Bad behavior casts shadow

An unfortunate letter to an outstanding actress:

I've been watching you for years now. It's amazing how your soul seems to take on a new spirit with nearly every role you play. I recently saw you in a production that I didn't like. But it didn't matter. Your "husband" hurled insults at you, and you accepted each negative comment as if it were a pingpong ball puncturing your face.

I should have simply enjoyed your performance and walked away. I had the misfortune of speaking with you afterward. I found out you direct other actors. You tell them how they should play their roles. When I asked you what you thought a director was for, you said something like, "Sometimes they don't listen, and I really want the play to be good." I think what you really meant was, "I want it to be good according to my tastes."

After another show, you told me, afterward, that you didn't like the coat the director and designer had selected for you. So, when they overruled your objections, you came up with a scheme: During performances, you put the coat you liked underneath and the coat you didn't like on top. As you made your entrance, you dropped the top garment and got your way, in defiance of the director.

When we talked afterward, the moment wasn't right for debate, but I wanted to tell you: "If I had been your director, and you had had an understudy, I would have fired you on the spot."

Same thing with coaching other actors without a director's permission. I'd have warned you once or twice, and then, if the behavior continued, gotten rid of you.

Why so harsh on such a talented performer as yourself? Because if there isn't one person at the helm -- the director -- the vision of the play often is doomed. They say democracy is a great way to run a country, but it's no way to make art. And how is an actor supposed to feel when he's got six other people telling him how to interpret a role? Leave the decisions to the director (or discuss things with him in private), and concentrate on bringing alive -- in that great way you do -- a flesh-and-blood character.

Of course, the scheme changes when you have a mega-star in the leading role. Money can change anything. But you're not a mega-star. So why not just enjoy being the in-depth actress that you are? It's very odd to hear from a director, "I love her talent, but I would never work with her again." And unfortunately, I hear this about you a lot.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.