Reporting and photo by Jamie Painter
Back Stage West met recently with seasoned Southerners Park Overall and Todd Allen to discuss their respective training experiences and impressions on the industry.
A Tennessee native, Overall made her Broadway debut in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues," later reprising her role in the film version. In 1996, she returned to the stage in John Patrick Shanley's comedy "Psychopathia Sexualis," which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre and traveled to the Mark Taper Forum and the Manhattan Theatre Club. Her film credits include "House of Cards," "Talk Radio," "Mississippi Burning," "The Stars Fell on Henrietta," "Kindergarten Cop," and the upcoming "Sparkler." In addition to starring in the NBC sitcom "Empty Nest," Overall starred in the recent Lifetime movie "15 and Pregnant" and the telemovies "The Aileen Wournos Story" for CBS and TNT's "The Good Old Boys."
Todd Allen, a native of Austin, Tex., currently has a supporting role in Robert Duvall's film "The Apostle." His other screen credits include "The Postman," "Silverado," "Wyatt Earp," "Grand Canyon," "Mask," and "Uncommon Valor." On television he's appeared in the CBS miniseries "Pancho Barnes" and the telefilms "Night Visitors" and "The Charmer." Allen studied under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and later with Stella Adler in Los Angeles.
Todd Allen: I was at the University of Texas in Austin in business school, and completely unhappy. My folks own a ranch out in the hill country outside of Austin, and I was on my way to the ranch one day and saw a bunch of trucks on the side of the road. I thought there had been a wreck, but it was a movie company.
I got out and just walked through the gate on this ranch where they were shooting, and they thought I was the son of the property owner. So everybody came running over to me, treating me like gold, and I just sort of followed along with it. I stuck with this director all day, and in about 15 minutes I knew that's what I wanted to do. And it wasn't so much acting; it was filmmaking in particular. So I gravitated into acting and made the decision to come out to Los Angeles.
Park Overall: I was watching TV with my dad and this actress was playing a Southern woman and she was doing it so poorly that I just said, "Daddy, I cannot stand it!" And he said, "Neither can I. I'll send you to New York for two years, and if it doesn't work out, you have to come home." And I was old--I was 26, 27, or 28 or something when I moved to New York.
Todd: I came out to Los Angeles because we had a family friend, the only person I knew that was in the entertainment business, Dabney Coleman. He's from Austin. I did not know him, but I knew his family and I looked him up when I came out to L.A. He took one look at me and saw I was right off the boat. I just showed up in Hollywood thinking, "I'm going to act," and that was about as far as I had thought about it.
Dabney had gone to the Neighborhood Playhouse and his class had people like James Caan. He said to me, "There's only one place I'd send you. You're young enough. You can take two years and go do it. You don't know shit about acting. You should go to the Playhouse in New York and you will come out of there after two years and know what you're doing, and people in this town will take you seriously." I thought it was good advice.
Park: I suffered a long time. Going to New York I really thought I was going to be mugged, thugged, and raped on every corner. I was a paranoid wreck. I couldn't stand it in the streets--which is hard, because if you're an actress you should be hitting the streets. I was scared to death. It took me two years to calm down. But it was a good experience all in all, and it got me working, got me an agent, and got me the other things that one needs to get going.
I'm instinctive. I don't do any technique or hardly any. I did study with a teacher. Enjoyed him. Made a lot of friends. His name is Leonard Peters. Nothing like what you've been through with your emotional recall stuff and hoodoo voodoo woodoo. I'm giving you fits. I'm sorry.
Todd: No, actually Meisner's deal differs a little bit, and that's what I liked about it. But I'll tell you this: It was five years after I'd gotten out of that school before I started using the things I learned. And the thing that I walked away with was the knowledge that I was better off with my instincts. But having had no training before that, I needed a base. One of the things that Meisner said early on was, "You may never have to use what you learned here. What you learn here is what you use if your instincts ever fail you."
Park: That's an important part of class for any actor. If you don't know what you're doing, you can call on what you learned in class to get you through it. And there will be a lot of times you don't know what you're doing.
Blue-Collar Job
Park: I used to thrive on auditions--not anymore. You get to be my age and everything changes in this town. Like in the movies, you'll notice everybody is very, very young. The men are allowed to age, but women are not. I'm not particularly bitter about it anymore, because I have found other interests. If I'm offered a part, I excel at it. But if I have to audition for it, there comes that nervousness.
Todd: The audition process is something to be conquered. It's your life-line to work, I believe. But I've never thrived on it. I've always hated it, because I just didn't feel like it was representative of me.
Park: The trick is, the more you're out there, the more likely to land one. What's the statistic? One in 40 was what I always heard. And it's true, no matter who you are--you'll get one if you're out there. You just got to be out there and live through them.
Todd: One thing about acting school--they do not teach you how to audition, and they do not teach you about the business aspect of it. I know so many people that have more talent in their little finger than a lot of people have in their entire bodies, and yet they can't get a job.
Park: Because they're too sensitive and crack under the strain of it. A lot of talent is wasted by the fast pace of the business. This is not a particularly polite business. It's really hard; it's about as unglamourous as being a truck driver.
Todd: On the last movie I did, I don't think I put in less than 18 hours a day for five months. You're working your ass off. It's long hours and it's hard work. It is like a blue-collar job. BS