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Theatre - Articles |
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Jeanie Hackett is the Co-Artistic Director of the acclaimed The Antaeus Company, and an actress who has appeared in theater on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire and Ah, Wilderness; off-Broadway in many classical and new plays, and in Southern California at the Taper, South Coast Rep, the Pasadena Playhouse and many others. Most recently on film: King of California with Michael Douglas and television guest starring roles on television on Medium and Criminal Minds. Jeanie is the author of two books on acting, The Actor’s Chekhov and Toward Mastery, both based on the work of the late Nikos Psacharopoulos who founded the Williamstown Theater Festival. She is the head of The Antaeus Academy, a training program in the classics for upcoming professional actors, and she is one of L.A.’s busiest private acting coaches for auditions, film, tv and theater.
Why act in theater? Especially in L.A? Isn’t this the place people come to act on camera?
First of all, I think L.A. is now just as exciting a theater town – if not more – than New York City. The most incredible stage work is happening here now – and if the response we’re getting at Antaeus is any indication, there’s a real hunger out there for a quality theater experience. Audiences in L.A. actively try to find good theater, and they spread the word when they do – which is lucky because it’s really hard to know what’s going on in theater in Los Angeles. It’s hard because there’s no central geographic location – like Broadway – it’s hard because the L.A. Times has basically dropped theater listings from the paper. In return, a sort of theater “underground” has developed – audiences are active, knowledgeable, loyal and highly supportive.
And I think more actors – those who came from theater to do tv and film – are of late finding their way back to theater roles here in L.A. The stage being the best place where the actor can hone and sharpen skills and technique – and the place where as an actor you can really test yourself – how adept you are at using language, range of emotion, the flexibility of your physical and vocal equipment. It’s where you develop – and learn about – your own versatility. I coach a lot of actors from all kinds of backgrounds, and the ones who are grounded in stage technique invariably have an edge. Certainly it’s why so many Oscars go to the Brits: their careers move fluidly back and forth between stage and screen, but just about all of the great British film actors are equally great stage actors.
Why do you think theater training is important for an actor starting out?
Theater training and experience can sometimes mean the difference between great acting and serviceable acting. The parts most of us get in film and television don’t ask whole lot of our talent. They require serviceable or functional acting – not great acting. Great plays – classical plays in particular – demand great acting. You can’t really do great work without great material. Christopher Walken once said “Important actors are attracted to important writers” – and I think actors who are attracted to the challenges of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Williams, Shaw, etc. are invariably more in command of their talent. They’re funnier, they’re quicker, they’re certainly more confident.
Young actors need to be working on their craft all this time. Every day. And the place you can most readily do that is on stage. Audience feedback let’s you know immediately if you’re successful in getting the story across, getting the character across. It’s a barometer for how you’re progressing in your journey as a professional and an artist. And regular feedback from a live audience gives you real confidence for tough situations like going to network for a pilot or auditioning for a famous film director.
But it’s not just younger actors that flourish in stage light. At The Antaeus Company, audiences are excited and delighted to find out that some of their favorite screen actors are actually, first and foremost, stage actors. That’s one of the most exciting things about L.A. theater, I think. You can go to a tiny little black box theater and see someone really well known, up close in a play. And because at so many of these wonderful small theaters, there’s really not much money, you know these actors are doing the work for the sheet love of their craft. It’s not about being seen, it’s not about making money, it’s about a pure drive to create art. The quality of the work is as good as anything you’d see on the West End or on Broadway. And for a ticket price of about $25! It’s really extraordinary.
How did your career in theater begin?
I was very lucky early on in my career. I studied acting at New York University, and at that time young students could actually afford to go see plays on Broadway. Early on, I spent three seasons at the Williamstown Theater Festival where I got to play roles in Greek plays, Chekhov, Shakespeare – to learn by watching some of the best actors in the country take on the very best roles ever written. My first equity job was playing the lead in a Tennessee Williams play called Vieux Carre, and soon after I was cast in my first Broadway show was Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness! These experiences created in me a huge appetite for stage work and classics in particular.
For me, acting on stage means a sense being part of being truly present in the moment – because that’s where stage acting happens – in the exact moment. It’s a living breathing event between a group of actors and a group of audience members about our collective shared experience. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that.
Auditions for the Antaeus Academy's winter/spring classical acting workshop will take place in mid-January. Interested actors should email a picture and resume to Lori Castille at antaeusacademy@sbcglobal.net
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