Okay folks I spent most of my day dealing with this “Phantom.”
I just want to address why I posted the link on my page. It was sent to me by a
friend and I was immediately up in arms about this person. I want to say why I
was so angered by this individual.
Last fall my company did Stephen Sondheim’s Company. At that
same time there were three other musicals going on at the same time…NSCP –
Chess, HMT – The Addams Family and SLOC – Rocky Horror. The entire community theater
of actors were spread thin. There were so many actors giving %110 percent to
make sure these shows were amazing. I only got to see two out of the other
three but what I experienced was an amazing moment in our community. %99
percent of each of those four cast came out and supported each other’s shows. I’ve
been doing theater for a long time and this was a first for me. It showed me
that for all the drama (and let’s all be honest here, there is plenty of drama)
we as a community came out and showed that we were there for each other. That
is the main reason I was upset about this “Phantom.” It was hard for me to read
that this person and their husband would go see their friends in shows and
spend the whole ride home bashing them and laughing at them. That to me is the
worst “friend” you can have…sadly we all must admit that we see a little bit of
that side of the “Phantom” in all of us.
So it brings me to this point: When did we as actors (who by
the way “phantom” chose this as a hobby) become this way? Do we all hate this “Phantom?”
I can easily say with confidence for myself…HELL YES! Then I ask myself, why?
Did they show a small side of me when I go see a show? Maybe. But like I said
it kills me to think that this person calls us all “friends.”
By now I’m sure we all have our suspicions of who this is
because let’s be honest does this person think we are all stupid? I can proudly
say I suck at grammar and I found mistakes in their writing. Do they really
think we are stupid enough to believe they are a professional writer? Even I
know the difference between “there” and “their”. The rumor mill has started and
sadly it seems one person’s name has come up time and time again. If it is the
person we are all thinking then this person should hang their head in shame. I
hope deep down in my heart that the “Phantom” is someone we all don’t know, it’s
not very likely the case but I’m hoping.
We all spent the day trying to figure out who this person is
but in the end does it matter? Yes and no. We all want to know so we can say to
this person “you are wrong my ‘friend’, you as a ‘professional’ actor should be
ashamed of yourself”. We also want to make sure that this person is never cast in
one of our shows right? Absolutely. But my suspicion is this 1. We already
worked with them or 2. Sadly their children suck and even paying for a theater
camp still doesn’t get them cast.
If it truly is a retired “professional” actress then bravo
on your accomplishments and I hope your children become a better example as “professional”
actors than you. If it’s not that person and someone is posing as her please
try and do a better job at hiding yourself. Do you really think we believe you
went from A Chorus Line to Beauty and the Beast, then to a regional production
of RENT, then had two kids and in the meantime wrote for People and Elle? Either
you took the potion that Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn took in “Death Becomes
Her” to stop aging or you are lying. Sadly, my guess is you are lying and we
all know who you are.
So this blog has come full circle and we as a community
again came together to defend each other. Let’s all concentrate on that and
forget this “Phantom”. But on a side note: I will be as happy as you all will
be when this person is exposed.
