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L.A. Stage Actor Confronts Heckler, Gets Fired (Updated)
http://www.backstage.com/news/l-stage-actor-confronts-heckler-gets-fired/This is from an old high school friend John Lacy on Facebook. He confronted someone using a homophobic slur directed at his co-star during a performance of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
An actor in a Los Angeles-area production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” confronted a drunken heckler in the audience Saturday. The incident prompted the actor’s firing, a walkout from one of his castmates, and the subsequent cancelation of the last two weeks of the play’s run.
The production of Tennessee Williams’ play at the Repertory East Playhouse (REP) in Newhall, a town about an hour north of Los Angeles, had attracted little press attention before its May 31 performance. Last Saturday night, John Lacy, who was playing dying patriarch Big Daddy Pollitt, said a producer told him, "This is the drunkest house we’ve ever had." REP’s bar, which serves hard liquor, opens at 7 p.m. with curtain an hour later.
During intermission, Lacy said his co-star Anton Troy, who was playing Big Daddy's son Brick, was visibly upset. "He said someone was booing him and if he boos him again he’s going to snap," Lacy told Backstage. “We have a teacher-student relationship as well. I told him, 'You’ve got to use whatever’s happening out there.' He calmed down, but I should have maybe told him to find the stage manager.”
Before Lacy took the stage after intermission, "I told myself, 'No one’s going to heckle Big Daddy.'" Then he stepped out.
“Ten minutes in it's very audible and very clear someone’s booing my co-star. It was obnoxious. Then I go into a monologue and he starts booing me," Lacy said. At the end of the monologue, Big Daddy asks his son why he's being taciturn. The heckler yelled, "Because he’s a fag," Lacy recalled.
When the slur was used a second time, Lacy walked downstage, broke character, and asked who called out. The heckler stood up. Lacy descended into the audience. "Are you the one who said that motherfucker?" Lacy said. The heckler grinned and said, "Yeah.” Lacy pushed him down and a skirmish ensued between the actor, the heckler and his male companion. “I was definitely vulnerable," Lacy said. "This definitely isn’t Broadway."
Tim Sullivan, a filmmaker who was in the audience, rushed to his aide and gruffly escorted the heckler and his friend from the packed 81-seat theater.
Lacy doesn't regret confronting the heckler. "When someone is being homophobic to me or my fellow actor, it’s not acceptable," he said. "I wish it hadn’t come to that. I’m very, very disappointed.”
The production of Tennessee Williams’ play at the Repertory East Playhouse (REP) in Newhall, a town about an hour north of Los Angeles, had attracted little press attention before its May 31 performance. Last Saturday night, John Lacy, who was playing dying patriarch Big Daddy Pollitt, said a producer told him, "This is the drunkest house we’ve ever had." REP’s bar, which serves hard liquor, opens at 7 p.m. with curtain an hour later.
During intermission, Lacy said his co-star Anton Troy, who was playing Big Daddy's son Brick, was visibly upset. "He said someone was booing him and if he boos him again he’s going to snap," Lacy told Backstage. “We have a teacher-student relationship as well. I told him, 'You’ve got to use whatever’s happening out there.' He calmed down, but I should have maybe told him to find the stage manager.”
Before Lacy took the stage after intermission, "I told myself, 'No one’s going to heckle Big Daddy.'" Then he stepped out.
“Ten minutes in it's very audible and very clear someone’s booing my co-star. It was obnoxious. Then I go into a monologue and he starts booing me," Lacy said. At the end of the monologue, Big Daddy asks his son why he's being taciturn. The heckler yelled, "Because he’s a fag," Lacy recalled.
When the slur was used a second time, Lacy walked downstage, broke character, and asked who called out. The heckler stood up. Lacy descended into the audience. "Are you the one who said that motherfucker?" Lacy said. The heckler grinned and said, "Yeah.” Lacy pushed him down and a skirmish ensued between the actor, the heckler and his male companion. “I was definitely vulnerable," Lacy said. "This definitely isn’t Broadway."
Tim Sullivan, a filmmaker who was in the audience, rushed to his aide and gruffly escorted the heckler and his friend from the packed 81-seat theater.
Lacy doesn't regret confronting the heckler. "When someone is being homophobic to me or my fellow actor, it’s not acceptable," he said. "I wish it hadn’t come to that. I’m very, very disappointed.”
More at link.
29 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
with family along, I just settled back in my (expensive) seat and worked her into a George R.R. Martin wedding scene in my mind.
