The big news last week was that I applied to join the "Dramatists Guild". I think I'm a member now: I received a newsletter via e-mail, and they have charged my credit card for the membership fee. I assume that a membership card is coming in the mail. Even though I don't have a membership card (and, in fact, I haven't received any confirmation that I'm a member), when I mentioned this at the Drama Book Store in New York City, they gave me a "Dramatists Guild discount".
I had been thinking about joining the Dramatists Guild before. Their requirement for full membership was that I show I have written a play that was performed in front of a paying audience. I fulfilled that with "The Crystal" and "Vampe". My concern was if it was like Actor's Equity: I hear plenty of stories about actors that are members of Actor's Equity having to get exemptions to be allowed to perform in community theatre. I wouldn't join the Dramatists Guild if it meant I couldn't work on plays with the co-author of "Vampe", or if I couldn't work with the director of "The Crystal". It turns out that the Dramatists Guild doesn't put those sorts of restrictions on you. They seem like a great resource, though. One thing that has me very excited is that they have a place in New York City where I, as a member, am allowed to put on one 90-minute staged reading every year.
The weekend before last, I was at ESTAFest. "The Crystal" was being performed there. It didn't win any major awards (it received an award for "best visual effects", but I think that had more to do with the fact that no other play had any visual effects). I saw some great work there and two that I felt were genuinely "bad". The big festival winner . . . well, I think everyone else saw something different than what I saw (which had a great first half, but collapsed utterly in its second half). I didn't expect "The Crystal" to win anything, because it's important to remember that horror doesn't win awards (it didn't help that the judges clearly didn't understand horror; they had one or two good suggestions, but when one of them remarked that we should have shown more and had less in the imagination, it was clear). But, people came up to me before and after, raving about it: that's what counts!
One thing struck me during this: the bane of my existence as an actor. I watched 14 shows that weekend, but in the end I couldn't tell one actor from another. On the other hand, people all knew who I was. Heck, people there recognized me from "Vampe" and "Shakespeare in the Trailer Park"! Yes, my brown skin makes me very recognizable. Unfortunately, while I don't disappear in a forest of 6-foot-tall-white-men, 99% of the roles out there are written for 6-foot-tall-white-men.
Writing is a different world from acting. In the past two weeks, I wrote two small plays. I just sat down and wrote them: "ta da". I don't need anyone else's approval to write something down. True, maybe the thing I write will never get performed. Maybe the thing I write will never get published. But it exists, it's something I created. I can fire up an e-mail and send it to people. Five years from now, it will still exist. As for acting? If I don't get a part, I don't get to act. Even if it's a group of friends goofing around in a basement, I need someone else's approval in order to act. I think I am a much better writer than I am an actor, for one basic reason: I can write any time, and I do. I realized in my acting class last winter that my acting skills are at a standstill, because I never get challenging parts.
Well, I am acting again.
This particular theatre company was on my "shit list". I went to one audition once. There were several men that were all auditioning for the one open part. I did well, but the director declared that he's going to choose based on age and looks (he even stated this). I didn't get the part. I went back there to audition for "A Streetcar Named Desire", although I knew there were no parts for me in this play. Finally, I went back for a farce set in the Scotland. I heard "wow's" from the audition committee, and I got my "sorry" e-mail a whole 3 1/2 hours later. Recently, there were auditions for a festival of 10-minute plays. A friend bugged me into auditioning, so I broke my "I'm not going to audition there again" rule. I did well, and a month later (it took them a while to get this arranged) I was offered a part. I read the script and saw that the part wasn't challenging, but it was fun. Okay, I accepted. I will be larger than life, hamming this up . . . I know, that's such a stretch for me.
I'm going to be performing with a woman that directed that play set in Scotland. She told me that they really wanted me for that play, but all the male characters were either too young or too old. Great . . . although I had hoped that I would have been "good enough" to have made them deliberate for more than 3 1/2 hours! She told me she will be directing a play next year, and there might be a part for me in it. Hey, I don't have any plans! By the way, this play will be at another theatre that was on my "shit list".
I should note that "taking silly parts in plays" was what led to my "writing career" actually taking root. If I hadn't been in "Godspell" and "42nd Street", I wouldn't have been approached for "Vampe". If I hadn't been in "Shakespeare in the Trailer Park", I would never have met the woman that directed "The Crystal".
