Theater - by Lauren Michaels
Ruminations by Lauren Michaels
Finding the Off the Wall Theatre has been one of the luckiest coincidences in my career. I moved to Pittsburgh almost a year ago from New York City, where I had been studying acting at NYU. I had moved there from Dayton, OH with big dreams to find big opportunities in the big city. And I did, for a while in school. But once I graduated, times got tough. I realized it was a hard city to make it, not just for my career, but for rent, too. It was hard to find any theatres that were ready to hire non-union actors fresh out of college. If I wanted to act, I did plays friends produced on a small scale or student films. A paid gig was still a faraway dream.
Life took a turn when a certain someone walked into the East Village Mexican restaurant where I was bartending. He was from Pittsburgh, and despite the physical distance of our homes, we needed to be together. As fates would have it our relationship was sped up when I was fired from this particular Margarita Bar after I took off for a month to help out with my sick mother. Suddenly I was back in New York, with no money, no job, and an apartment with an explosive toilet. It was time for a change. So I moved to Pittsburgh, ready to start fresh with my career efforts, which in NYC at that point had gotten lost between "on the rocks or frozen?" and "salt or no?"
Upon moving here, immediately I was floored when finding the people of Pittsburgh were so happy to help. I started running into people in the Theatre Community here and they encouraged me to pick up a City Paper and start auditioning for shows. Finally over the summer, I took their advice and decided to start getting in the audition habit again. I found a listing for "The Little Dog Lauged" at the Off the Wall Theatre. I had at that point, heard of neither the play nor the theatre, but I thought, "heck, it's time I get me back in the swing of things." It was a sunny relaxing drive out to Washington. When I arrived at the theatre, I was happily surprised to see the posters of past shows on the walls, shows that were daring and risque, shows I always had read about in school in New York, but were hard to come across at my level there. Shows more obscure, intriguing, and daring than I would expect in such a quaint Americana town. At the audition I was handed a monologue from the play and I was ecstatic. It was a character I'd dreamt of playing without even knowing the context of the play. The words were so specific and hysterical, I thought, "I have to get this. This is an exciting piece of work."
And luckily I did. This play has been an incredible experience for me. It is a joy to be a part of something I believe is so important to put onstage. As one who has been educated in the theatre, people of the homosexual variety are often more common than not. Which is why I had to move to Pittsburgh to find me a good straight man. I mean, don't get me wrong, nearly ALL of my best friends throughout my life have been gay boys. I get along better with gay men than straight girls. It's like you can still sit around listening to Regina Spector or Lady Gaga without secretly comparing who has a better body between the two of you. With that said, I find it ASTONISHING that today, in the year 2009 AD, that freaking HOLLYWOOD has a homophobic attitude. Broadway doesn't. Broadway is happy to talk about homosexuality and raise money for AIDS. But Hollywood, it's like if you're outwardly gay in your personal life, you are comitted to playing gay characters, and can give up on hope to ever be the next James Bond, or guy from Mission Impossible for that matter. And to me, I find it terribly ironic that this is the case (especially considering the Oscars they'll throw at a movie like "Milk" or "Brokeback Mountain"). One can only assume a huge percentage of Hollywood actors are originally theatre actors. If you do the math and consider the homosexual percentage of theatre actors, it seems likely several are kept in the closet in Hollywood. This play explores this situation. My hope is that people can leave the show feeling like they had an entertaining experience, while also keeping in mind this closet problem is not just a west coast issue, but one within our own communities as well. If the public can become more accepting of people being openly who they are, then Hollywood will be forced to as well.
Finding the Off the Wall Theatre has been one of the luckiest coincidences in my career. I moved to Pittsburgh almost a year ago from New York City, where I had been studying acting at NYU. I had moved there from Dayton, OH with big dreams to find big opportunities in the big city. And I did, for a while in school. But once I graduated, times got tough. I realized it was a hard city to make it, not just for my career, but for rent, too. It was hard to find any theatres that were ready to hire non-union actors fresh out of college. If I wanted to act, I did plays friends produced on a small scale or student films. A paid gig was still a faraway dream.
Life took a turn when a certain someone walked into the East Village Mexican restaurant where I was bartending. He was from Pittsburgh, and despite the physical distance of our homes, we needed to be together. As fates would have it our relationship was sped up when I was fired from this particular Margarita Bar after I took off for a month to help out with my sick mother. Suddenly I was back in New York, with no money, no job, and an apartment with an explosive toilet. It was time for a change. So I moved to Pittsburgh, ready to start fresh with my career efforts, which in NYC at that point had gotten lost between "on the rocks or frozen?" and "salt or no?"
Upon moving here, immediately I was floored when finding the people of Pittsburgh were so happy to help. I started running into people in the Theatre Community here and they encouraged me to pick up a City Paper and start auditioning for shows. Finally over the summer, I took their advice and decided to start getting in the audition habit again. I found a listing for "The Little Dog Lauged" at the Off the Wall Theatre. I had at that point, heard of neither the play nor the theatre, but I thought, "heck, it's time I get me back in the swing of things." It was a sunny relaxing drive out to Washington. When I arrived at the theatre, I was happily surprised to see the posters of past shows on the walls, shows that were daring and risque, shows I always had read about in school in New York, but were hard to come across at my level there. Shows more obscure, intriguing, and daring than I would expect in such a quaint Americana town. At the audition I was handed a monologue from the play and I was ecstatic. It was a character I'd dreamt of playing without even knowing the context of the play. The words were so specific and hysterical, I thought, "I have to get this. This is an exciting piece of work."
And luckily I did. This play has been an incredible experience for me. It is a joy to be a part of something I believe is so important to put onstage. As one who has been educated in the theatre, people of the homosexual variety are often more common than not. Which is why I had to move to Pittsburgh to find me a good straight man. I mean, don't get me wrong, nearly ALL of my best friends throughout my life have been gay boys. I get along better with gay men than straight girls. It's like you can still sit around listening to Regina Spector or Lady Gaga without secretly comparing who has a better body between the two of you. With that said, I find it ASTONISHING that today, in the year 2009 AD, that freaking HOLLYWOOD has a homophobic attitude. Broadway doesn't. Broadway is happy to talk about homosexuality and raise money for AIDS. But Hollywood, it's like if you're outwardly gay in your personal life, you are comitted to playing gay characters, and can give up on hope to ever be the next James Bond, or guy from Mission Impossible for that matter. And to me, I find it terribly ironic that this is the case (especially considering the Oscars they'll throw at a movie like "Milk" or "Brokeback Mountain"). One can only assume a huge percentage of Hollywood actors are originally theatre actors. If you do the math and consider the homosexual percentage of theatre actors, it seems likely several are kept in the closet in Hollywood. This play explores this situation. My hope is that people can leave the show feeling like they had an entertaining experience, while also keeping in mind this closet problem is not just a west coast issue, but one within our own communities as well. If the public can become more accepting of people being openly who they are, then Hollywood will be forced to as well.
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