SO great postings all. Our last round really got the ball rolling. Thanks to all our posters, especially Rick8 and skohler...lemmee tell ya'll something about these boys...I work with em and it's one of the best working relationships I've had in over 25 years of doing this. They are, as Mr. Tuttle might say, HCMF's (i'll leave your creative minds to figure out what that means, but believe me, it's good!) These men are passionate and they know their shit, and I'm proud to call em my amigos.
So now - onto the next line of questioning...and maybe some more DIVAS will actually chime in (as this WAS created for you!) ...I'll even make it easy on you....
What, or whom, got you interested in theatre in the first place??
Bonus points, once again, for the title reference...bitch! (*hint)
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I walked into a theatre quite by serendipitous accident. I volunteered to park cars one night, ushered the next, one week later I was Assistant Tech Director. Two weeks later I was on stage. The rest is a mottled history. Now I drive stakes through the hearts of ailing theatres as a pasttime, often within spitting distance of Tim X. If you've never seen a theatre die, it doesn't dust in a spectacular Whedon-like manner. It moans and bleeds and bitches until it finally rasps into a St. Vitus' dance... more like Glenn Close's death at the end of Zefferelli's "Hamlet".
Pretentious bastard.
"St Vitus Dance?" - you ARE a pretentious bastard! (lol)
Anyhoo- might as well toss in my 2 centavos...
I was sort of drug into the fold by my older brothers, Jerry and Tony. They did theatre in high school when I was still an impressionable grade school kiddie...I saw what they did, and all the cool folks they did it with and it made me wanna join in...I also remember them taking me to a community theatre productionof THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT...when I was in the 5th grade. I came out of the theatre extrememly charged, thinking " I dunno what the hell that was...but I LIKED it!" Since then, we've all been doing it , in some fashion or another , as our main vocation...which means we all get to do what we love for a living...and the three of us together don't have a pot to piss in!
In high school, I also had a very special mentor in one Mrs.Hattie Sue Tipton, a woman very short in stature but larger than life in personality and heart. She created an extremely safe and nurturing environment for us square pegs in high school who really had no place else to go...she died last month, and I'll forever be grateful for her wisdom, her humor and her spirit...and there's alot of folks who came in contact with her over the years who feel just the same... Rest in peace, Mama T!
(* editors note- Right now Mike Tuttle is chuckling to himself for reasons ONLY he and I know!)
too many nights sitting around the diner table with my family being told how overdramatic i was, being called the name of a famous actress as my own, and having the caption "act one, scene two, synge cries..." thrown at me any time i opened my mouth in my usual oh shall we say energetic fashion.
guess you could say i was predisposed from day one.
plus there was that time i was kidnapped by aliens and my brain was replaced with pure emotional gut reactions alone. and nutella.
skoehler, you know it was the purdue christmas show and not itzach pearlman that inspired you.
well, i can't really say i got into for the guys - it just doesn't work the other way around.
i actually did my first play in first grade - it was peter rabbit and i was in the chorus and everyone kept saying i stole the show. then when i was in 5th grade, my brother was a munchkin in the middle school production of the wizard of oz. it was the first time i knew without a doubt that i could do something better than him. the next year i was in the school play, and that summer i was doing shakespeare scenes at a college summer camp. the next year i began doing community theatre and that's when i started saying this was going to be career. i never strayed after that.
had i only known the horror of open calls and epa's and the casting directors who file their nails during your audition...
nah, i'd still do it.
more than the teachers, i think its some of the directors that i've worked a lot with who helped me define more for myself what i love about theatre, and where i fit into the whole milieu, and what i want to do and say there. when i think on not only the rehearsals and exploration, but the many conversations i've had with two very inspiring directors, it makes me realize how much they contributed to my outlook and place in theatre. hell, i wouldn't be in ny if one hadn't taken boot to ass and shoved me out the door letting me know in no subtle way that if i were to grow more as an artist, i had to leave the protective cocoon that had fostered and nurtured me for so long. i did have some great teachers along the road, but the directors seem more influencial in the anals of my memory.
(and certain very intelligent cutting edge lighting designers definitely left their mark as well)
i have been very very lucky in that i've always been able to find individuals within my community who share the same theatrical values as myself, and i've been able to really collaborate and grow through many of these experiences. i think that is a huge factor in maintaining the love and not losing sight of why the hell we do this in the first place, which seems easier than i ever thought possible once words like health and pension come into play.
Whoa- horsey! Let's keep it PG-13 in here...
the quote was "you've been a bad, bad girl", thank you very much! and the original speaker of said quote certainly was no sort of influence, lasting or not! sunsequent mockeries thereof have been indulged, simply because it is lovely to have people in your life remember your funny stories when you forget them.
don't worry timxx, its actually quite a pg-13 story, really, and slick8 just likes to remind me of past humiliations suffered to make me grow as an actor...right.
actually timxx, I believe it was you that really got me going about theatre. rick james, biotch?
WE HAVE A WINNER! Yes indeed, the title comes from RICK JAMES, Bitch! (and not the guy running for office in Hattiespatch, either!)
And yes, Mr Anon, I believe it WAS me (with an assist from our Mick buddy) who got you involved "In...the...Theatah!" God help me for draggin you into it too!
BTW- WHERE MY DIVAS AT?!? Lets get to posting people...you got stories, we wanna hear em! I got Lex folk, I got NYC folk, I got SETC/NC folk, I got folk form Nash-vegas...what I DON'T got is DIVAS!
God told me if I didn't act he would cause the seas to boil, the sky to crumble, and give the singer of Skid Row a successful Broadway career. So I gave it a shot and I'll never forgive him. Especially about that Sebastian Bach thing.
Actually I got into it by taking a Speech and Drama class in 9th grade (still Jr. High back then). I had a pretty bad stutter/ hesitation and my parents thought it would be beneficial for me to take a speech course. Little did we know it was a performance class. It guess it was sink or swim and I tried to swim. I did your normal speech team stuff, (Duo, DI, etc), I did a little stage work in high school, left the world of theatre for 4 or 5 years (trying to grow up) and then got back into it when I got the chance to do Waiting for Godot in 1996. And they haven't been able to stop me since. Although I'm sure they want to. 14 years and counting. ............And scene.
The last thing I remember is finally getting the courage up to go make a pass at this midget who worked in the USM library.
I set out, brazenly.
I was walking along the sidewalk when R.B. Hill jumped from the bushes and hit me over the head with a copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (First Folio) and mumbled "I knew this big ass book was good for somethin'."
Next thing I know, I'm getting chewed out by George Crook (Dept. Chair) for not holding my arm at the proper angle to wave goodbye to another character.
I guess the love came later.
Hiya Tim....
Hmmm, let's see. Well...I actually played Peter Rabbit in a the First grade. LOL That...however, was not what inspired my love for acting. I believe it was when I started collecting comic books at the age of 5. My mother and I would read "Uncanny X-men", Batman (I hada thing for Catwoman), Superman, JLA, Fantastic Four, Avengers, West Coast Avengers, etc. We would read them out loud and give each character a specific voice. Also, I remember my mother and I watching "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with Newman, Taylor, and Ives, and Cool Hand Luke with Newman....It was at that moment that I became obsessed with Paul Newman...and I wanted to be just like him. Actually....I think the biggest influence was Carol Burnette and Jack Lemmon. I used to walk around my grandparents house imitating Carol Burnette imitating someone else. I watched "Some Like it Hot" at age 7 and haven't been the same since. I grew up wanting to be Newman, Burnette, and Lemmon.
Honestly, I owe a lot to my mother and grandfather for encouraging me to do whatever I wanted. Even if that meant waiting tables and doing theater. I owe a lot to Laurie Genet-Preston. She took me in to one of her acting classes about 5 years ago, got me out of my shell, and encouraged me to grow as an actor. Other important peeps: Homer Tracy, Michael Thompson, Bill Barto, Lisa Osterman, Karyn Czar, Mr. Adam Luckey, Bob Singleton, Chris Rose, The Amazing Tonda Fields, and most importantly...my theater big bro Tim X. Davis. All of these guys have taught me, encouraged me, and inspired me to do what I do. :)
so if i don't qualify as i diva, than what the hell is a diva?
shayneb, and where pray tell, was this production of peter rabbit? aw, nah...i think i'm older than you anyway.
do we get a new topic anytime soon? this one's dying a slow death.
The official DIVA designation is for the floks I went to school with at USM...but THEY don't seem to be using the boards too much...sooooo...probably get a new topic on Sat/Sun...
And yes dear...you are definitely an honorary DIVA!
but a LOW MAINTENANCE one though, right?
Girl Scouts gave me my formal introduction to the theatre. Was working on the Drama badge and saw rehearsals and productions of Hansel and Gretel. Of course i was already doing my own plays at home and at school with friends. But seeing something more "legitimate" and with bigger audiences definitely peaked my interest.
Enter Pat Gilliland...childrens theatre director extraordanaire who taught me the two most important things in theatre...
Cheat out..and speak up.
Theatre became a lifelong hobby. (Sorry to you "pros" out there) and i also met my babies daddy thru theatre. I believe he made a better grade in costume class then i did.
Um, Shayne? A thing for Catwoman? Uh... Tim? Can I go with this where I wanna go with this? It's your mess to clean up if I do. Hahahaha.
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