Dilemma with another Actor
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Acting
Forum Discription: Q&A about auditions, character development and other aspects of the craft
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2485
Printed Date: 11/21/24 at 9:02pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Dilemma with another Actor
Posted By: caseyscott07
Subject: Dilemma with another Actor
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 12:24am
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Can anybody offer me any suggestions with a dilemma I've been having. Over the past couple of years, I've been doing a few productions with a local community theatre. When we did a production a couple of years ago (won't say what show, for fear that the actor may visit these forums!), we had a gentleman audition who was evidently talented and experienced - having played the role numerous times before - and got one of the leading male roles.
Now, the actor (being experienced in the show, and - in the opinions of quite a number of us - quite a megalomaniac) took it upon himself to constantly give us notes and somehow took it upon himself to assume to role of "honourary" assistant director (or co-director, however it works), decided that the director wasn't experienced/talented/benevolent enough, and constantly gave us notes on how we should perform our roles. But even worse, they weren't simple notes - he took it upon himself to become so critical, pedantic and out-of-line that it really became a case of him playing every role in the show, and us being his puppets. The notes he was giving weren't helpful, as I felt we were all quite talented and able actors, and really ventured into taking away our job as actors and him assuming it for us.
Whether this was a case of us simply being so terrible and not realising it, I really did feel he was very out of line. Any production I've been in outside of this company, no matter how good I was, if I began to give other actors notes, I would have been berated by the director and/or stage manager. I've done productions where they've had to cut actors for it. And, if I did it in one of this director's productions, I'd surely have the same happen.
But instead, the director of this production - who is artistic director of the company - decided to promote this actor to being "associate director" of the company. My issue is that, when reviews came out for that production we were doing, every single critic described his performance as being some variant of bad.
I wouldn't have a problem if he was just being helpful, but every single time he has forayed into - what I feel - taking my integrity away as an actor (Sheesh! Us CT actors and our egos!) and it's left me feeling that I'm not acting. It's just so irritating! The "real" director is fantastic to work with, and that's why I've gone back to do other shows, but I just have issues with her moral code. So, my issue is, do I just stop doing shows with that company - which I would do so very regretfully, as I so many of the "regulars" are very dear friends - or does anybody have any suggestions as to how I could deal with this in future?
Sorry for the vague title. I know theres a name for this sort of thing (for some reason I keep thinking of backstage directing, but I don't think that's right).
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Replies:
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 3:53am
| Not to be cynical, but as usual it comes down to how much crap you're willing to put up with to get to those few and fleeting transcedent experiences on stage. However, if you're feeling like you're "not acting," then what's the point? |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 10:12am
I would. It's a serious breach of protocol and harmful to the production, no matter how good the notes themselves are.
I'm normally pretty taciturn as an actor -- I show up, I do my job, I leave. However, from time to time I have become slightly perturbed, and then people really don't want to be around me.
 This would create that condition.
The first time this happened, I would ignore him.
The second time, I would ask the director (in front of everybody) if that's what he wanted me to do.
The third time, if I were in a good mood, I would loudly say that I don't take notes from actors, and tell him that he probably had enough to do working on his own role. If I were in a bad mood, I would tell him to shove his f***ing notes up his g**d**** a**. In either event, I would tell the director that I don't take that s*** and that I would walk if it didn't stop. And I 'd do it.
I know I'm probably in the minority on this, and it's a bit of a hijack, but why would somebody want to do this? (I mean, for the guy in the OP, it's obviously because he has no interest in the process and just wants to be the greatest star, but I mean for other people.)
Only once in my life have I played the same role twice. (That doesn't make sense, but you know what I mean.
 ) The second time was the worst experience of my theatrical "career." I had nothing new to bring to the role, I didn't want to do it again (I wanted a different role; I put all that down on the audition sheet, the director didn't read it, and I accepted the role in accordance with my long-standing policy of playing as cast), and I wasn't any good. A couple of years later, I played the role of a lifetime (Norman in Boys Next Door) and was offered the chance to play it again a year later; I turned it down.I don't see why someone would want to play the same role over and over again. ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: B-M-D
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 6:45pm
Wow POB14 I couldn't have said it better myself!!  I would only add, where was the stage manager when all this was going on? ------------- BD 
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard." |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 7:53pm
If I'm understanding the original post correctly, this was going on in front of the director. I could see putting up with this the first time just to finish the show without causing a scene. But I can't see doing another production with the guy. |
Posted By: biggertigger
Date Posted: 6/29/07 at 10:38pm
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First, talk to the actor and explain while suggestions are nice, the are not necessary at this time. The director has not asked me to take the character in a different direction, therefore my interpretation of this character is fine with the director.
If the guy continues, go directly to the director and let them know what this gentleman is doing. (The director may have talked to him about seeking you out, or is so oblivious that what is really going on.) Explain to the director that his suggestions are disrupted to you and is making it difficult to maintain consistancy.
If the director and this guy are in cahoots and will not let you be the professional that you were hired as, then you need to ask yourself is the environment you wish to remain in.
If you can't stand the way you are being directed, there is little anyone can do during the performance if you change your characterization. But don't expect to be asked back for future shows. ------------- The two greatest days in a theater persons life, the day you start a new show and the day the damn thing closes. |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 10:59am
| If I read the original post correctly, the show in which this first happened is over. The director who allowed this to happen is the artistic director of the company and promoted the offending actor to "associate director." It would appear that no one else in the company has publically objected. Caseyscott07 wants to know what to do when this happens in the future while working with this same company. The easiest answer is don't work with them in the future. |
Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 11:10am
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I would listen to his notes very calmly and then, afterwards say something like "That's great. Since we're being so helpful to each other, I have some notes FOR YOU, TOO!" And then I would proceed to list every irritating, out-of-line and hack job this guy has done, adding some extras including "and in that one scene we have together, would you mind moving further upstage, my parents sit stage left and might not see me, thanks."Keep a smile and positive attitude. I doubt this joker will get the message right away, but chances are good he won't like getting notes from another actor, either and will eventually stop bugging you.
------------- "None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone |
Posted By: caseyscott07
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 11:20am
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Thanks for your help and sugestions, everyone! Yeah, you're pretty much right, jayzehr. His "directions" have been very much given to every single cast member, so it's not so much a case of being singled out, so much as I think he underestimates and feels the need to undermine the director. A lot of people have objected behind closed doors, just no-one's had the guts to say anything to him or the director. Lots of people have wanted to object, as I understand though - there are a lot of egos at stake, not just with this company in particular but with a lot of CTs in my city.
We have a strange talent pool of performers in my area - although it's supposedly "amateur" theatre, most people have done theatre degrees but are either unemployed actors, theme park performers, Elvis impersonators (no joke!) or singers and musos who do smaller gigs around the place. As well, we have lots of people who claim to have been the fifty bazillionth understudy for Fanny Brice on tour in Funny Girl who swoop in to claim the lead roles. We even had one woman who claimed to have been the understudy for Fantine in the national premiere of Les Miz (I'm in Australia, so that's a good fifteen or twenty years ago) and scored the role in our production, till somebody pointed out that - if she was the age she claimed - she would have had to have been fourteen at the time!
Anyways, next time it happens, I think I'll just broach it to him politely (I'm a theatre student and he's in his forties or fifties, so there are politics there and I don't want to appear "insolent" or whatever else he'd claim), and - if it doesn't improve I'll broach it to the director. I'm just irritated that nobody else has been gutsy enough to actually say something about it.
Oh well.
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Posted By: eveharrington
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 2:50pm
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(I'm a theatre student and he's in his forties or fifties, so there are politics there and I don't want to appear "insolent" or whatever else he'd claim)
His behavior sounds insolent to me and it's being rewarded. Just keep in mind that respect and reverence must be earned and you don't earn it by living another year. ------------- "If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights." |
Posted By: tdsands
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 8:29pm
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While we have all had better ideas at times, only the Director should be giving anyone notes. Biggertrigger has the right response. But, I would probably have responded a bit more like Topper. After all, we all want to direct, don't we? ------------- tdsands @ NRT |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 6/30/07 at 11:43pm
GAWD! I wonder if it could be the same bloke we have here? I know he belongs to a few Groups, but didn't realise this actualy commutes to other states. (Me thinks it could'nt be the same wally - ours is over 60) He sounds like the same bloke - thick as brick & just as dense! Not a lot you can do as an indervidual, beyond white ant him, in the hope the powers that be get off thier colective bronzes & pull the pin on him, he might eventualy take the hint & evaporate. On your own you would have only two chances - 'none & Buckleys'. What ever you do, do it quietly & softly with a lump of 4X2. Ensure you have a steal plate in your daks at all times. as protection from you wearing the boot up the "Rsend'. Just remember theatre is that sparse & big here? - When you flush the dunny there, you will empty a bath in another State! Chookas!!! ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 7/02/07 at 9:14am
If that means "spray him with Raid until he's white," I'm with ya, Joe! ------------- POB Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 7/02/07 at 11:30am
'Raid' a great idea POB! Applied extensively untill iradication is complete. Stated entirely "WITHOUT PREJUDICE"Of course! {This yoyo is a termite - show no mercy, as pity will only feeds his ego & he may breed?}  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 7/13/07 at 12:52pm
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Wow, this fellow must get around. I think I have acted with this exact personality here in Ohio. I deal with him much differently now than in the past. Being a person of conciderable heft and girth I have a little extra weight to throw around. Back before I found the wonderful land of sobriety I had conversations with this actor which resulted in us going nose to nose and warnings of consequences if he didn't keep his notes to himself. These things always have a way of working themselves out. This actor moved on to "bigger and better theatre" and left us poor talentless schmucks behind. We wish him well and to paraphrase Fiddler, "May God bless him and keep him.......Far away from us." ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |
Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 7/14/07 at 4:31am
Been there on that one.  It's funny how you see a lot less red once you get the brain chemicals in line!
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Posted By: jaytee060
Date Posted: 7/14/07 at 5:51pm
| The real concern here, for both the other actors and the theatre company in general is that a show director allows an actor to do the job that he is contracted for. If I were that director, I would be more outraged then the actors. If I were the Board of that theatre compnay , i would put an end to this behavior immediately. This person is not only overstepping his authority but is usurping the position of the plays director. The director or the theatre Board should put a stop to this at once and if this man did not conform, then he would be replaced. It does not matter how talented he is. Community theatre works best when it is a team effort. The director is the captain and the actors are his crew. This should be treated as A MUTINY and the egotistical one should be made to walk the plank. |
Posted By: tdsands
Date Posted: 7/14/07 at 6:04pm
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Bravo jaytee060.
Well Said! ------------- tdsands @ NRT |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 7/15/07 at 6:39am
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Gadszooks 'n odd bodkins - Keel haul the Galah. then hang him by the thumbs till ya make Plymouth! ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 7/16/07 at 11:01am
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"Gadszooks 'n odd bodkins - Keel haul the Galah. then hang him by the thumbs till ya make Plymouth! "
If I had any idea what you said, I'm sure I'd agree with you. ------------- Patrick L. Davis Fort Findlay Playhouse |