Do You Really Have to Memorize Lines?
Originally appeared backstage April 17, 2014. Photo source: Backstage, Clay Rodery. One of the eye openers about being a teacher isn’t the questions—it’s the answers. Over the years I have…
Read MoreActing and Belief
Originally appeared in backstage, February 20, 2014. Photo source: Backstage, Clay Rodery. I got into a mild dustup at our son’s preschool a few eons ago. One of the moms was…
Read MoreNavigating the Shoals of Director-Speak
Originally appeared in Backstage Feb. 6, 2014. I was watching classic movies the other night. There is almost no better laboratory for studying the evolution of film over the last century.…
Read More“The Primary Instinct” Kickstarted
Every endeavor is filled with risk. It doesn’t matter if you are in fourth grade and you want to ask a girl to be your partner on Square Dance Day,…
Read MoreWho Needs Stanislavsky?
Originally appeared in Backstage Jan. 23, 2014. I always went to acting classes with a mixture of reverence and confusion. Everything sounded logical and simple—even holy. How can you argue…
Read MoreIt’s a Brave New (Media) World
Originally appeared in Backstage Jan. 9, 2014. I recently finished my first experiences acting in “new media.” “New media” means shooting a project that usually airs on a computer—like a…
Read MorePersistance
Originally posted Dec. 19, 2013 backstage.com I was in Richmond, Va., making a stop on my book tour for The Dangerous Animals Club. A sweet woman came up to the book…
Read MoreHarold Ramis
Photo-illustration by Slate. Photo by Matt Carmichael/Getty Images I was greatly saddened to hear of the passing of great director Harold Ramis this week. I felt especially honored that Slate…
Read MoreWhy Acting Is So Horrible
Originally posted Dec. 5, 2013 backstage.com I had a revelation a couple of months ago. It wasn’t a big revelation. I had suspected it for some time: Something awful always…
Read MoreMy Greatest Performance
Originally published backstage.com Nov. 21, 2013. Photo Source: Clay Rodery It is always interesting to talk to actors to see why they pursued this strange career of legally pretending to be…
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