The months that followed the closing of Abnormal Stew were productive and rejuvenated me to a great degree. My health was finally on something of an upswing and although that winter marked my first holiday season alone, I was able to distract myself with other projects and relationships. I was finding my way in this weird little world and this time I was doing it by myself.
First Distraction: Swimming with The Whales
In December I accepted a leading role in a production called The Whales written by M. Stefan Strozier and being produced by his production company. How I came across this opportunity is a testament to the old saying, “you never know what you’re getting into.” I had received an email casting notice looking for two actors for a show already deep in rehearsals. Having produced more than my fair share of plays before, I knew exactly what this had meant … a couple of people had dropped out of the cast.
I was immediately interested because the show would run for four weeks in January and, with an obvious break for the Christmas holiday, I knew the time commitment would be minimal … there just wasn’t much time left to rehearse. The audition notice indicated that the two roles they were looking to fill were a) a homeless schizophrenic playwright and b) a Sopranos mob-type. Well, I sure couldn’t fill the latter, but the former sounded fun. The casting notice didn’t indicate the size of the roles, but I just assumed they were both small supporting roles.
I also chuckled to myself to find that the show would be staged at Where Eagles Dare Theatre … the same stage I had just spent the past several months on.
I arrived at that first rehearsal to find a sizable cast and was given a script, just a scene really, that I would read a little later. I had been in this situation before … I was going to audition as part of the rehearsal … I would really have to screw up not to get the role. I read over this bizarre little scene where Harry (my character) primarily spouted a bunch of nonsense in a sanitarium. Looked like fun.
Later in the rehearsal I did the scene … just hammed it up a bit. I was cast on the spot and given the full script. Imagine my surprise when I got home, read it and found that outside of an opening prologue of sorts, I was in every scene in the play. In fact, the play centered on my character.
I felt bad. Probably a little self-imposed tension that was unwarranted. But I had wondered why the director hadn’t just “promoted” somebody with a smaller role in the cast and then just filled in his part. That is certainly how I had handled similar circumstances in the past. I wondered if any of my cast mates, and there were quite a few, were angry or jealous. In retrospect, I don’t think so. But at the time, it was a real concern … I felt that I may have usurped somebody else’s role.
Funny People Are Fun
Immediately I was attracted to my energetic, vastly talented and breathtaking “love interest” in the play, Holly Vanasse. She was a ball of fire … a sarcastic and sardonic wit with a flair for mockery. She had a glorious lack of pretense which I greatly admired … in fact, I still greatly admire it. The most cutting and hilarious things would flow effortlessly from her lips. Only a few years my junior and with a love of all things Duran Duran (including The Power Station) she was exhilarating to spend time with.
The stresses of my personal life over the previous year and the tensions that surrounded Abnormal Stew had drained me and made me question whether pursuing acting and/or comedy to any degree was worth the effort. I was buried under a mountain of self-doubt that Holly, with the force of the hurricane that is her personality, blew away. A strong personality indeed. I was taken aback by how grateful I was (and am) to her. To this day I doubt that she has any comprehension of just how much she has meant to me and I am horribly saddened that she is not currently a regular part of my life.
Additionally, however, many others in the cast were also inspirational. Outgoing and occasionally outrageous, Brenna McGuire and her love of cupcakes became something that I looked forward to everyday. Denise Collins was a jingly jangly whirlwind herself and the first person in the show I established a rapport with. Jordan and Grant Peters were talented brothers I respected and Ben Bailey, perhaps the most dedicated actor I have ever met, was a constant source of amusement. This group of people, for the most part, could just disregard any allegiance to the script, toss logic aside and have fun with each evening’s performance. And if that didn't work ... well you could always drool on the stage.
And at the time, that was good enough for me.
Second Distration: Yelling at Jesus Again
Shortly after The Whales closed I was called by the director of The Passion Play at the Park Performing Arts Center in Union City, NJ. In 2003 I had played Caiaphas in the show and went on as Pontius Pilate in an unrehearsed emergency for one performance. The large theatre was only ten blocks from my house, so working on the show was convenient. She asked if I would come back and do a little Caiaphas/Pilate doubling for her and, since the show would open soon and I wouldn’t have to worry much about a long rehearsal process, I agreed.
I wasn’t even looking for acting work and I would go from Stew to The Whales to The Passion Play with hardly a break in between. Not my style, but it certainly was nice to be wanted and appreciated as a performer. A screening of a film I starred in, The Interrogation, weeks later capped a busy period of performance. It was enough for me to look back over the previous twelve months (the film, title role in Hamlet, directing Love’s Labors Lost, Abnormal Stew, The Whales and The Passion Play) and see how my confidence had soared, faded and then began to rise again.
With my confidence on the upswing, I had been doing quite a bit of writing. Initially my focus had been on my one-man show that had been stirring around in my mind for a few years, but I kept coming back to The Talented Talent Brothers and this silly little idea I had … a wafer-thin plot based loosely on The Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races, a couple of puppets, gags that had worked in Stew … and a title that had almost caused a car wreck several years before.
First Distraction: Swimming with The Whales
In December I accepted a leading role in a production called The Whales written by M. Stefan Strozier and being produced by his production company. How I came across this opportunity is a testament to the old saying, “you never know what you’re getting into.” I had received an email casting notice looking for two actors for a show already deep in rehearsals. Having produced more than my fair share of plays before, I knew exactly what this had meant … a couple of people had dropped out of the cast.I was immediately interested because the show would run for four weeks in January and, with an obvious break for the Christmas holiday, I knew the time commitment would be minimal … there just wasn’t much time left to rehearse. The audition notice indicated that the two roles they were looking to fill were a) a homeless schizophrenic playwright and b) a Sopranos mob-type. Well, I sure couldn’t fill the latter, but the former sounded fun. The casting notice didn’t indicate the size of the roles, but I just assumed they were both small supporting roles.
I also chuckled to myself to find that the show would be staged at Where Eagles Dare Theatre … the same stage I had just spent the past several months on.I arrived at that first rehearsal to find a sizable cast and was given a script, just a scene really, that I would read a little later. I had been in this situation before … I was going to audition as part of the rehearsal … I would really have to screw up not to get the role. I read over this bizarre little scene where Harry (my character) primarily spouted a bunch of nonsense in a sanitarium. Looked like fun.
Later in the rehearsal I did the scene … just hammed it up a bit. I was cast on the spot and given the full script. Imagine my surprise when I got home, read it and found that outside of an opening prologue of sorts, I was in every scene in the play. In fact, the play centered on my character.
I felt bad. Probably a little self-imposed tension that was unwarranted. But I had wondered why the director hadn’t just “promoted” somebody with a smaller role in the cast and then just filled in his part. That is certainly how I had handled similar circumstances in the past. I wondered if any of my cast mates, and there were quite a few, were angry or jealous. In retrospect, I don’t think so. But at the time, it was a real concern … I felt that I may have usurped somebody else’s role.Funny People Are Fun
Immediately I was attracted to my energetic, vastly talented and breathtaking “love interest” in the play, Holly Vanasse. She was a ball of fire … a sarcastic and sardonic wit with a flair for mockery. She had a glorious lack of pretense which I greatly admired … in fact, I still greatly admire it. The most cutting and hilarious things would flow effortlessly from her lips. Only a few years my junior and with a love of all things Duran Duran (including The Power Station) she was exhilarating to spend time with.
The stresses of my personal life over the previous year and the tensions that surrounded Abnormal Stew had drained me and made me question whether pursuing acting and/or comedy to any degree was worth the effort. I was buried under a mountain of self-doubt that Holly, with the force of the hurricane that is her personality, blew away. A strong personality indeed. I was taken aback by how grateful I was (and am) to her. To this day I doubt that she has any comprehension of just how much she has meant to me and I am horribly saddened that she is not currently a regular part of my life.Additionally, however, many others in the cast were also inspirational. Outgoing and occasionally outrageous, Brenna McGuire and her love of cupcakes became something that I looked forward to everyday. Denise Collins was a jingly jangly whirlwind herself and the first person in the show I established a rapport with. Jordan and Grant Peters were talented brothers I respected and Ben Bailey, perhaps the most dedicated actor I have ever met, was a constant source of amusement. This group of people, for the most part, could just disregard any allegiance to the script, toss logic aside and have fun with each evening’s performance. And if that didn't work ... well you could always drool on the stage.
And at the time, that was good enough for me.
Second Distration: Yelling at Jesus Again
Shortly after The Whales closed I was called by the director of The Passion Play at the Park Performing Arts Center in Union City, NJ. In 2003 I had played Caiaphas in the show and went on as Pontius Pilate in an unrehearsed emergency for one performance. The large theatre was only ten blocks from my house, so working on the show was convenient. She asked if I would come back and do a little Caiaphas/Pilate doubling for her and, since the show would open soon and I wouldn’t have to worry much about a long rehearsal process, I agreed.I wasn’t even looking for acting work and I would go from Stew to The Whales to The Passion Play with hardly a break in between. Not my style, but it certainly was nice to be wanted and appreciated as a performer. A screening of a film I starred in, The Interrogation, weeks later capped a busy period of performance. It was enough for me to look back over the previous twelve months (the film, title role in Hamlet, directing Love’s Labors Lost, Abnormal Stew, The Whales and The Passion Play) and see how my confidence had soared, faded and then began to rise again.
With my confidence on the upswing, I had been doing quite a bit of writing. Initially my focus had been on my one-man show that had been stirring around in my mind for a few years, but I kept coming back to The Talented Talent Brothers and this silly little idea I had … a wafer-thin plot based loosely on The Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races, a couple of puppets, gags that had worked in Stew … and a title that had almost caused a car wreck several years before.
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