Class Distinction in Theater 18

At the Eugene O'Neil Memorial Conference, 16 new plays are done over a 4 week period.Each play receives a very extensive rehearsal period for 3 days, this includes rewrites that you get each day, then 3 performances with book in hand. This was a great idea on their part as it took away the obligation of memorizing the lines and also created the illusion of a work, if given a full production, would be much better. The word around the O'Neil was, for a lot of these plays, the best rendition they received was at the O'Neil. You were required to carry the the book even if you have a photographic memory so the audience, full of producers and agents, could use their imagination.

To get there as an actor in just 3 days you have to make quick choices based on your first instinct. Pick a objective and run with it. I was working with some really good actors. Like J, a great character actor, who made it a pleasure to work with, as we played off each other really well. So instead of being intimidated by these famous and almost famous actors, I reveled in it and took it as a challenge that I can hold my own on stage with anyone. I had gone through the mill the last few years and what I have to offer will be appreciated here as it was off-off Broadway and New Jersey.

Besides the name actors, there what was considered the up and coming actors on the New York scene. They went to fancy acting schools like Yale Drama and Julliard, where their parents paid about $30,000 a semester and this was 1978 dollars. I didn't recognize any of the chosen bunch from my travels as an actor so far. Never saw any of them at auditions or even Jimmy Ray's but they all had good agents and worked at the major Off-Broadway theaters in NY and major regional theaters. The funny thing was , most of them considered themselves Hippies. 

One time, hanging out with a bunch after rehearsal, the wealthy hippies were talking about the old days hanging out in San Francisco and one of the interns turned to me and asked if I was a hippie back in the day. I said I missed the whole movement as I was in the Navy. The all stopped what they were doing and one little wise ass asked if I killed anyone. Now I had been asked that question before by people that bought into the whole propaganda premise that the military and everyone associated with it is evil.

As I said this was 1978 and the cloud of the Viet Nam war still hung over head. Then ,nobody said" Thank you for your duty" but "did you kill anybody." I would try to debate them but they never seemed to want to listen to another point of view. So this time I thought I would make a joke and said "Yeah, we used to pile the babies bodies up and burn them" . They looked at me like I was serious and I had to say it was a joke. They didn't think it was a funny. Of coarse in some of these plays we were doing there was some ugly stuff going on but that's art.

The first play I did was with J playing the lead role but I had a good part. I was anxious before my first performance, anxious to get on stage and show these privileged upper class what  I can do. As usual, the audience laughed and reacted just right for me and the play. After the show people congratulated me and I know I did well. Although, in the dressing room after the show, the artistic director L came in and one by one he congratulated the other actors in the play, except for me. He passed me by like I wasn't there.

I don't think it was my work, maybe it went around that I burned babies bodies or he just considered me some kind of white trash and in looking back I may have given him reason.

I had really good parts over the 4 weeks I was at the O'Neil but socially I was like a kid in a candy store with no one around. What I mean is, in stead of networking and kissing ass like everyone else, I succumbed to every temptation that came my way. There were many female interns there that had not yet graduated from Yale or Julliard and would flirt and offer themselves.

Here my basic instincts overcame my better sense.It was stupid on my part. I worked in basement theaters, lofts and out of the back of a truck, now finally working with big league actors ,I act like a sailor who has been out to sea too long. While the other actors played politics and looked to advance their careers, I thought I had made it, that now would be a good time to relax and enjoy myself.

But acting is a very social business and producers, directors and the people in power would rather work with friends. It's not like pro sports which is pure to the back stabbing in show business. If you can play ball, nobody cares about your background, only if you can play ball. Even L snubbing me didn't make me see that I haven't made it yet. 

Outside of that, I did well up there and word got back to New York that Johnny Dee was an actor to watch.

In with the elite 17

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.