IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST! (Sometimes You're On-Fire and Sometimes You Get Burned!)

Villains are fun to play. They have so many intricate layers and they’re usually quite intense. Utilizing your character as the vehicle for your actions, you can act upon thoughts in films and/or on stage you wouldn’t dream of acting upon, let alone even thinking, in real life. It all starts out rather fun but eventually the laughter shared backstage envelopes a more serious tone which in this case affects my sensibilities as an actor. A villainous character portrayal on stage night after night begins to meld the realities of the character into your own temporarily. It is at that point the nuances of darkness in my character tug a bit at my soul and my inert sense of right and wrong. The situation is both fascinating and a bit disconcerting.

Last week I played the “motivation” game. That is giving my character a unique motivation and captivating moment before in that short space in time I waited offstage to enter the scene. The last couple of performances I’d adjusted the darkness of my character dialing it back slightly. I began playing to several comedic moments which had been getting results from the audience in the form of laughter albeit fleeting and fractious on occasion and raucous on others.

There is a scene where I write a check for a fairly large amount of money. The other day the audience seemed to be in a near death trance. All quiet on the western front I said to myself under the lights, with the exception of a gentleman somewhere in the front breathing with the help of an oxygen tank. It gave the scene an ominous fleeting Darth Vader frame. It was at that moment I began writing the check. I wanted the audience to feel me writing that check, to feel what it’s like to have such a check written to you and in your hand.

The audience remained silent as I wrote and wrote and wrote…The seconds ticked on like hours but I was determined to elicit a response from them. After quite sometime the laughter finally came for I was no longer pretending to write this large check but I delivered and not a moment too soon. I was up on that stage to be real and to entertain and I damn well did. The entire cast did. It’s moments like that where each cast member drives the next upward and then all are as one. It’s a taste of eastern philosophy on the boards…I like to think I accomplish this every evening. It’s just that some audiences are a bit more challenging than others.

We’re now in the belly of the beast, halfway through our run. I keep thinking of this analogy that life is like a merry-go-round. Sometimes you’re up and sometimes your down but the cycle continues either way. Sometimes you fall off but you can always get back on and sometimes on a really good day, you get to stop along the way, take a breath and appreciate your mount. Eventually the music stops and we all get off…

DYING TO GET IT RIGHT

Heaven is a state of mind, another dimension or to some maybe even a sea of dark chocolate. For Joe Pendelton it’s a realm where the spirit resides when his body is accidently taken by an overzealous angel before it’s time. “I only want what’s comin’ to me” he states but once he meets and begins to fall for Bette Logan he just can’t seem to find an acceptable replacement though angelic guide Mr. Jordan wants him to know he’s still himself inside and states emphatically “It’s just like “donning a new overcoat”.

Heaven Can Wait is a play about the antics of one Joe Pendelton, snatched from his body like a wine before it’s time. It’s about unrequited love, stocks bonds and greed and the fight game…The 1941 film “Here Comes Mr. Jordan” is based on the 1938 play which was produced on Broadway after the film, not to be confused with an unrelated 1943 film starring Don Ameche and Gene Tierny of the same name that takes the stars to hell. A subsequent 1978 film entitled “Heaven Can Wait” reflects an updated version of the stage play with some changes in direction, though keeping much of the plays premises intact.

Heaven Can Wait features an accomplished ensemble cast with award winning Director Lucien Jervis at the helm. Cast members include; Daren Dukes as Joe Pendelton, Bob Farber as Mr. Jordan, David Tinsley as 7013, Greg Philippi as Tony Abbott, Linda Shaver as Julia Farnsworth, Dawn Meyers as Bette Logan, Paul Newman as Max Levene, Penny Krevenas as Mrs. Ames, Martha Hules as the maid, Nat Gertler as Inspector Williams, Elena Mills as the nurse, Ken Endress as the Doctor and Ian McLean as the plainclothesman.

Conejo Players Theater boasts 180 comfortable plush (well sort of) almost stadium seating seats (they’re nice anyhow), fabulous lights and a Hollywood set like no other in Ventura County plus the costumes of Shawn Lanz. The show is Produced by Ken Patton and Paul Duffy.

Heaven Can Wait
April 23-May 15
Conejo Players Theater
351 S. Moorpark Rd. Thousand Oaks CA
3 blks south of the 101 Freeway on Moorpark

Thursdays 8pm $16
Fridays 8pm & Sundays 2pm $18
Saturdays 8pm $20
For tix www.conejoplayers.org or call 805-495-3715
Use code GOD12 for discount tix