“The Map Is Not The Territory” - Alfred Korzybski
I am both an actor and a director, but I do not have a "name" in either category, except in certain circles. Perhaps because of that, or perhaps because I see the big picture, it is sadly funny to me how many directors and casting directors are afraid to even audition an "unknown".
There is a story about Jack Lemmon coming in to read for the role of Ensign Pulver in the film version of Mister Roberts. When Joshua Logan (who co wrote the play and wrote the screenplay) saw Jack Lemmon audition, he is said to have been so excited by how absolutely perfect Lemmon was as Pulver, that he exclaimed "Where were you when we were casting this for Broadway?!" Lemmon's reply? "Standing outside, trying to get in to see you."
You see, by 1954, when they were casting the film for which he won an Oscar, Jack Lemmon had a bit of a resume, having performed supporting roles for such things as the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, Studio One, and The Frances Langford-Don Ameche show. But in 1947, when casting for the play was going on, he was merely a recently released Navy Ensign, whose college studies had been in "War Service Sciences", dreaming of possibly being a full-time actor. What audacity! Why would any director waste precious time on him?
Actually, the more famous and successful a director is, the *less* he or she generally seems to care about the previous experience of the actor they are considering. Which makes sense, as they may be successful enough themselves to be a "starMAKER", and so be confident enough to seek out new talent. But even the most open-minded of these new directors will need someone to help sort the selections, and may have a casting director who will not bring someone in because they are not confident enough to trust the talent they see, or suspect, without someone else having taken the chance first.
I obviously understand that perusing a resume is a helpful tool in deciding which actors to bring in to the room. However, once an actor is in front of the creative team, and doing good work, then at that point the team being more concerned with “what the resume looks like” than with “what the actor is capable of” can actually be detrimental to the creative process. As I quoted above “the map is not the territory”. Is your favorite vacation spot a place you saw on a map, or a place you have experienced with your own eyes? Do you buy a home based on seeing the floor plan, or based on how you feel when you are actually in the building?
Of course, if someone picked up a scalpel to operate on me who had never before performed surgery, I might indeed be hesitant to undertake his or her services; but many actors who are written off for having a “lesser curriculum vitae” have actually performed brilliant and challenging roles in smaller venues, so they are not actually equivalent to a resident internist, but more to a small town doctor. A surgeon who has performed faultlessly and tirelessly in a country hospital might give equal, perhaps even better, care than a famous surgeon earning a huge salary in a busy metropolitan center.
Yes, sometimes the most talented ARE the ones making the most money in the highest profile jobs, of course, of course. . . but sometimes genius level work is being done under the radar, in all fields, at all times. And that one fabulous perfect role (like Lemmon's Ensign Pulver) that will allow an actor's unique talents to shine may happen at any point in their lives.
Today, I am "kissing to" all the times a chance is taken on hiring someone who, on paper, may not seem to be the best choice, but who has passion and intelligence and spirit and talent.
Yes, yes, yes, this show business is obviously a business, but “on paper” there is no reason for anyone to enter into it (!), and if we don’t honor our higher creative instincts along with our practical financial instincts, then those incredible moments that are the beauty of our trade, the ones that make our business not just profitable, but potentially transformative, can never happen.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
after much delay, the first post (just to get things rolling)
1. I'll kiss to that! I called the blog "kisstothat" because I intended it to be a toast, a tribute, an expression of esteem for the things in the world (large, small, famous, almost invisible) that I find to be brave and beautiful and brilliant.
2.I am a natural redhead. I am asked that question by at least one person pretty much every day. Lately the color is much more of a strawberry blonde, but . . . it’s still real. I like it now, but I hated it as a kid (taunts of “better dead than red in the head” at an early age don’t do much for one’s self esteem!)
3. I have been on every continent except Antarctica, and a great number of countries on each of those continents. The bulk of that traveling was done between age 10 and age 20, but I have also continued to visit many interesting foreign places as an ostensible adult.
4. I have visited 49 of our 50 states (sorry, North Dakota), and have performed in 47 of them (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii and the aforementioned ND!) mostly in small theatres or on rickety little tours.
5. I am sometimes completely overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world. I like to receive news reports (written and broadcast) in the morning. Getting the news at night tends to upset my sleep. But then, it surprises me that the things in the news are not enough to upset everyone’s sleep every night . . .
6. I am an ENFP (or “champion idealist”) on the Myers Briggs test. And . . . I am. Both the positives and the negatives.
7. I am very nervous around helium balloons. I am always waiting for them to burst (as they nearly always do), and yet when it finally happens I am as startled and upset as I was when a bunch of them popped all around me in a hot car when I was about 3 . . . which was *really* startled and *pathetically* upset!
8. I could eat pasta seven days a week.
9. I read a lot. Some days many more pages than others, but I read something every day, and end up reading well over 300 new books a year, plus re-reading old favorites.
10. I hate the taste and texture of raw tomatoes - seriously, they make me gag. But, COOKED tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. Similar for onions, though I neither hate them quite as much raw nor love them quite as much cooked.
11. I was raised as an atheist, but later attended Seminary to work on an MA in Theology. In my opinion, if something is loving and rational and inclusive, it is good theology, but I reject hateful, divisive ignorance.
12. Depending on the circumstances, sipping from one of these - a glass of Veuve Cliquot, La Crema Pinot Noir, or Woodpecker Cider - can fill me with delight. However, despite joyfully indulging in the beverages mentioned here, I have never been intoxicated. (I also enjoy an occasional Dr. Pepper from the Texas plant that still uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup.)
13. Despite having made a thousand mistakes in my life, and feeling shame for the times I inadvertently hurt someone, there is only one regret that weighs on me . . . so if I were offered that classic fantasy option of “being someone else”, I would turn it down. (Though I do wish I could figure skate.)
14. I have had, during periods of stress ever since I was very small, recurring nightmares about Alligators, and no dream book or website ever lists what Alligator is supposed to mean symbolically, even when there are thousands of other definitions. (Of course, I did grow up in Florida, so maybe an Alligator is just an Alligator!)
15. I have been working on expanding my vocal range, having been told, after all these years, that I am not really a mezzo but “an untrained soprano”. So after months of long hours of vocalizing, I have been solidly singing high Cs on a regular basis. Hooray! It makes me SO happy! My neighbors . . . maybe not so much. ;-)
16. I have no interest in ever joining a gym. I just don’t get the whole “working out” culture. I do, however, love to go on hikes, go swimming, take bike rides, or attend dance classes. I am willing to hear arguments to the contrary, but to me, being on a stationary bike or a treadmill when there is a whole world to explore is like eating dehydrated astronaut-type food at the Bellagio Buffet.
17. My mother died when I was in fifth grade. That has affected much of my life. She was really a wonderful, complex person . . . you probably would have liked her. Then again, I am astounded by how many beautiful, creative and unique souls are rejected by the bulk of humanity.
18. There was something else written here as #18 a moment ago, but I just erased it as I thought it might be too provocative.
19. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that:
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”
Also:
that love “is a weapon of matchless potency”
Also:
that love “is the great reality”
So, having quoted Shakespeare, Gandhi, and St. Bernard, I move on . . .
20. If I buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, I will eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Right then.
2.I am a natural redhead. I am asked that question by at least one person pretty much every day. Lately the color is much more of a strawberry blonde, but . . . it’s still real. I like it now, but I hated it as a kid (taunts of “better dead than red in the head” at an early age don’t do much for one’s self esteem!)
3. I have been on every continent except Antarctica, and a great number of countries on each of those continents. The bulk of that traveling was done between age 10 and age 20, but I have also continued to visit many interesting foreign places as an ostensible adult.
4. I have visited 49 of our 50 states (sorry, North Dakota), and have performed in 47 of them (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii and the aforementioned ND!) mostly in small theatres or on rickety little tours.
5. I am sometimes completely overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world. I like to receive news reports (written and broadcast) in the morning. Getting the news at night tends to upset my sleep. But then, it surprises me that the things in the news are not enough to upset everyone’s sleep every night . . .
6. I am an ENFP (or “champion idealist”) on the Myers Briggs test. And . . . I am. Both the positives and the negatives.
7. I am very nervous around helium balloons. I am always waiting for them to burst (as they nearly always do), and yet when it finally happens I am as startled and upset as I was when a bunch of them popped all around me in a hot car when I was about 3 . . . which was *really* startled and *pathetically* upset!
8. I could eat pasta seven days a week.
9. I read a lot. Some days many more pages than others, but I read something every day, and end up reading well over 300 new books a year, plus re-reading old favorites.
10. I hate the taste and texture of raw tomatoes - seriously, they make me gag. But, COOKED tomatoes are one of my favorite foods. Similar for onions, though I neither hate them quite as much raw nor love them quite as much cooked.
11. I was raised as an atheist, but later attended Seminary to work on an MA in Theology. In my opinion, if something is loving and rational and inclusive, it is good theology, but I reject hateful, divisive ignorance.
12. Depending on the circumstances, sipping from one of these - a glass of Veuve Cliquot, La Crema Pinot Noir, or Woodpecker Cider - can fill me with delight. However, despite joyfully indulging in the beverages mentioned here, I have never been intoxicated. (I also enjoy an occasional Dr. Pepper from the Texas plant that still uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup.)
13. Despite having made a thousand mistakes in my life, and feeling shame for the times I inadvertently hurt someone, there is only one regret that weighs on me . . . so if I were offered that classic fantasy option of “being someone else”, I would turn it down. (Though I do wish I could figure skate.)
14. I have had, during periods of stress ever since I was very small, recurring nightmares about Alligators, and no dream book or website ever lists what Alligator is supposed to mean symbolically, even when there are thousands of other definitions. (Of course, I did grow up in Florida, so maybe an Alligator is just an Alligator!)
15. I have been working on expanding my vocal range, having been told, after all these years, that I am not really a mezzo but “an untrained soprano”. So after months of long hours of vocalizing, I have been solidly singing high Cs on a regular basis. Hooray! It makes me SO happy! My neighbors . . . maybe not so much. ;-)
16. I have no interest in ever joining a gym. I just don’t get the whole “working out” culture. I do, however, love to go on hikes, go swimming, take bike rides, or attend dance classes. I am willing to hear arguments to the contrary, but to me, being on a stationary bike or a treadmill when there is a whole world to explore is like eating dehydrated astronaut-type food at the Bellagio Buffet.
17. My mother died when I was in fifth grade. That has affected much of my life. She was really a wonderful, complex person . . . you probably would have liked her. Then again, I am astounded by how many beautiful, creative and unique souls are rejected by the bulk of humanity.
18. There was something else written here as #18 a moment ago, but I just erased it as I thought it might be too provocative.
19. I believe, with all my heart and soul, that:
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”
Also:
that love “is a weapon of matchless potency”
Also:
that love “is the great reality”
So, having quoted Shakespeare, Gandhi, and St. Bernard, I move on . . .
20. If I buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, I will eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Right then.
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