Now, I felt like an actor for real. I had done a part that stretched my acting muscles to the extreme, with a director that demanded he see Jerry, not me and I had done more than well.
Doing Zoo Story had no immediate affect on my career as no agents or Casting directors showed up, as far as I knew. Some off-off actors and writers did come and I got calls to do readings and backer's auditions to raise money to produce their plays.This satisfied my hunger momentarily but I was anxious to get back on stage and get that full experience that I received from "The Zoo Story"
While I was doing Zoo Story, a woman came in to help with the lights. Well, to show you how stuff happens in this business, she became a casting assistant for a new equity regional theater in New Jersey, The George Street Playhouse. They were going to do a production of "Fortune in Men's Eyes and she recommended me for one of the major parts.
I went to the audition and kicked ass. There were other actors auditioning for the same part, who had done films, Broadway plays and regional theater. They had no chance, the part was right up my alley, like a medium fast ball that I hit out of the park.
To think, I didn't have to drive the cab for awhile made me extremely happy and gave me peace of mind. I also had the best director I ever had up till then,Dino. He was a professional actor and director and the cast and I would go to his loft in So-Ho, where he lived with his family, and rehearse from 8am until 1pm everyday except Monday.
My character, Rocky,was a tough guy and bi-sexual, the type of person that would have sex with a hole in the wall. He tries to dominate a new guy in the prison, Smitty. Thankfully, there were no sex scenes in the play and I used my character's need to dominate everyone around him as motivation.
After 3 weeks of rehearsal in New York, we traveled together on a bus to New Brunswick, NJ to finish the rest of the rehearsals in the theater. There are chemical plants in NJ that when you pass through, smelled like farts.It was a small price to pay to get paid as an actor.
The show opened and was the biggest hit the George Street Playhouse ever had up to that point, in fact the theater was in financial trouble but "Fortune in Men's Eyes" put them on the map and sold out every performance. We had a very diverse audience from middle class to Rutgers University and high school students . The high school kids were a lot of fun. There is a point near the end of the play when the character Smitty has a speech and while he is talking, I am sneaking up behind him to hit him with a chair. The kids would yell out from the audience" Look out for Rocky". It was great, they were really into the play.
We received great reviews: Mirko Tuma from "The News Tribune" said "The production is environmental theater at it'd best, you feel, indeed,like watching a prison show in the prison auditorium and even like being part of the action" and about me he says,"John Del Regno,playing Rocky the pimp stripped of even a resemblance of humanity, is an actor of bursting energy and a exciting sense of authenticity. A superb performance.
Bruce Chadwick of the Daily News wrote The result is a moving play, laced with cutting humor, that slowly builds a vise that squeezes the audience into fear. About me,"He gets excellent performances from John Del Regno as tough guy Rocky.
Going into Jimmy ray's, the actor's bar I had been hanging out, I felt a new confidence among these more experience actors. Who, by the way, did not show up for Zoo Story or Fortune but they heard about it as news travels fast in the theater world. Now, I was not considered a cab driver that wanted to be an actor, but was promoted to a full fledged aspiring actor.
I was quickly offered another role at the George Street Playhouse, Bottom in "A Mid-Summer Nights Dream". Would what I learned so far and the method I was developing for myself ,work with Shakespeare?
Doing Zoo Story had no immediate affect on my career as no agents or Casting directors showed up, as far as I knew. Some off-off actors and writers did come and I got calls to do readings and backer's auditions to raise money to produce their plays.This satisfied my hunger momentarily but I was anxious to get back on stage and get that full experience that I received from "The Zoo Story"
While I was doing Zoo Story, a woman came in to help with the lights. Well, to show you how stuff happens in this business, she became a casting assistant for a new equity regional theater in New Jersey, The George Street Playhouse. They were going to do a production of "Fortune in Men's Eyes and she recommended me for one of the major parts.
I went to the audition and kicked ass. There were other actors auditioning for the same part, who had done films, Broadway plays and regional theater. They had no chance, the part was right up my alley, like a medium fast ball that I hit out of the park.
To think, I didn't have to drive the cab for awhile made me extremely happy and gave me peace of mind. I also had the best director I ever had up till then,Dino. He was a professional actor and director and the cast and I would go to his loft in So-Ho, where he lived with his family, and rehearse from 8am until 1pm everyday except Monday.
My character, Rocky,was a tough guy and bi-sexual, the type of person that would have sex with a hole in the wall. He tries to dominate a new guy in the prison, Smitty. Thankfully, there were no sex scenes in the play and I used my character's need to dominate everyone around him as motivation.
After 3 weeks of rehearsal in New York, we traveled together on a bus to New Brunswick, NJ to finish the rest of the rehearsals in the theater. There are chemical plants in NJ that when you pass through, smelled like farts.It was a small price to pay to get paid as an actor.
The show opened and was the biggest hit the George Street Playhouse ever had up to that point, in fact the theater was in financial trouble but "Fortune in Men's Eyes" put them on the map and sold out every performance. We had a very diverse audience from middle class to Rutgers University and high school students . The high school kids were a lot of fun. There is a point near the end of the play when the character Smitty has a speech and while he is talking, I am sneaking up behind him to hit him with a chair. The kids would yell out from the audience" Look out for Rocky". It was great, they were really into the play.
We received great reviews: Mirko Tuma from "The News Tribune" said "The production is environmental theater at it'd best, you feel, indeed,like watching a prison show in the prison auditorium and even like being part of the action" and about me he says,"John Del Regno,playing Rocky the pimp stripped of even a resemblance of humanity, is an actor of bursting energy and a exciting sense of authenticity. A superb performance.
Bruce Chadwick of the Daily News wrote The result is a moving play, laced with cutting humor, that slowly builds a vise that squeezes the audience into fear. About me,"He gets excellent performances from John Del Regno as tough guy Rocky.
Going into Jimmy ray's, the actor's bar I had been hanging out, I felt a new confidence among these more experience actors. Who, by the way, did not show up for Zoo Story or Fortune but they heard about it as news travels fast in the theater world. Now, I was not considered a cab driver that wanted to be an actor, but was promoted to a full fledged aspiring actor.
I was quickly offered another role at the George Street Playhouse, Bottom in "A Mid-Summer Nights Dream". Would what I learned so far and the method I was developing for myself ,work with Shakespeare?
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