Turn Out The Lights...

From the Desk of Marc Adam Smith:

[Editor's Note: As many of you may know, we at Point of You had a home away from home with our Officers Gerard Savoy and Tina Trimble - we hosted many a party and held many a rehearsal there. At the end of 2010, they left the city for the suburbs. What better way to end our 10th Anniversary Season than with a look back...]

"The Parties Over" the recently passed Don Meredith used to sing that at the end of Monday Night Football in the 70's and 80's and now it seems apropos for the end of the CASA DE SAVOY where so many of us spent so much time over the past few years. I hope you all had a chance to stop by and help out with the move, and to take one more look at our home away from home and the two folks who invited us into it over the years, I can only think back to 8 years ago when we started going there...

Tina and G had 5 Cats: DJ, Jack, Roscoe, Ben and Omar. They now have one cat...do the math folks.

Mel and Sean where a couple living together down in the South Street Seaport and had no cats or a baby... and Mel was not yet Jewish, welcome to the front of the Bus Mel!

Jeff and Meghan where not Jeff and Meghan.... Jeff was ....well Jeff, and Meghan as far as we knew did not exist. Since we can only think of them as a couple let us not dwell on the past.

Paul looked like Lenny from the Simpsons, and back then he was always leaving things at the loft. Glad that stopped....wait, I think G just found Paul's South End script.

Johnny was the Dirty one, the single guy who had the nerve to sleep with women. OMG how did we ever survive that shock? And now he's a married man!

Keating was Keyser Soze in training, and now we know how wrong we where about him (PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME ONE DAY KEATING)

And I was a Loudmouth, Sarcastic, Prick... Good that some things stay the same, huh?

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Editor's comments: Thank you for the love, the laughter, the learning and the food. We'll miss the loft. Thank you G & T for letting us share that magical place with you.

Enthusiasms

From the desk of Gerard J. Savoy

When you put together shows like POY's I'm Just Saying Series, most of the major components are in place. You round up your writers (new and old), your directors (new and old), your actors (new and old) and stick them in the POY blender and see what you've got. You plan, you re-plan, you rehearse and you obsess. In the end, you do the best you can and hope that the audience enjoys what you have spent so much time on and worked so hard at. If you come out in the black then you're another step ahead of the game.

With this season's I'm Just Saying: Summers in the City, the Officers were fortunate enough to have added an relatively uncharted component: An "intern". Erin came to us as people often do, through a friend of a friend. She was looking to work with a theater company and get some experience doing what she hoped to be pursuing in college and beyond. Her interest was primarily in stage managing. Anyone who runs an OOB company can attest to the fact that good stage managers are hard to find.

We met, we connected, we threw her in the mix. Officers took the lead in guiding her through our process and giving her tips based on our own experiences. She was professional every step of the way. Erin was involved, listened carefully and came with a built in personality that worked perfectly for the job: No nonsense, organized and hard working. Rarely, if ever, did she crack a smile.

As we progressed through the rehearsal process, Erin became the keeper of the production. During tech she herded cats (don't ask). She kept a straight face throughout.

On opening night I stood backstage; not in the dressing room but directly backstage so that I could hear our Executive Director give the curtain speech. I like to gauge the audience by how they respond to these. While I was standing there in the dark, Erin joined me. As I listened and my eyes adjusted, I turned to look at her. She looked at me and in the dark I could see the biggest smile come across her face. She bent her elbows, put her hands next to her face and gave a little shake.

Thank you Erin. That is what its all about.

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If you would like to intern for one of our productions, please contact us at info@pointofyou.org.

Who are you and what are you doing in my costume?

From the desk of Gerard J. Savoy

It’s going to happen sooner or later. If you’ve been doing theater since before you can remember a time when you weren’t, eventually you are going to watch another actor step into a role that you’ve played.

It happens all the time on Broadway. Headliners come and go in order to keep a production that may or may not have been produced without them, alive. In the world of OOB however, this is much rarer. Sure, we’ve all done our Shakespeare and Sheppard. We’ve watched as others have taken on the roles of Iago or Desdemona, Eddie or May. It’s expected. Theater is a living breathing art and in it, characters can exist forever.

I recently had the opportunity to experience this first hand when POY remounted a production of Kenneth Branagh’s “A Midwinter’s Tale”. Originally produced in 2004, I was given the opportunity at that time to play the role of Carnforth Greville. Up until that point most of the roles I had been cast in had me playing tough guys or the guy next door. I had begun to think that this was what I was destined to play forever until POY gave me the chance to sink my teeth into a role that was totally against my “type”.

Let me just clarify something. I think that casting on “type” is bullshit. I have seen this happen over and over again. Most of the jobs I have gotten, I knew in the first 30 seconds that they were mine. Didn’t matter if my audition was crap (at least in my mind), I could see the look in the casting director’s eye that I was the one they were looking for. They pictured me when they envisioned the character. But I digress.

Carnforth has a depth of spirit that I wanted to explore. He is a quiet, shy man who loves his mother and seeks approval from her in a life that she considers a waste of time. Carnforth is a drinker. Hiding behind the strength and confidence that alcohol provides. Here is a man that has never been challenged regarding his ability as a performer or his ability to stand up straight. I love this character. I loved bringing him to life.

Jump ahead to 2010. POY remounts the production from March 3 to the 13th. The show is
recast with some of the same actors that appeared in the original and several new additions to the POY family. All the original actors are recast in different roles. I am not cast as Carnforth. Instead another actor takes on the role at his request and I am given the role of Henry Wakefield by the director. A brand new opportunity opens for me to play another interesting role. I have the chance to mostly work opposite an actor who I have enjoyed watching in the past but have worked with on a limited basis. We make each other better. I watch as the actor playing Carnforth now works out his own interpretation of the character. It is not easy. Not because of what he is doing but because like most actors there were things that I had only begun to discover the first go around. I want to jump in and share these insights with him but realize it is not my place. He is on his own journey. It’s tough. I concentrate on my own role. I have to hope that the director and actor take care of the character I love. It’s an interesting place to be. In the end the production had its run. A good time was had by all. And for me, I have learned to let it go. Who knows, in the world of OOB, I may cross paths with Carnforth again.