October 21, 1991
Well, things have certainly sped up in the past 12 hours. My buddy, Jim, from Theatre Rapport called at around 4 today to say that I had the part of Mark in their upcoming play if I wanted it. Woah! So, at 8 o'clock I made my way over to the dump -- I mean, theater -- and "read" for the part. (joke) They cast me.
Rehearsal began. They ran through act two, in which I had a couple of pages of action. It went fine. My part is painfully small.
This show is targeted to open November 15th, but they are very unorganized and anything can happen. Apparently, the head honcho, Crane Jackson, recently fired the director, who took a number of cast members with him, including the actor portraying Mark.
In steps John Ducey.
So, the play (brace yourself) is about the final months of Roy Cohn's life, a lawyer of some influence who died of AIDS during the disease's darkest hours -- no research funding, high level of stigma, still very much a gay disease. I (brace yourself more) play Mark, the last lover of the dying, aged Roy Cohn. There is nothing physical or suggestive which occurs on stage, so I'm not overly concerned. I enter once an act one to say there's someone on the phone, and then in act two I pack his suitcase and answer the phone. I better start researching the phone industry tomorrow.
Glenn Kessler said to me, "If all this were the opening scene in a movie (that is, the audition, the dues, the gay role, the seedy theater, the cost ($) of performing), would you be rooting for the person in the movie to take the role?" I would say, "No." But I'm saying, "Yes." Next rehearsal is Friday night.
I probably won't record every rehearsal here, just monumental occurrences such as Dress/Opening Night stuff, I guess. We'll see. What do I know? Anything can happen. As we are now seeing.
People I met:
Betty, blonde woman
Go on to next Rehearsal Report.
Roy Cohn | L.A. Stage | Resume