Where Actors Dare

Actors’ Lounge program allows actors to explore their range and hone their craft before a live audience.

The crowd gathering outside the Greenway Court Theatre in the Fairfax District on a recent evening looks arty but unassuming. Except for a couple of women clad in 1930’s-style hats and skirts, most are casually dressed in jeans, quietly chatting in small groups. A sign on the marquee announces “Da’ Poetry Lounge” on Tuesday nights. But it’s Wednesday, and a guy behind the entrance gate peeks out to tell us he’ll let us in just as soon as the group on stage finishes a final run-through of their scene. Whether you’re acting in or watching the show at the Actors’ Lounge on the first Wednesday of every month, chances are you’ll get your buck’s worth. The evening of scenes and monologues is sort of an open-mike night for actors of all ages and at any level. But there is no shortage of talent; many of the performers in their late 20s/early 30s are experienced, working actors’in TV, film and Broadway’and others have produced albums, directed plays and independent films. On this particular evening, two actors open the program with a dramatic scene about a couple emotionally divided over the husband’s adultery. Their gripping performances and clear, convincing dialogue move a few audience members to sympathize out loud with the betrayed wife. Then, in a heated moment, the male actor says, in the style of Saturday Night Live, “Tonight, we will give it up for Actors’ Lounge,” and the crowd erupts in applause as DJ Blas plays Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” Before the next scene begins, the hosts lead the crowd of about 100 in a pre-show stretch followed by a clapping exercise they call the “Applause O’Meter,” which gradually raises the volume of the applause. Some audience members choose to sit in chairs on the sides of the stage, bringing them closer to the performers. Started about a year and a half ago by four local performers, the Actors’ Lounge celebrates artistic expression and community. The idea developed as an extension of Da’ Poetry Lounge, a weekly event at the theater featuring open-mike poetry and the spoken word. “The idea was similar’create a community environment where people don’t have to pay to put up art,” says Adam Schmalholz, a musician, poet and one of the founders of the Actors’ Lounge. “It’s a way to bridge the [entertainment] industry with the town, where people can come and not only be inspired to work with each other but also develop friendships.” Admission is actually $1 for performers and audience members, but that price is as good as free when you consider the crew working behind-the-scenes, including a house manager, stage manager, professional DJ and, of course, the theater space itself. The Greenway Court is located on the campus of Fairfax High School, on Fairfax one block south of Melrose. Hosted by Schmalholz and actor Justin Wade, the evening is divided into two hour-long segments, each with about 10 to 12 acts. As a rule, scenes run five minutes and monologues three minutes; there are usually only four monologues per night. The acts range from slapstick comedy to dramatic scenes about serious topics such as child abuse and suicide. No one will forget the tall, well dressed Chicago man who takes us to the verge of his own suicide. There is dead silence in the room as he holds his own finger to his head, leaving us with the haunting question “Will someone tell my father that I need him right now?” On the other side of this emotional evening, Schmalholz and Wade perform a scene from Stanley Tucci’s 1998 comedy “The Impostors,” incorporating costumes, props, music, lighting, special effects and stunts, including somersaults and a staged fight that they accomplish with great ease. Their imitation slapstick has the audience laughing and awestruck as the action unfolds’in slow motion’on stage. Creative and entertaining, the programming at the Actors’ Lounge is structured with a beginning, middle and end. But there are no strict guidelines for the actors, who are free to experiment during their allotted time on stage. “It’s like a gym for us,” says stage manager and actor Corey Curties. “This is a place where actors can act, versus waiting at home for your agent to call.” “You can be as prepared as you want,” says actress Ida Darvish, one of the founders of the Lounge. “There are people who come in and put on a show, and others who are just working something out.” While the organizers clearly have control over the sequence of monologues and scenes, staggering drama and comedy, they can never really predict how the collage of acts will play out. At one point, they invite audience members to participate in a situational improvisation’a comic yet racially conflicted setting of four men in an unemployment line on the day of the 1963 Martin Luther King March on Washington. DJ Blas and Omari Hardwick, a founding member of the Actors’ Lounge, join the volunteers on stage for this unexpectedly funny improvisation. “Sometimes you get talent that blows you away and sometimes you get people who are okay,” Schmalholz says, adding, “it gives people who aren’t experienced a chance to see if they like performing.” The group is quick to offer support when a fellow actor struggles with his lines. One guy restarts his monologue three times, but instead of boos, there are cheers of encouragement, and Wade jumps into a seat on stage to feed the actor his line from a book. Another actor stops, composed, mid-way through his monologue from “A Raisin in the Sun,” and starts over, explaining, “I want to have more fun with this.” “You become your own teacher,” says Schmalholz, who calls the Lounge the “anti-class,” explaining that it’s a safe place for actors to practice or hone their skills, compared to a classroom setting where they’re being judged by an instructor and peers. Darvish agrees. “You figure out what works and what doesn’t from the audience’s reaction, versus someone telling you.” In between acts, Tyler Clancey shows brief clips from offbeat movies or independent films to give the actors inspiration. JP Husky, who grew up in Pacific Palisades, assists Clancey as a technician. They also film the evening’s scenes, which actors can purchase after the show. Chicago native Sufe Bradshaw is a regular at the Actors’ Lounge, which she says provides her with a stability that is hard to find in Hollywood. This night she and a fellow actress team up to play prostitutes discussing their marriage prospects and dreams for a better life as they work a street corner. “I try to come as often as I can,” says Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, an entertainer who performs regularly at the Lounge with her homemade puppet, Lolly. “I felt like I had always been intimidated by actors, but here [at the Actors’ Lounge], I am so inspired.” She has a knack for transforming her voice into the high-pitched childlike tone of Lolly, who was eager to present the Valentine love badges she had innocently created using Maxi pads. “I think of an issue and I try to put it in the heart of a child,” says Carrara-Rudolph, who also performs on “Sesame Street.” Palisadians might recognize her because she sings at the annual Sweetheart Dance at the American Legion in Pacific Palisades. The fourth founding member of the Actors’ Lounge, Rosa Graziano, has moved back to New Jersey and is trying to start one in New York City. For more information, contact: theactorsloungela@yahoo.com