Creating a Role: Part III - the Table Read

This is the third installment in an ongoing series of articles about creating a role, namely J.J. Brown in the new revival of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, opening at the Denver Center on September 19th, 2014. If you’d like to start at the beginning, click HERE.

Many years ago, I was a cast as a guest star on a TV pilot. Sit-com gigs always begin with a read. On a Monday morning, the cast sat in a circle at tables. Behind us sat the writers, producers, network executives and other production staff. The reading began, and at most of the right places the room erupted with laughter. As always, the writers laughed loudest, particularly if he or she wrote the joke.

Across from me sat a familiar face, an actress who recently ended a three-year reoccurring role on one of television’s hottest shows. In this new sit-com, she was a regular weekly player cast as the neighbor/best friend of the female lead. Yet while other actors gave best efforts during the read, this actress mumbled her lines. She was barely audible.

After the read was over, actors broke for lunch, while creative types huddled with network execs in a meeting. This is standard first day sit-com procedure. Two hours later, we arrived at the back lot stage to begin rehearsal. There, we were introduced to another actress, one who was not at the morning read. We were then informed she would be taking over the part of the neighbor/best friend. This is not typical sit-com procedure. In less than two hours, producers fired the first actress and hired the second.

Welcome to show business.

If rehearsal days are few, many musical productions dispense with the table read,  The Denver Center Theater Company is a LORT venue (League of Regional Theaters). Our production is blessed with five weeks of rehearsal, a real luxury. If a production does begin with a read, directors often start by saying, “We just want to hear the script. Don’t worry, nobody’s judging your performance.”

Translation: EVERYONE will be judging your performance!

This is why actors at times refrain from going full-out at the initial table read. Some don’t wish to reveal choices before getting a scene on its feet. Others abhor starting off the process by seeming phony. Some just don’t want to crash and burn directly out of the gate. In conservatory, actors are sometimes taught not to “go for it” right off the bat, and instead are encouraged to wait until it feels right in rehearsal. If you don’t try, your effort will not be judged (at least, that’s the theory). While this approach may be artistically viable to some, it comes with a few professional drawbacks. The lack of effort can make producers, writers and directors uneasy. Even on the first day, employers and creative heads can begin to wonder…was casting this actor a mistake?

The first table read of any script serves only one purpose: to hear the play. If actors give little at the read, nobody will be able to hear the natural flow of the piece. This is particularly irksome to the writer, especially if the play has never before been produced. Librettists often write for years before a first production, and no doubt hold great expectations for the first day of production. Although television scribes often present a script as though it were a prodigal and perfect child, playwrights and librettists often begin the process with a critical eye. Even at first read, theater writers already begin editing and refining the text. This becomes difficult or even impossible to do if actors give little at read, or are ill prepared to perform on rehearsal’s first day.

In Moss Hart’s classic theater book Act One, he recounts the first day of rehearsal for Once in a Lifetime, a farce co-written with George S. Kaufman. The actors arrived at work according to theatrical protocol; bit part players wandered in first, then came the supporting cast, and finally, seconds before the hour, the reigning diva made her grand entrance. Mr. Hart dreaded the first read because many actors offer little energy. This was particularly true of the theater stars of the era. Yet on that day, his leading lady gave such a beautifully nuanced performance young Mr. Hart nearly leapt across the table to kiss her!

At the first table read of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Beth Malone, our show’s leading lady, gave it her all. She began full voice, as if giving an opening night’s performance. She sang her fourteen songs with gusto and nuance. Her line readings were crafted. Like every skilled professional, during the read Beth utilized all the lessons in my book, Stanislavski Never Wore Tap Shoes (Musical Theater Acting Craft). Beth set the tempo, and immediately the rest of us had to sit up straight, and hurl ourselves into the reading with energy and commitment equal to our Molly Brown.

Although director Kathleen Marshall didn’t kiss me after the first read, with a big smile she thanked me for my all-out effort. No doubt she did the same with Beth. Librettist Dick Scanlon, who has been involved with this project for over seven years, sat at the table grinning like a kid on Christmas Day (while also making edits.) Musical director Michael Rafter seemed equally pleased, as did all in the room. It was a good start, and hopefully a good omen for things to come.

If you have the box office drawing power of say, Nathan Lane, you’re allowed to phone-in the first read. You’re not going to be fired, or worry higher-ups you won’t bring the goods on opening night. Yet I’ve worked with Nathan, and from day one he goes full-out. Our medium paints life in broad and vibrant strokes. If you don’t “go for it,” failure is guaranteed not only for you, but also for your scene partners. Why not instead give yourself, fellow actors and the libretto the opportunity to be successful on the first read?

Why not just leap in on day one?

In the upcoming rehearsal process I will make hundreds, even thousands of mistakes. I see no point in delaying this process, one where each trial will produce many, many errors. So, on day one I always bring best efforts. Coworkers will surely judge me at every point of the process. That’s human nature. Yet in the professional musical theater, the harshest judgments are often reserved for those who don’t give their all each and everyday, including the first read. 

As when going for a swim, you can timidly wade into rehearsal, or just dive right in with abandon. I suggest doing the latter.  If you leap on day one, not only will you give the play its best chance to be heard, not only will you gain the appreciation of producers, writers, creative staffs and acting peers, but you will also stand far greater chance of still being employed on the morrow.

Just sayin’…

Burke