! Don’t miss:
The Practical Artist with her take on working on a developing musical.
Guest Poster Sierra with how to stay inspired as a theatre major.
And The College Theatre Dork sharing an inside look into her summer internship and the world of house management!
Call Me Maybe?
Anyone else sick of this song yet? It might have been the theme song for summer 2012 or at least it was for me.
As the Asst. House Manager, one of my duties was calling ushers to remind them when they signed up to volunteer for what performances. We have about 500 volunteer ushers and I do the calling for two of our theatres so as you can imagine, I’m juggling phones constantly (and yesterday, literally). If I’ve learned anything this summer, it is phone etiquette and the art of telephoning.
- Have a phone number that someone can professionally reach you and you can respond to. I fail at this—our theatre doesn’t have a House Management phone and so our ushers have to call us on our private cell phones or they try to either A) call the box office who don’t know the answers to your questions or B) they call the theatre itself, which is separate from our company and the message is never passed along to us. All three ways are bad ones. Have a professional phone for professional use and use it! (P. S. If you work for a school during the school year and give me your school phone number, how am I supposed to get ahold of you in the summer?)
- Voice Mail. I cannot, cannot, CANNOT stress the importance of a good voice mail message. My parents are guilty of this one (I am still on the answering machine, although I’m only home for Thanksgiving and Christmas these days). My two new biggest pet peeves are the automatic voice mail (“I’m sorry, nobody is available to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone. BEEP.”) and the badly recorded voice mail (“Hi, this is 555-2424, leave a message.” This is usually very loud). For the sake of my ears, leave this message or some variant for me to listen to: “Hi, this is the College Theatre Dork and if you leave me a message with your number, I’ll get back to you soon. Thanks!” I emphasize that instead “Hi, this is 555-2424”, you leave me your professional name instead. If you recently moved and I called your old number, I won’t know that 555-2424 doesn’t belong to you anymore. Or if you give me the wrong number by accident? I need to know that this is your phone and that I have reached you.
Funny story, my dad once accidentally called my old dorm room number and as it turns out, the current occupations never updated the voice mail from the one me and my freshman roommate made. On the other hand, if I called the wrong number, you just gave me a new number to add to my phone book and I might be someone you don’t want calling you, like a telemarketer.
- Speaking of telemarketers…I have newfound respect for them. We have our little speech written down and we’d like to tell it you. You don’t have to listen to the whole thing but there is a difference between rudely cutting us off and simply confirming that yes, I got the details already, thank you.
- Make sure we have your phone number (and if we need it, an emergency contact number too). The number of ushers who don’t give us their telephone number is almost the same number of ushers who don’t show up at all.
- And if you are one of the people who do the calling like me, have a good tongue-twister in your pocket along with a packet of Ricolas. I like Grip Top Sock, Red Leather/Yellow Leather and Lemon-Honey.
The Green Room 