2008-2009 was a slow theatre season for me. For one my financial services business was really taking off. My client base was growing and was quite busy. So I stayed away from most auditions. I almost did The Music Man in NJ but decided against it. Then in January The Ritz Theatre called me about a play they were doing called A Few Good Men. They did a movie on this play in 1992 with Jack Nicolson and Tom Cruise. The director called me and told me that she remembered my auditions from the TAGP's and shows I did at The Ritz and was a fan of my work and talent. The call was out the blue and was really flattering. She said she wanted me to do it and didn't need me to audition but wanted me to come to the call backs and read with other actors she was considering. She emailed me after the reading and told me she wanted to go in another direction. That was cool. I had one audition for New Candle Light for Forum and got called back three times but didn't get it. I was just about to accept that I would miss the whole theatre season with out doing a show. I am different actor at 28 going on 29 than I was when I was 18. When I was 18 this would have crushed me. At 28 I am more focused on what projects I want to do. I don't want to be in a show just to be in a show. I wasn't auditioning as much by design. I was focusing more on my spiritual goals and my family. I also wanted to expand my financial services business to the point where I could hire a small staff and step away and produce my theatre company. I was keeping my eyes on the prize. So when Kate Galvin with the Walnut Street theatre called me and offered me a small part in Born Yesterday and said I didn't need to audition I was pleasantly surprised! After all they are the largest and most sucessfull theatre company in the world! I did Man of La Mancha there i the fall of 2007. I was offered a very small role as a boot black and waiter and I understudied the hotel manger. The cast was amazing! Truly the most professional and nicest cast I have ever been apart of. Marco Verna who is an actor from Conneticut and was new to the Walnut and the Philadelphia theatre scene played Harry Brock the lead. He was the coolest actor I ever met! He owned a commercial real estate company in Conneticutt so we had alot in common right away. The cast included Philly favorite Greg Wood who has also done a few M. Night Shyamalan movies. He was the mourning dad in at the end of the movie the Sitxh Sense. Fran Prisco was Eddie and was very funny. Kate Farhner play Billie Dawn the not so dim witted blonde. The cast was very good in the show. I never got to go on as the hotel manager but I was off book by the first understudy rehearsal. Working at the Walnut Street Theatre is like staying at a five star hotel! I loved working there again and felt honered they thought enough of me to ask me back! A month before the show closed I got a call from The Ritz Theatre offering me the part of Mareb in Aida their summer production. I was excited like a little kid before the first day of school!
No comments:
Post a Comment