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TAKE 5:
Facing Challenges, Past and Future
Leon Acord, Los Angeles
December 3, 2009
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Every year, I promise myself I won't work this holiday season; I'll take the time to enjoy the festivities. But as soon as I do, I'm almost always offered a project too good to resist, and I break my promise. This year's deal breaker is Jason Moyer's wonderful adaptation of A Christmas Carol, titled Gay Apparel. After two productions at Celebration Theatre, this year Jason is producing and directing it at the Lyric Hyperion Theatre. When he asked me if I wanted to be involved, I quickly jumped aboard.
Although Gay Apparel re-imagines Scrooge and company as gay and places them in the world of high fashion, Jason's adaptation is amazingly faithful to Dickens' source material—more so than many adaptations I've seen. At the same time, it has hilarious dialogue. A cast of five actors plays multiple roles to John Downey III's Scrooge. I'm happily playing Jacob Marley's Ghost, Fezziwig, "Uncle" Tim, and a few others, and I'm very happy to be part of such a talented ensemble.
I haven't played so many characters in one production since a one-man show I did in San Francisco in the late '90s, so it's been a real acting workout. The show moves at a breakneck pace—maybe not a good metaphor, considering one character is on roller skates. It requires not only quick costume changes but also quick character changes. I'm re-learning how an accent, a certain word, or a gesture can "speed dial" you to a character. The biggest challenge has been Jacob Marley. Going in, I thought, "Oh, he'll be easy! A ghost has no limits!" But I've since realized the more "limits" a character has, the easier that character is to delineate. When you have no boundaries, you can be overwhelmed by all your options. Given this much rope, I could easily hang myself.
Another first in this show: Jason has somehow convinced me to participate in a dance number. I haven't danced onstage in more than 20 years. Good or bad, that alone should be worth the price of admission.
After producing Carved in Stone earlier this year, I'm quite content to be an actor for hire, especially as I watch Jason work so hard to produce the show in these dire financial times. But he's doing it—as well as acting and directing—and doing it well. In fact, the costumes alone (by Jennifer C. Smith) look as though they cost more than the show's entire budget. We open the day after Thanksgiving, then I'll be back to reviewing theater for WeHoNews.com when I'm not onstage.
So as I conclude my tenure as a Take Fiver, what's been the lesson of this year? I'd have to say, "Work begets work." Write that column in Back Stage; it might lead to unexpected writing offers elsewhere. Produce that play you've always wanted to do; an audience member might like you enough to cast you in their next play. Try new things (writing, producing, even dancing) and see where they take you. Thanks, everyone, and happy holidays!
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