All I'm Askin' for....is Change
Betrayed has been going really well as we continue to feel our legs and explore all the nitty gritty corners of the show. Audience reactions have been overwhelming and I have to say that I am not bored at all. I was worried about long runs and trying to keep it fresh, but the show speaks for itself in that it keeps me on my toes. It's not really a show you can be on autopilot for.
We have been officially extended to April 13 (tell your friends) with another extension possible after that. I am having so much fun that I will stick with the show for as long as it is open and for as long as I will be had.
This is possibly the most socially fulfilling show I have ever done. I have done shows that have given me personal satisfaction from a wanting-to-play-that-part angle, but this shows feeds that rhetorical part of my self. People love the show and are so incredibly moved by it. An Iraqi woman, whose father went through similar situations, stopped me in the lobby on the verge of tears and thanked for telling this story. She gave me a rose obviously given to her by her play date and was compelled to hug me. Two night ago I walked into the theatre after the show to talk to the SM and two women were sitting in the seats glossy-eyed unable to move. We spoke briefly and they could not believe how moved and angry they were. Some people can't believe that the play is completely truthful and accurate. Hell, we don't need the lens of fiction with some of the shit we have been charged with portraying every night.
I feel so lucky, and honored, and responsible to make sure the story is told every night and that every audience member DOES get angry or teary-eyed so someone does something. As a refugee myself who has fought for many years to get my citizenship (18 years later and it is finally happening in the next few months) I can understand the frustrations. I truly hope as many people come see the show if for nothing else but to be educated without being preached at and taught. At the heart of it, this is a play about people and relationships that happen to get entangled in politics.
On another note, I continue to pound the pavement with auditions, agent hunting, and CD inviting. I have gotten several bites and interested people (including an AMAZING meeting with a major film CD who could not have been more honest, generous and cordial). I am starting to slowly but surely get over the sting of the reality that I may very well not have a real place in musical theatre in NY. And even though that is what I came to NY to do, I am finding that I am falling in love all over again with plays (last one I did was Noises Off...8 years ago). I am also finding the spark I once had for TV and film stuff. To be honest....work is work and work begets work and I am not turning anything down. And if I have to achieve my goals by backdoors or through other avenues, then so be it. The only thing I fear is being lost in the brown actor shuffle. But I love that I am ethnically ambiguous enough that not many (if any) can peg where I come from. Of course....that can be to my detriment. But...meh...I just wanna work and meet people and grow and all that other fun stuff.
I say this now...knowing full well that after I go to my next EPA I will be fatalistic and kicking myself.
Life upon the wicked stage indeed...
We have been officially extended to April 13 (tell your friends) with another extension possible after that. I am having so much fun that I will stick with the show for as long as it is open and for as long as I will be had.
This is possibly the most socially fulfilling show I have ever done. I have done shows that have given me personal satisfaction from a wanting-to-play-that-part angle, but this shows feeds that rhetorical part of my self. People love the show and are so incredibly moved by it. An Iraqi woman, whose father went through similar situations, stopped me in the lobby on the verge of tears and thanked for telling this story. She gave me a rose obviously given to her by her play date and was compelled to hug me. Two night ago I walked into the theatre after the show to talk to the SM and two women were sitting in the seats glossy-eyed unable to move. We spoke briefly and they could not believe how moved and angry they were. Some people can't believe that the play is completely truthful and accurate. Hell, we don't need the lens of fiction with some of the shit we have been charged with portraying every night.
I feel so lucky, and honored, and responsible to make sure the story is told every night and that every audience member DOES get angry or teary-eyed so someone does something. As a refugee myself who has fought for many years to get my citizenship (18 years later and it is finally happening in the next few months) I can understand the frustrations. I truly hope as many people come see the show if for nothing else but to be educated without being preached at and taught. At the heart of it, this is a play about people and relationships that happen to get entangled in politics.
On another note, I continue to pound the pavement with auditions, agent hunting, and CD inviting. I have gotten several bites and interested people (including an AMAZING meeting with a major film CD who could not have been more honest, generous and cordial). I am starting to slowly but surely get over the sting of the reality that I may very well not have a real place in musical theatre in NY. And even though that is what I came to NY to do, I am finding that I am falling in love all over again with plays (last one I did was Noises Off...8 years ago). I am also finding the spark I once had for TV and film stuff. To be honest....work is work and work begets work and I am not turning anything down. And if I have to achieve my goals by backdoors or through other avenues, then so be it. The only thing I fear is being lost in the brown actor shuffle. But I love that I am ethnically ambiguous enough that not many (if any) can peg where I come from. Of course....that can be to my detriment. But...meh...I just wanna work and meet people and grow and all that other fun stuff.
I say this now...knowing full well that after I go to my next EPA I will be fatalistic and kicking myself.
Life upon the wicked stage indeed...
posted by Sevan Greene at
8:28 PM
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