Hello Internet!
It's been wonderful landing in New York (and Montana) these past few weeks; freaking fantastic. But as a Master Teacher once said to me, "By far one of the biggest requirements for an Actor? A strong suitcase."
So yank out the Samsonite. I'm headed to Stages St. Louis on Monday.
Guess it's time to drop my drawers again.
Updates to follow!
Poster Art for W.H.A.T.'s upcoming production
Every actor's dream is to have jobs that dove-tail, one into another. And I'll say it: To this point my career hasn't seen enough of that.
But every now and then, things line up. So thankfully and immediately after The Full Monty closes in Aspen, I'll fly back to New York and drop into rehearsal with director Michael Unger for a Tennessee Williams comedy (yes you read that right, a comedy). 2 weeks of rehearsal in the city, then off to Cape Cod, and the Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theatre. This blurb on the show is from their website:
"A light-hearted story that brings together two couples on Christmas Eve and emulates the sign of the times in the late 1950s. This Tennessee Williams comedic departure was written in response to a critic who asked why his plays were always 'plunging into the sewers.' The result is a serious comedy with a humorous viewpoint on very real human situations.
Following the run at WHAT, Period of Adjustment continues to the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown."
I've already started working on the material, and can't wait to dig further. Any of you East Coast types want to do some late summer play watching (and daydrinking) on the Cape? See you there!
Costume fitting. This one doesn't stay on that long.
You know, it's funny.
You get the audition, you get the job, you know the details, and you're just excited to do the work. But then you're in rehearsals dancing in your underwear in front of a mirror all day with 5 other guys, and then maybe they're trying a G-string on you during a costume fitting... and it hits you.
I'm doing The Full Monty.
I wouldn't really call myself an exhibitionist. No, seriously; I've always been very outgoing, as many Actors are, but I wouldn't consider myself a candidate for a nudist colony. Not that I think that's a bad thing; once many years ago I spent a week camping at a private 'clothing optional' resort in Colorado, and once I got over the initial shock I had a terrific time. I would go hiking in a hat, PLENTY of sunscreen, and good shoes. That's it. Interestingly, as I was leaving and putting on clothes for the first time in a week, I found them to be terribly constricting. But on to the larger question (pun intended):
Is nudity onstage (and in film) always gratuitous? Or is it ever actually necessary?
Um. What?
G-string / Thong / Buttfloss / call it what you will.
People have widely differing opinions. In my experience, Americans are far less comfortable with being or even watching 'in the altogether' than other cultures. One wonders if, to this day, we're still somewhat hamstrung by our puritanical ancestry. I would bet that most Americans find nudity gratuitous 98.9% of the time. Yet, if that is so, why is porn so popular in this country?
Enough with generalities. On to particulars.
I find that in my present show, The Full Monty, nudity is absolutely necessary. The play is about 6 men who are out of work in Buffalo, who decide to become strippers to make some quick cash - but that's only the surface of the story. What we find over the course of the evening is that in a deeper sense the story is about facing one's truth / true self... as each of these characters in this play do, layer by layer. And it's the process of getting naked, of shedding layer after layer of preconceptions, prejudices and the like, that saves these characters. Getting down to their own truths, to what is really important, can only happen... if they get naked.
So maybe we, as a culture, should drop trou more often. What do you think?