So the day came for my big audition for the Eugene O'Neil Memorial Playwrights Conference. I went early so I would have time to look at the material. It seemed to be a black comedy about a family that lived in a trailer park in New Jersey. I was a mean drunken father but the situation was very bizarre.The character reminded me of my own father when he was in a bad mood.
( Author's note: From now on when I mention different people that I interacted with, I am just going to use their first initial. Some are still around and even household names and they may not like being mentioned in my story.)
When it was my time, I went in to read for T, a well known New York director, who laughed so hard that I thought he was having a heart attack. It went great and he shook my hand when I left.
The next day I received another call to read a different play for another well known director. This time it was a military type play and again it went great. Two more times like this over a one week period and the casting director called and asked who my agent was. I told him I didn't have one at the moment and he said, "don't worry, all the performers at the O'Neil receive the same amount." He told me I was cast in all four plays that I auditioned for and would be up at the O'Neil for the entire four weeks with a full equity contract.
I was in shock.This was the real thing, everything I had done before was underground compared to the O'Neil. Up til that point the most prestigious job I had was the George Street Playhouse which was a growing theater and off the map compared to the more respected regional theaters.
My first day I was to meet in Manhattan to take a chartered bus to Connecticut. As usual, I went early and there were a few people standing around a large bus. The first thing that caught my eye was that the majority of the people standing around, about 15, were dressed very similar, almost like a uniform. With the khaki shorts and the pull over top with the alligator, I thought for a second that this was a scam to get me back into the Navy.
I walked over to the group and a woman with a clipboard looked at me with a questioning look on her face. I smiled, but tentatively, and showed her my pass.She looked at my pass and guided me over to load the luggage on the bus. I didn't expect anything like this but I thought it must be some kind of hippy thing with everyone pitching in. I did notice that most of the people hanging around were not helping but I thought what the heck, I had a 4 week contract that will pay me more money than working the cab full time everyday, all month. Finally a assistant realized, or someone told her ,that I was one of the actors and came over and apologized. Now I had to get on the bus all sweaty from loading luggage in the August sun and sit with all these scrubbed and proper actors,writers and directors.Luckily, the bus had a bathroom and I was able to clean up a bit and not stink out the whole bus. I tried to keep a low profile but felt like I stood out like an alien.
When we arrived at the O'Neil Center, the first thing I noticed was this large mansion that was Eugene O'Neil's home when he was alive. There were many interns that helped with the luggage and showed us to our rooms, I was put in the Connecticut U. dorm . Afterwards the artistic director L had everyone assemble and introduced the writers and the staff. We received our schedules and everyone mingled about as many seemed to know each other and talked about the movie sets they just came off or the Broadway show they just closed. I must say, I was not excluded as they seemed to be interested in me. The sexual energy was everywhere and being an old dog, I know the look when I get it.
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