March 3, 2025 • 24 mins
Working away from home and living out of a suitcase. Or two. And a backpack. Plus some boxes of stuff. Patrick and Benjamin discuss finding your place in a new town, what to pack, what to send ahead, and some survival strategies for long term away-from-home life.
Name checked: Raymond J. Lee, Cameron Adams, Julia Cameron, Howard McGillin, Sal Mistretta, Angela Lansbury, George Hearn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This episode of The Working Actor NYC may contain profanity and some adult concepts,
(00:04):
so please use your discretion.
The Working Actor NYC!
That's Benjamin Howes.
That's Patrick Richwood!
It is.
The first time The Working Actor is in separate locations,
so this is a bit of an experiment for us.
That's right, I was gonna say, as you can see, I'm not in your dining room table.
(00:26):
I'm in my little studio here in Fort Myers, where I'm doing a show.
Fort Myers, Florida.
I am here doing a show I've never done with a group of people I've never met
in a town I've never been to, and I'm having a blast.
This is our norm.
This is kind of our norm, unless you're one of those lucky few
(00:48):
who work on Broadway constantly.
Ray Lee, I'm looking at you.
They have their own time card.
The golden time card.
But for the rest of us, there are regional theaters all over the United States of America
that need actors like you and me to make their stages busy.
(01:13):
They need us.
Those bitches need us.
And you know what else?
There's also commercials shot all over the country.
There's movies shot all over the place.
There's TV shot all over the place.
Between all that and regional theaters and national tours,
you and I have been at every corner of the country.
You find your little places wherever you go.
(01:35):
You look for, or I do anyway, I seek out where's the place that's got the authentic vibe
that's going to be fun, nice for me to be around and nourishing for me to be around.
I just found a place.
It's only been open 11 weeks.
They serve wines.
They have a wine bar.
They're into plants.
They sell plants and they sell art.
(01:56):
And the woman who owns it is an artist and her work is all over the place
and her family's work.
And it's gorgeous.
Oh, I love that.
It's one of those important things about finding your spots on the road
that make you feel like a little bit normal,
a little bit like you're a part of a community in a way,
because being on the road, you are away from your support systems and your community.
(02:18):
And you got to find a way to fill that well up again.
Do you find that when you're away, it takes you a while to get back into your routine
and your rhythm and your like, I dropped my morning ritual
for like the first three weeks here.
(02:38):
I'm only getting into it again now.
And it's important to me.
My morning ritual really makes my day go better.
I have to admit, I'm pretty adamant about my morning ritual.
And it's before I get to a new place, I have to know where the gym is,
where the supermarket is.
I have to navigate, learn how I'm going to navigate that
(02:59):
and get to the theater in time.
And like, yeah, for a 10 a.m. rehearsal, I'm often up at 530
because I hydrate, meditate, caffeinate, get to the gym,
get back from the gym, shower, breakfast, and then go to work.
I really, I'm taking my hat off to you.
(03:20):
If I had a hat, I'd take it off to you.
Now, what's a gym?
He's this guy who comes over to your apartment and works you out.
I remember the gym.
I'm just kidding.
That's a room where you go and you lift heavy things.
Right.
And grunt and grunt.
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Grunt, sweat. Yes.
Yeah.
I just hang out in the shower hoping to get lucky.
I love my morning yoga.
I love my, that's my routine.
I love my morning pages, which I've pulled from Julia Cameron's
The Artist's Way, which is my favorite thing of all about that book.
(04:03):
I love, you know, the chance to center myself and meditate.
I do my Wim Hof breathing, which is about 15 minutes.
I love to do a cold finish on the shower.
It's fantastic.
An ice cold finish on the shower.
How you do that?
I really, really want to get into the cold plunge thing, but I've...
Well, it's not a...
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I'm not a big fan of a cold plunge.
It's on a warm shower.
And then at the end, I prepare myself and I'm like, okay, here we go.
And I turn off a good deal of the hot and then more.
And then by the end, that's just cold.
I could do it for about, I'm about two minutes is the most, but it's fantastic to stand under
the... because it's all in the breathing.
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It just, it calms you.
It feels great.
It resets your endocrine system, resets your body completely.
Likes it.
I've heard of all the benefits and I want to get into it.
Once you're into it and you've been doing it for a while, you crave it.
So you're on the road right now.
What did you need to bring with you in order to make this little brick walled, gray curtain
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studio scenario with ancient vintage lamps?
What did you need to bring with you in order to make it your own and feel nested?
Oh, God.
How much time do you have?
Well, first of all, I don't know.
Do you do road boxes?
I have road boxes.
Absolutely.
I have three, like I've got it down to like three medium sized road boxes.
(05:29):
Most of it is kitchen stuff and some cleaning supplies for the bathroom.
But most of it is kitchen stuff, spices, a sharp knife.
There's got to be a sharp knife.
I have different departments.
So I have three boxes there each.
I want to say they're 20 by 20 by 20, but I know I can't remember.
They're the large size.
All of that stuff gets stored at my house as is, except for one extra box, which is
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called Christmas Essentials, which is I have right now because I came here right before
Christmas.
I can see the little red and green blurry in the background.
That's the singing Christmas hat.
That's a must.
And then I've got over there is my Aunt Winnie's light up tabletop Christmas tree from Santa
Fe that she decorated with little pine cones and stuff.
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It's so cute.
Oh, my God.
Like that.
And then I brought Christmas cards to send, which I did not send.
Right, because you hate us.
And is that a gay pride flag that's stuck on your dresser over there?
Oh, yeah.
Yes, that is.
Did you bring that with you or did they just award that to you when you walked into town?
Because it was in.
I found it in my suitcase, actually.
(06:37):
It must have been from.
Oh, I know it was there from it was there.
It was in my suitcase, which was I hadn't used since the last regional theater job
that's past summer at Bucks County.
I always get flowers.
I always get a plant.
These are things I have to get.
They make me especially a plant.
They make me happy.
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I put fruit in a bowl.
I can look at it and think about eating it.
I've got to have a bowl that has fruit.
There's never a OK.
So never actor housing around the country never has a bowl big enough to put fruit into.
So I have I have a little nest of large plastic bowls also for mixing.
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If you happen to decide that you want to bake cookies for the cast or something like there's
never a bowl big enough in actor housing.
So here are some of the things I bring in my road box.
I bring a container full of all the desk supplies.
It's everything.
It's every all the things I use.
It's my post-its, pens, envelopes, stamps, you know, a stapler, staple, a staple, a mini
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stapler, stapler, all those little those little those little lifesaver things that you stick
into your binder when the pages tear and you get a little.
Well, actually, I don't think I have those.
But they have them at the they did.
They always have them.
The stage manager always has those.
So I like that.
You know, the number one reason all of this happens is because I've learned over 44 years,
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motherfuckers, that.
Wait, let me see how many years it is for me.
Just counting the crow's feet.
Just cut off an arm and count the rings.
No matter how well stocked the company management thinks an apartment is,
there's going to be things they don't have.
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Their idea of a good well stocked kitchen to cook in is really different than mine,
namely because they're usually much younger than I am.
Those people often they're in their 20s.
One thing that I've consistently noticed is I always have to bring a sharp knife with me
because it's never a sharp knife to cut to chop.
(08:49):
See, you know what I'm talking about.
I have a set of sharp knives and I also have cutting knives.
A decent frying pan, one that's preferably nonstick.
So I actually have a small and a medium sized nonstick frying pan in my road boxes.
I have two.
I have a not I just I just redid them on this trip.
I went to Target and I got two new ones because my old ones were worn out.
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I have a whisk.
I have a greater, you know.
Yeah, all of that stuff because they might have it, but they might not.
And they often don't.
And I want to I want to cook.
I want to do my thing.
I have an electric kettle.
I have I used to have a one of those super powerful blender thingies.
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I often have a breakfast smoothie, but I have like the well,
mine was a ninja is that what it's called?
Like the bullet.
It's like a bullet.
A bullet.
That's what I was thinking.
I had that.
Yeah.
So we should explain to people who are unfamiliar that under an equity contract,
the theater has to ship 300 pounds 300 pounds of has to ship back and forwards.
(09:56):
No, it's more coming back.
But it's like 500 pounds coming back in case you acquire a pet or a child.
In case you adopt a person.
You never know what you're going to find.
I've started up a relationship.
Will you please ship him home?
Thank you.
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Oh, I bring my own set of sheets just in case I bring.
It depends.
I'll ask.
I'll say what size is the bed.
I bring my own pillow, a pillow I like.
I bring my own set of towels.
I bring my own set of towels, face towels and hand towels because they never have.
They never have.
They can they have one washcloth.
Sometimes they can sometimes tell their own story.
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The towels.
They they certainly can.
Yes, exactly.
If you laid them all out and shine a black light, you'll have a Jackson Pollock painting.
Whenever you were in a place where the interns cleaned the housing,
I'd be like, interns can't clean themselves.
Why would you have them go and clean apartments?
And I have been known to many times get on my hands and knees with cleaning products
(11:03):
and scrub it, just get it clean.
I'm going to do it.
I don't mind.
I'll do it.
I did that in my in in a housing I had last year.
I walked in.
I was like, I need to clean this bathroom before I do anything else.
Yeah, that's why I won't share a bathroom because that's the deal breaker for me
because I've shared a bathroom with people who were younger than actually didn't matter
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about the age, but I've shared a bathroom occasionally and once or twice had to deal
with people like leaving gallons of water all over the floor in the place or like,
you know, dental floss remains on the mirror or or DNA around the toilet.
So you don't want to know.
The DNA is the DNA is the deal breaker.
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On on national tours where sometimes you were in a hotel and you're not in an accommodation
with our cooking facilities, I learned that I have to oftentimes request a mini fridge
and a microwave from the hotel because not all hotel rooms have a mini fridge and a microwave
and I have to request that.
So what's what's your hotel room setup scenario?
(12:11):
So I need protein.
So I'll always be able to have a thank you rotisserie chickens United.
Oh, God bless rotisserie chickens.
I love my rotisserie chicken.
I'll always have one of those in the fridge.
I have a friend.
You've got something growing on your left shoulder.
I think you should see a doctor about that.
(12:33):
Now, see, that's an interesting thing.
Some people, when they travel on the road, they bring their pets.
When I toured with Peter Pan, a couple of people brought their dogs and they drove the tour.
They weren't allowed to.
They couldn't manage it in those days.
And I think actually they've tightened those regulations now again so that you can't just
call any pet a, you know, a service animal.
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If it's a service animal, that's one thing.
But emotional needs pets, people were doing that.
Emotional support.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
That's a whole thing with pets.
That's a whole thing we should really talk about.
It's like there is it is a real trauma to leave your pet behind if you don't have a partner.
It's like, what am I going to do?
How am I going to do it?
Who's going to take care of it?
Can I trust them?
Do they have pets for him to play with?
How many times should I come home to check on him?
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You know, I don't want him to lose me in his mind.
You know, I don't all that stuff.
The road boxes thing, just to wrap up the road boxes thing.
I'm so grateful that I am able to bring them.
I'm grateful that that's part of our contract because
Whoever came up with that requirement, props to that person.
I'll say.
Congrats to you, Lady Road Box, for putting that in our contracts.
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We support your choices.
All my colleagues are always astounded and also impressed.
Why doesn't everybody do it?
Why doesn't everybody do it?
They do not know.
That's the truth.
They don't know that they can.
I am not going to.
I am not buying spices and cleaning supplies in every city that I go to.
I'm not doing it.
That's what it boils down to.
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That's tough.
It boils down to I don't want to keep buying it.
Here's the things I don't bring.
I don't bring cleaning supplies because I know I can get those from company management.
I don't bring.
I do bring laundry supplies because I like my detergent and my things.
So I bring the pods and the.
Oh, here's something I bring.
Real light bulbs.
Really?
I bring real light bulbs in a little box that they're there
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because I don't like halogen bulbs.
Oh, you mean like LED ones?
They have to be the right color temperature.
If they're that like they have to be under 3000 Kelvins.
These ones that you can see in the background, they've approved them.
Warm.
Yeah, they're a nice warm light.
I don't like hospital lighting.
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I don't like surgical lighting.
No, the fluorescent.
That's the whole all halogen bulbs used to be.
And when I would turn them on, I would be like,
ugh, immediately replace them with real bulbs.
And boy, what a difference it makes.
People would come over.
Another thing, trick I learned, I learned this from Howard McGill,
a guy that I toured with Howard McGill and the wonderful Howard McGill.
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Colored scarves or like scarves with pattern on and you cut a hole.
You cut a hole at the top and you lay them over the lampshades.
And suddenly you're in a you're in a Kazba club.
That is some 70s hippie shit right there.
We also know from our tribe.
You call around, you get on social media, you're like,
has anybody ever worked at this theater?
(15:26):
Absolutely.
What should I expect?
Use what should I expect?
Use your network.
Yeah.
And that's far more powerful now.
When I was at Goodspeed doing Druud last year,
I had a bunch of friends who were going up to do Maggie later on in the season.
They were like, OK, tell me what do I expect?
Where's the gym?
How do we like how does that all work?
(15:47):
Like, what's the car situation?
Yeah.
And for all that I love Goodspeed, their car situation is notably terrible.
So be warned about that.
Right.
That's true.
I'll never work there again.
And it's a great place and their housing is spectacular.
The housing is great.
Yeah.
I mean, that's a good example of like wonderful housing.
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And that was a place where I was in a gosh, how many one, two, three, four, five bedroom house.
With five bathrooms.
With I had a great group of people.
I love the people I lived with.
You know, it was a great situation.
Doesn't always work like that.
This situation at Goodspeed.
Well, we should we should rate people.
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We should mention Goodspeed is so wealthy.
They built they took the property next to they own a bunch of property all over that tiny little
town and they built a whole enclave.
Their own little village.
One of the things that I learned from touring doing national tours
because I've done three now and I haven't implemented this yet, but I intend to on my next one
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is, yes, the company manager will organize a company flight for everybody to travel from
one city to the next.
What I discovered was that the smartest folks are taking the buyout from that flight and
booking their own flights from city to city.
They're using the same airline.
They are using their money.
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So it means that they're the ones getting all the credit and all the points
on that airline.
And by the end of tour, they're triple platinum diamond medallion members of that airline.
That's smart.
They get all of the perks and all.
And you can also you can also apply for that credit card of that airline and get
(17:34):
further discounts on the flights.
Oh, and use that if you use that credit card for all your business expenses and that credit card
only, it pays off at the end of the year when tax time comes and all those deductions have
to be itemized.
You've got all those expenses in one print it out.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Another thing that I found incredibly useful on national tour is having a principal who is a
(17:59):
leader of a company like having somebody to actually be a leader of the company is incredibly
important for morale and making sure that everybody feels included because we're all in
the same kind of awesome kind of stinky boat, which is you're away from your support systems.
You are away from your family and friends.
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You're away from your home.
You're away from your bed, from your pillow.
Do you know what I mean?
Like all of those things that stabilize you are are taken away from you.
And so to have a person in the company who's prepared to step up and make sure that everybody
feels included to make sure that everybody feels like, oh, we have a leader.
We have someone we can look up to.
Incredibly important.
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I've had that.
Yeah, I mean, in my case, I'm not away from my pillow because it's in my road box.
But you.
Truth.
I mean, it's like Felix's magic bag.
Just everything comes out of that thing.
Whatever you need.
What do you need?
I got it.
It's in here.
The youngins are always just like their mouths are dry.
It's like I'm Harry Potter or something.
I remember my friend Sal, who was one of my mentors and still is even though he's no longer
(19:06):
with us, you know, because I'm just always, always utilizing all the things that I learned
from him about what it's like to be on the road and and working with other people.
And he said when he was touring with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn on the national
tour of Sweeney Todd, when they got to.
(19:27):
I don't remember what city was actually.
I think it was San Francisco.
Now that I stop and think about it and that the organization, theater organization said,
we want to give you a big gala and we're going to do it with all our donors.
It's going to be a big thing.
And we, we're, you know, all these charities are involved in everything.
She said, wonderful.
And they said, and she said, well, but the rest of the cast is invited, right?
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And they said, oh, well, no, it's just going to be you and George.
She said, oh, no, I won't be able to do it unless you invite the rest of the cast.
I wouldn't want to leave them.
Yeah.
And then they did.
That's so important.
They all got to be part of this wonderful event.
And it was all her and that's was the way she was throughout the tour.
What it's like to be sort of the older wiser one in the cast.
(20:14):
When you hit a certain age and you're looked at, let's say you're perceived as pay attention to
this guy, you want to learn how to build a joke.
You want to learn how to, you know, timing, you want to, you know, whatever, or what, or even
you want to know what the rule, what the etiquette is or watch him, watch this guy and pay attention.
Have you noticed that?
So I have been on a bit of a journey with this.
(20:36):
Yes, I am comfortable with it now, but I remember being on tour.
Uh, gosh, was that 10 years ago now?
I was middle-aged and the rest of the ensemble was not, they were a younger generation, but I
walked into that thinking, oh, we're all going on tour together.
We're all going to be, you know, going out together and having fun together and doing adventures
(21:00):
together.
And that was not the case because my brain hadn't done the math that I was now of a different
generation and therefore was not going to be necessarily included on all the trips to the
bars and the clubs and the adventures and whatever it was.
And so that was a real adjustment for me on that tour.
(21:22):
That was a bit of a drag, but it was just a, now I'm fine with it because, you know, now my, my
brain has caught up with my age and now says, I don't want to be doing all that shit.
You're, you're such a, uh, youthful person in spirit and, and, and physically and literally
(21:43):
you're very youthful person if I squint.
But then I've got, I don't know about you, but I've got chicken fat all over my lens.
Vaseline, omelette.
And then a piece of Kleenex.
Wait, if I take my glasses off, you look terrific.
(22:03):
I'm looking at you through parchment paper right now.
It's fantastic.
So much better than when we're in the same room.
I think for one thing, A, you don't, nobody hits middle-aged without middle-aged hitting
them back.
The other thing is there's all kinds of like lessons in big giant quotes.
I am so grateful for all the things I've learned over the, over these many years about what
(22:26):
to bring, how to prepare, what to do.
And the, the, you know, the mentorship meant, you know, intentional or not of people like
the people who have headed up cast that I've been in or my personal mentors, like my friend
Sal, who I mentioned, you know, who taught me how to be in a group of people when you're
sharing a house like out at fire Island, you know, and I'm going to take it even further.
(22:50):
I, I think it would be a sad day if I ever showed up today, one of rehearsal and thought,
oh, I don't have anything to learn from these people.
Do you know what I mean?
I feel like I'm always still learning from whether they're my age, younger or older.
I know that there's, I'm going to learn something from those people, from that group of people.
And I have to keep my curiosity open and available to learn it.
(23:12):
I think it'll be a sad day if I ever walked into a room and thought, oh no, this'll be,
this'll be what it is.
I don't have anything to learn from these people.
Amen, brother.
That's why you're you.
That's why you're my people because you're young and, and buoyant because you have it,
that there's always something to learn that you're a student of life that you don't have it.
(23:33):
That, well, I know everything now I'm supposed to know everything.
So now I'm no longer a learner.
I think the moment we stop, um, our, our context goes from, I I'm here to learn over to I'm here
to know that's when the day we start aging.
Absolutely.
I feel like I've aged just listening to this conversation.
(23:56):
Oh, I've aged years.
If you liked this video and this podcast, like and subscribe and hit the thing.
And press the thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This episode of The Working Actor NYC may contain profanity and some adult concepts,
(00:04):
so please use your discretion.
The Working Actor NYC!
That's Benjamin Howes.
That's Patrick Richwood!
It is.
The first time The Working Actor is in separate locations,
so this is a bit of an experiment for us.
That's right, I was gonna say, as you can see, I'm not in your dining room table.
(00:26):
I'm in my little studio here in Fort Myers, where I'm doing a show.
Fort Myers, Florida.
I am here doing a show I've never done with a group of people I've never met
in a town I've never been to, and I'm having a blast.
This is our norm.
This is kind of our norm, unless you're one of those lucky few
(00:48):
who work on Broadway constantly.
Ray Lee, I'm looking at you.
They have their own time card.
The golden time card.
But for the rest of us, there are regional theaters all over the United States of America
that need actors like you and me to make their stages busy.
(01:13):
They need us.
Those bitches need us.
And you know what else?
There's also commercials shot all over the country.
There's movies shot all over the place.
There's TV shot all over the place.
Between all that and regional theaters and national tours,
you and I have been at every corner of the country.
You find your little places wherever you go.
(01:35):
You look for, or I do anyway, I seek out where's the place that's got the authentic vibe
that's going to be fun, nice for me to be around and nourishing for me to be around.
I just found a place.
It's only been open 11 weeks.
They serve wines.
They have a wine bar.
They're into plants.
They sell plants and they sell art.
(01:56):
And the woman who owns it is an artist and her work is all over the place
and her family's work.
And it's gorgeous.
Oh, I love that.
It's one of those important things about finding your spots on the road
that make you feel like a little bit normal,
a little bit like you're a part of a community in a way,
because being on the road, you are away from your support systems and your community.
(02:18):
And you got to find a way to fill that well up again.
Do you find that when you're away, it takes you a while to get back into your routine
and your rhythm and your like, I dropped my morning ritual
for like the first three weeks here.
(02:38):
I'm only getting into it again now.
And it's important to me.
My morning ritual really makes my day go better.
I have to admit, I'm pretty adamant about my morning ritual.
And it's before I get to a new place, I have to know where the gym is,
where the supermarket is.
I have to navigate, learn how I'm going to navigate that
(02:59):
and get to the theater in time.
And like, yeah, for a 10 a.m. rehearsal, I'm often up at 530
because I hydrate, meditate, caffeinate, get to the gym,
get back from the gym, shower, breakfast, and then go to work.
I really, I'm taking my hat off to you.
(03:20):
If I had a hat, I'd take it off to you.
Now, what's a gym?
He's this guy who comes over to your apartment and works you out.
I remember the gym.
I'm just kidding.
That's a room where you go and you lift heavy things.
Right.
And grunt and grunt.
(03:40):
Grunt, sweat. Yes.
Yeah.
I just hang out in the shower hoping to get lucky.
I love my morning yoga.
I love my, that's my routine.
I love my morning pages, which I've pulled from Julia Cameron's
The Artist's Way, which is my favorite thing of all about that book.
(04:03):
I love, you know, the chance to center myself and meditate.
I do my Wim Hof breathing, which is about 15 minutes.
I love to do a cold finish on the shower.
It's fantastic.
An ice cold finish on the shower.
How you do that?
I really, really want to get into the cold plunge thing, but I've...
Well, it's not a...
(04:23):
I'm not a big fan of a cold plunge.
It's on a warm shower.
And then at the end, I prepare myself and I'm like, okay, here we go.
And I turn off a good deal of the hot and then more.
And then by the end, that's just cold.
I could do it for about, I'm about two minutes is the most, but it's fantastic to stand under
the... because it's all in the breathing.
(04:44):
It just, it calms you.
It feels great.
It resets your endocrine system, resets your body completely.
Likes it.
I've heard of all the benefits and I want to get into it.
Once you're into it and you've been doing it for a while, you crave it.
So you're on the road right now.
What did you need to bring with you in order to make this little brick walled, gray curtain
(05:08):
studio scenario with ancient vintage lamps?
What did you need to bring with you in order to make it your own and feel nested?
Oh, God.
How much time do you have?
Well, first of all, I don't know.
Do you do road boxes?
I have road boxes.
Absolutely.
I have three, like I've got it down to like three medium sized road boxes.
(05:29):
Most of it is kitchen stuff and some cleaning supplies for the bathroom.
But most of it is kitchen stuff, spices, a sharp knife.
There's got to be a sharp knife.
I have different departments.
So I have three boxes there each.
I want to say they're 20 by 20 by 20, but I know I can't remember.
They're the large size.
All of that stuff gets stored at my house as is, except for one extra box, which is
(05:54):
called Christmas Essentials, which is I have right now because I came here right before
Christmas.
I can see the little red and green blurry in the background.
That's the singing Christmas hat.
That's a must.
And then I've got over there is my Aunt Winnie's light up tabletop Christmas tree from Santa
Fe that she decorated with little pine cones and stuff.
(06:16):
It's so cute.
Oh, my God.
Like that.
And then I brought Christmas cards to send, which I did not send.
Right, because you hate us.
And is that a gay pride flag that's stuck on your dresser over there?
Oh, yeah.
Yes, that is.
Did you bring that with you or did they just award that to you when you walked into town?
Because it was in.
I found it in my suitcase, actually.
(06:37):
It must have been from.
Oh, I know it was there from it was there.
It was in my suitcase, which was I hadn't used since the last regional theater job
that's past summer at Bucks County.
I always get flowers.
I always get a plant.
These are things I have to get.
They make me especially a plant.
They make me happy.
(06:57):
I put fruit in a bowl.
I can look at it and think about eating it.
I've got to have a bowl that has fruit.
There's never a OK.
So never actor housing around the country never has a bowl big enough to put fruit into.
So I have I have a little nest of large plastic bowls also for mixing.
(07:18):
If you happen to decide that you want to bake cookies for the cast or something like there's
never a bowl big enough in actor housing.
So here are some of the things I bring in my road box.
I bring a container full of all the desk supplies.
It's everything.
It's every all the things I use.
It's my post-its, pens, envelopes, stamps, you know, a stapler, staple, a staple, a mini
(07:43):
stapler, stapler, all those little those little those little lifesaver things that you stick
into your binder when the pages tear and you get a little.
Well, actually, I don't think I have those.
But they have them at the they did.
They always have them.
The stage manager always has those.
So I like that.
You know, the number one reason all of this happens is because I've learned over 44 years,
(08:08):
motherfuckers, that.
Wait, let me see how many years it is for me.
Just counting the crow's feet.
Just cut off an arm and count the rings.
No matter how well stocked the company management thinks an apartment is,
there's going to be things they don't have.
(08:29):
Their idea of a good well stocked kitchen to cook in is really different than mine,
namely because they're usually much younger than I am.
Those people often they're in their 20s.
One thing that I've consistently noticed is I always have to bring a sharp knife with me
because it's never a sharp knife to cut to chop.
(08:49):
See, you know what I'm talking about.
I have a set of sharp knives and I also have cutting knives.
A decent frying pan, one that's preferably nonstick.
So I actually have a small and a medium sized nonstick frying pan in my road boxes.
I have two.
I have a not I just I just redid them on this trip.
I went to Target and I got two new ones because my old ones were worn out.
(09:12):
I have a whisk.
I have a greater, you know.
Yeah, all of that stuff because they might have it, but they might not.
And they often don't.
And I want to I want to cook.
I want to do my thing.
I have an electric kettle.
I have I used to have a one of those super powerful blender thingies.
(09:33):
I often have a breakfast smoothie, but I have like the well,
mine was a ninja is that what it's called?
Like the bullet.
It's like a bullet.
A bullet.
That's what I was thinking.
I had that.
Yeah.
So we should explain to people who are unfamiliar that under an equity contract,
the theater has to ship 300 pounds 300 pounds of has to ship back and forwards.
(09:56):
No, it's more coming back.
But it's like 500 pounds coming back in case you acquire a pet or a child.
In case you adopt a person.
You never know what you're going to find.
I've started up a relationship.
Will you please ship him home?
Thank you.
(10:16):
Oh, I bring my own set of sheets just in case I bring.
It depends.
I'll ask.
I'll say what size is the bed.
I bring my own pillow, a pillow I like.
I bring my own set of towels.
I bring my own set of towels, face towels and hand towels because they never have.
They never have.
They can they have one washcloth.
Sometimes they can sometimes tell their own story.
(10:38):
The towels.
They they certainly can.
Yes, exactly.
If you laid them all out and shine a black light, you'll have a Jackson Pollock painting.
Whenever you were in a place where the interns cleaned the housing,
I'd be like, interns can't clean themselves.
Why would you have them go and clean apartments?
And I have been known to many times get on my hands and knees with cleaning products
(11:03):
and scrub it, just get it clean.
I'm going to do it.
I don't mind.
I'll do it.
I did that in my in in a housing I had last year.
I walked in.
I was like, I need to clean this bathroom before I do anything else.
Yeah, that's why I won't share a bathroom because that's the deal breaker for me
because I've shared a bathroom with people who were younger than actually didn't matter
(11:26):
about the age, but I've shared a bathroom occasionally and once or twice had to deal
with people like leaving gallons of water all over the floor in the place or like,
you know, dental floss remains on the mirror or or DNA around the toilet.
So you don't want to know.
The DNA is the DNA is the deal breaker.
(11:48):
On on national tours where sometimes you were in a hotel and you're not in an accommodation
with our cooking facilities, I learned that I have to oftentimes request a mini fridge
and a microwave from the hotel because not all hotel rooms have a mini fridge and a microwave
and I have to request that.
So what's what's your hotel room setup scenario?
(12:11):
So I need protein.
So I'll always be able to have a thank you rotisserie chickens United.
Oh, God bless rotisserie chickens.
I love my rotisserie chicken.
I'll always have one of those in the fridge.
I have a friend.
You've got something growing on your left shoulder.
I think you should see a doctor about that.
(12:33):
Now, see, that's an interesting thing.
Some people, when they travel on the road, they bring their pets.
When I toured with Peter Pan, a couple of people brought their dogs and they drove the tour.
They weren't allowed to.
They couldn't manage it in those days.
And I think actually they've tightened those regulations now again so that you can't just
call any pet a, you know, a service animal.
(12:56):
If it's a service animal, that's one thing.
But emotional needs pets, people were doing that.
Emotional support.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
That's a whole thing with pets.
That's a whole thing we should really talk about.
It's like there is it is a real trauma to leave your pet behind if you don't have a partner.
It's like, what am I going to do?
How am I going to do it?
Who's going to take care of it?
Can I trust them?
Do they have pets for him to play with?
How many times should I come home to check on him?
(13:18):
You know, I don't want him to lose me in his mind.
You know, I don't all that stuff.
The road boxes thing, just to wrap up the road boxes thing.
I'm so grateful that I am able to bring them.
I'm grateful that that's part of our contract because
Whoever came up with that requirement, props to that person.
I'll say.
Congrats to you, Lady Road Box, for putting that in our contracts.
(13:41):
We support your choices.
All my colleagues are always astounded and also impressed.
Why doesn't everybody do it?
Why doesn't everybody do it?
They do not know.
That's the truth.
They don't know that they can.
I am not going to.
I am not buying spices and cleaning supplies in every city that I go to.
I'm not doing it.
That's what it boils down to.
(14:02):
That's tough.
It boils down to I don't want to keep buying it.
Here's the things I don't bring.
I don't bring cleaning supplies because I know I can get those from company management.
I don't bring.
I do bring laundry supplies because I like my detergent and my things.
So I bring the pods and the.
Oh, here's something I bring.
Real light bulbs.
Really?
I bring real light bulbs in a little box that they're there
(14:23):
because I don't like halogen bulbs.
Oh, you mean like LED ones?
They have to be the right color temperature.
If they're that like they have to be under 3000 Kelvins.
These ones that you can see in the background, they've approved them.
Warm.
Yeah, they're a nice warm light.
I don't like hospital lighting.
(14:44):
I don't like surgical lighting.
No, the fluorescent.
That's the whole all halogen bulbs used to be.
And when I would turn them on, I would be like,
ugh, immediately replace them with real bulbs.
And boy, what a difference it makes.
People would come over.
Another thing, trick I learned, I learned this from Howard McGill,
a guy that I toured with Howard McGill and the wonderful Howard McGill.
(15:05):
Colored scarves or like scarves with pattern on and you cut a hole.
You cut a hole at the top and you lay them over the lampshades.
And suddenly you're in a you're in a Kazba club.
That is some 70s hippie shit right there.
We also know from our tribe.
You call around, you get on social media, you're like,
has anybody ever worked at this theater?
(15:26):
Absolutely.
What should I expect?
Use what should I expect?
Use your network.
Yeah.
And that's far more powerful now.
When I was at Goodspeed doing Druud last year,
I had a bunch of friends who were going up to do Maggie later on in the season.
They were like, OK, tell me what do I expect?
Where's the gym?
How do we like how does that all work?
(15:47):
Like, what's the car situation?
Yeah.
And for all that I love Goodspeed, their car situation is notably terrible.
So be warned about that.
Right.
That's true.
I'll never work there again.
And it's a great place and their housing is spectacular.
The housing is great.
Yeah.
I mean, that's a good example of like wonderful housing.
(16:08):
And that was a place where I was in a gosh, how many one, two, three, four, five bedroom house.
With five bathrooms.
With I had a great group of people.
I love the people I lived with.
You know, it was a great situation.
Doesn't always work like that.
This situation at Goodspeed.
Well, we should we should rate people.
(16:29):
We should mention Goodspeed is so wealthy.
They built they took the property next to they own a bunch of property all over that tiny little
town and they built a whole enclave.
Their own little village.
One of the things that I learned from touring doing national tours
because I've done three now and I haven't implemented this yet, but I intend to on my next one
(16:51):
is, yes, the company manager will organize a company flight for everybody to travel from
one city to the next.
What I discovered was that the smartest folks are taking the buyout from that flight and
booking their own flights from city to city.
They're using the same airline.
They are using their money.
(17:12):
So it means that they're the ones getting all the credit and all the points
on that airline.
And by the end of tour, they're triple platinum diamond medallion members of that airline.
That's smart.
They get all of the perks and all.
And you can also you can also apply for that credit card of that airline and get
(17:34):
further discounts on the flights.
Oh, and use that if you use that credit card for all your business expenses and that credit card
only, it pays off at the end of the year when tax time comes and all those deductions have
to be itemized.
You've got all those expenses in one print it out.
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Another thing that I found incredibly useful on national tour is having a principal who is a
(17:59):
leader of a company like having somebody to actually be a leader of the company is incredibly
important for morale and making sure that everybody feels included because we're all in
the same kind of awesome kind of stinky boat, which is you're away from your support systems.
You are away from your family and friends.
(18:19):
You're away from your home.
You're away from your bed, from your pillow.
Do you know what I mean?
Like all of those things that stabilize you are are taken away from you.
And so to have a person in the company who's prepared to step up and make sure that everybody
feels included to make sure that everybody feels like, oh, we have a leader.
We have someone we can look up to.
Incredibly important.
(18:40):
I've had that.
Yeah, I mean, in my case, I'm not away from my pillow because it's in my road box.
But you.
Truth.
I mean, it's like Felix's magic bag.
Just everything comes out of that thing.
Whatever you need.
What do you need?
I got it.
It's in here.
The youngins are always just like their mouths are dry.
It's like I'm Harry Potter or something.
I remember my friend Sal, who was one of my mentors and still is even though he's no longer
(19:06):
with us, you know, because I'm just always, always utilizing all the things that I learned
from him about what it's like to be on the road and and working with other people.
And he said when he was touring with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn on the national
tour of Sweeney Todd, when they got to.
(19:27):
I don't remember what city was actually.
I think it was San Francisco.
Now that I stop and think about it and that the organization, theater organization said,
we want to give you a big gala and we're going to do it with all our donors.
It's going to be a big thing.
And we, we're, you know, all these charities are involved in everything.
She said, wonderful.
And they said, and she said, well, but the rest of the cast is invited, right?
(19:50):
And they said, oh, well, no, it's just going to be you and George.
She said, oh, no, I won't be able to do it unless you invite the rest of the cast.
I wouldn't want to leave them.
Yeah.
And then they did.
That's so important.
They all got to be part of this wonderful event.
And it was all her and that's was the way she was throughout the tour.
What it's like to be sort of the older wiser one in the cast.
(20:14):
When you hit a certain age and you're looked at, let's say you're perceived as pay attention to
this guy, you want to learn how to build a joke.
You want to learn how to, you know, timing, you want to, you know, whatever, or what, or even
you want to know what the rule, what the etiquette is or watch him, watch this guy and pay attention.
Have you noticed that?
So I have been on a bit of a journey with this.
(20:36):
Yes, I am comfortable with it now, but I remember being on tour.
Uh, gosh, was that 10 years ago now?
I was middle-aged and the rest of the ensemble was not, they were a younger generation, but I
walked into that thinking, oh, we're all going on tour together.
We're all going to be, you know, going out together and having fun together and doing adventures
(21:00):
together.
And that was not the case because my brain hadn't done the math that I was now of a different
generation and therefore was not going to be necessarily included on all the trips to the
bars and the clubs and the adventures and whatever it was.
And so that was a real adjustment for me on that tour.
(21:22):
That was a bit of a drag, but it was just a, now I'm fine with it because, you know, now my, my
brain has caught up with my age and now says, I don't want to be doing all that shit.
You're, you're such a, uh, youthful person in spirit and, and, and physically and literally
(21:43):
you're very youthful person if I squint.
But then I've got, I don't know about you, but I've got chicken fat all over my lens.
Vaseline, omelette.
And then a piece of Kleenex.
Wait, if I take my glasses off, you look terrific.
(22:03):
I'm looking at you through parchment paper right now.
It's fantastic.
So much better than when we're in the same room.
I think for one thing, A, you don't, nobody hits middle-aged without middle-aged hitting
them back.
The other thing is there's all kinds of like lessons in big giant quotes.
I am so grateful for all the things I've learned over the, over these many years about what
(22:26):
to bring, how to prepare, what to do.
And the, the, you know, the mentorship meant, you know, intentional or not of people like
the people who have headed up cast that I've been in or my personal mentors, like my friend
Sal, who I mentioned, you know, who taught me how to be in a group of people when you're
sharing a house like out at fire Island, you know, and I'm going to take it even further.
(22:50):
I, I think it would be a sad day if I ever showed up today, one of rehearsal and thought,
oh, I don't have anything to learn from these people.
Do you know what I mean?
I feel like I'm always still learning from whether they're my age, younger or older.
I know that there's, I'm going to learn something from those people, from that group of people.
And I have to keep my curiosity open and available to learn it.
(23:12):
I think it'll be a sad day if I ever walked into a room and thought, oh no, this'll be,
this'll be what it is.
I don't have anything to learn from these people.
Amen, brother.
That's why you're you.
That's why you're my people because you're young and, and buoyant because you have it,
that there's always something to learn that you're a student of life that you don't have it.
(23:33):
That, well, I know everything now I'm supposed to know everything.
So now I'm no longer a learner.
I think the moment we stop, um, our, our context goes from, I I'm here to learn over to I'm here
to know that's when the day we start aging.
Absolutely.
I feel like I've aged just listening to this conversation.
(23:56):
Oh, I've aged years.
If you liked this video and this podcast, like and subscribe and hit the thing.
And press the thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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