Sorrows of Stephen finally closed at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater after 195 performances. I wasn't that surprised as the replacements were not as good as the original cast members. John Shea, the original Stephen in the show , was replaced by Don Scardino a nice enough actor but without the easy charm of John Shea. The attendance went down and this exciting and happy time in my life was over.
I had thought I would get a job in one of the other equity theaters around town but it was as if I never worked at the Public and now back to where I was before, without an agent or prospects.
I did have that audition,that I got myself, coming up for a new CBS pilot called "Baker's Dozen" a comedic cop show . I worked on the scenes I was to read at every spare moment I had and when the day came, I was ready.
I went to Lou Digiaimo's office for the audition and the waiting room was full of every different type of actor as several parts were being cast. I waited for my turn as actors went in one at a time and came out a few minutes later. I watched as they went in ,head held high ready to impress, and when they came out of the audition, head down with a slight look of dismay on their face. It is obvious when they come out of the room, which actors thought they did well and those that didn't.
When it was my turn, I took a deep breath. This is important to do in order to bring maximum oxygen to the brain. I went into the room and was introduced to Sonny Grosso, the producer. Sonny was a former narco cop and the film, The French Connection, was about his police career . He also was the producer of the film, The 7-Ups.
I read the two scenes and when I finished , Sonny had a smile on his face. Lou said .thank you very much and I walked out. I think my shoulders were more slouched than normal but that is normal after a audition as you not sure how well you did. No one fell out of their chair laughing but I felt I did what I wanted to do with the character and was satisfied that I was able to show these people that I am alive in this world and put it behind me as a morale victory.
Two days later I received a call from Lou's assistant to come back the next day for a call back.The assistant asked who my agent was and I told him I didn't have one at the moment. He just gave me the time and place and didn't react to my lack of representation.
I went on the call back and this time the room had about 10 people there to watch my audition including Bill Persky, a established TV director from Hollywood. I wasn't too nervous as by now I had the material memorized and was confidant that I had the character.
I auditioned and felt again that I accomplished what I wanted with the character. The next day I received another call from Lou Digiaimo's himself saying that I would be getting another call back and that I needed someone to negotiate for me if I was to go further in the casting process.
Wow, this was real, they wouldn't be asking me back again if they were not really interested in me for the project. But who do I get to speak for me, I had no relationship with any agents.
I called some of the actors I was friendly with from "Sorrows of Stephen" and Bill Converse, a Yale Graduate and understudy for Stephen, said I should call Lynn Kressel, at the time a top commercial casting director. He said she had seen the show and commented to him how much she enjoyed me in the show.
I called and Nina, Lynn's assistant, said that Lynn was going to manage 5 actors. I asked what about me and I was brought in to interview with Lynn Kressel, who agreed to represent me for this project.
Now I had a well known person in the industry to represent me. It was now 1981 and have been pursuing acting for the last seven years and now all my hard work may be paying off.
I had thought I would get a job in one of the other equity theaters around town but it was as if I never worked at the Public and now back to where I was before, without an agent or prospects.
I did have that audition,that I got myself, coming up for a new CBS pilot called "Baker's Dozen" a comedic cop show . I worked on the scenes I was to read at every spare moment I had and when the day came, I was ready.
I went to Lou Digiaimo's office for the audition and the waiting room was full of every different type of actor as several parts were being cast. I waited for my turn as actors went in one at a time and came out a few minutes later. I watched as they went in ,head held high ready to impress, and when they came out of the audition, head down with a slight look of dismay on their face. It is obvious when they come out of the room, which actors thought they did well and those that didn't.
When it was my turn, I took a deep breath. This is important to do in order to bring maximum oxygen to the brain. I went into the room and was introduced to Sonny Grosso, the producer. Sonny was a former narco cop and the film, The French Connection, was about his police career . He also was the producer of the film, The 7-Ups.
I read the two scenes and when I finished , Sonny had a smile on his face. Lou said .thank you very much and I walked out. I think my shoulders were more slouched than normal but that is normal after a audition as you not sure how well you did. No one fell out of their chair laughing but I felt I did what I wanted to do with the character and was satisfied that I was able to show these people that I am alive in this world and put it behind me as a morale victory.
Two days later I received a call from Lou's assistant to come back the next day for a call back.The assistant asked who my agent was and I told him I didn't have one at the moment. He just gave me the time and place and didn't react to my lack of representation.
I went on the call back and this time the room had about 10 people there to watch my audition including Bill Persky, a established TV director from Hollywood. I wasn't too nervous as by now I had the material memorized and was confidant that I had the character.
I auditioned and felt again that I accomplished what I wanted with the character. The next day I received another call from Lou Digiaimo's himself saying that I would be getting another call back and that I needed someone to negotiate for me if I was to go further in the casting process.
Wow, this was real, they wouldn't be asking me back again if they were not really interested in me for the project. But who do I get to speak for me, I had no relationship with any agents.
I called some of the actors I was friendly with from "Sorrows of Stephen" and Bill Converse, a Yale Graduate and understudy for Stephen, said I should call Lynn Kressel, at the time a top commercial casting director. He said she had seen the show and commented to him how much she enjoyed me in the show.
I called and Nina, Lynn's assistant, said that Lynn was going to manage 5 actors. I asked what about me and I was brought in to interview with Lynn Kressel, who agreed to represent me for this project.
Now I had a well known person in the industry to represent me. It was now 1981 and have been pursuing acting for the last seven years and now all my hard work may be paying off.
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