backstage habits

I have always found the backstage habits of actors fascinating, though I gotta say, much less so these days than when I first started out. These days, the thing I see most of the time are actors walking around or sitting with their Blackberries in hand, intent on whatever it is they are watching or reading. Boring. The level of conversation backstage has dwindled, to my old fogey way of thinking--the amount too. Often these days, there will be a group of actors sitting around, but all are looking down at their phones--if you didn't see the devices in their hands, you'd think by their attitudes that they were at a prayer meeting--heads bowed, hands in laps, lips moving silently. I have even seen them text each other while sitting there--no joke! I suppose that could be useful if you are pissed at someone " Dude--you are sitting nxt 2 th biggest ASS in ths cast!"

Young actors are particularly involved with their phones in a deeply profound way. I watch them come off stage and run to their dressing areas and pick up their phones first thing, even before looking in a mirror (surely the oldest actor habit since the invention of the mirror). I wanna ask--because I am a sarcastic bastard about these things--" Are you a pediatrician? Is there an emergency C-section you may have to rush off to perform at any moment?" Because, honestly, I can't think of any other reason for rushing to your phone in the middle of a show.

I know this dates me, but I don't care. I have always seen the theatre as a bubble, as an escape from the world. Once I show up, around 6:30 for an 8pm curtain, the world can't touch me. If one of my parents dies, I don't wanna know about it till after curtain call. My time there is spent getting ready, getting my head in the performance, silently running lines to myself, or quietly with my scene partners, working on makeup and costume issues, and trying to keep the engine running hot. I don't want to be taken out of that place. I can chat a little with cast members, but always with an ear cocked toward the stage, listening to scenes I am not in, or listening to myself in my head as I go over my next entrance. And if I see another actor who looks like he or she are doing the same thing, I don't butt in to chat. I leave them to their preparations. I am not saying my method is right for everyone, but I can't imagine texting my friends between scenes, or watching videos. It would interrupt the flow of continuity I need to keep things going. And, I gotta say, those actors who I do see texting between scenes?--their performances could probably benefit from a little more attention to the internal intangibles and keeping the world waiting at the door.

My backstage process has evolved over the years. I used to be very chatty, prided myself on being able to be social in the wings, then turn it on the moment I walked into the lights. But you know what? Looking back, I wasn't as good then as I am now. These days, I tend to keep to myself backstage. As I said, I try to keep the engine's RPMs running at a consistent level. That's why a part like Caliban in The Tempest (which I am currently performing), who is only in 5 scenes, leaves me exhausted at the end of the evening. Because I am not just working during those five scenes--I have done them over and over again before going out on stage to do them. I pace around, mutter to myself, stretch, run in place, do any number of things to keep hot. My mantra, to anyone who asks, is " I never warm up because I never cool off."

Back in the day, I use to watch older actors knit, or do crosswords. These were time-honored activities designed to keep busy between scenes without being distracted from their performances. Personally, I approve more of knitting, which is a mindless physical activity that doesn't get into your head--crosswords always took me away from the immediate task at hand. And maybe that's what those particular actors need. To each his own. But in any case, the world could not and did not enter, unlike with cell phones. One old school actor I knew when I first started in theatre, used to sit at his dressing table and copy out his all his lines onto a notepad. Every night. We knew not to interrupt him--when he wasn't on stage, he was writing down his lines. It was a mind-numbing thing to contemplate, but it worked for him.

I don't comment on the use of phones backstage. What would be the point? People would respond with patronizing smiles, and think, " What an old stick-in-the-mud (or whatever the latest word would be :) )--doesn't he know the world has changed, and this is how we roll now?"

I get it. But just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it is correct. Or effective. It's like I tell my kids at the high school--" You have 22 hours in the day to talk to your friends and be unfocused and undisciplined and divide your energies--why not try to devote yourself to just one thing for these 2 hours?"