monologues

"I have a lot of little people in my head," says Glenn Alterman. And, gentleman that he is, he lets them out to run around, allowing each one a moment in the spotlight.

A MONOLOGUE IS "A GOOD STORY… THAT TELLS YOU SOMETHING ENLIGHTENING ABOUT BEING HUMAN." — MONOLOGIST, PLAYWRIGHT, ACTING COACH GLENN ALTERMAN

As a playwright and monologist, he writes these people into being.

It's a long but satisfying journey; they crawl out of his head, through his fingertips onto the keyboard, onto the printed page, then into an actor's head and body.

Mr. Alterman estimates he's written at least 500 or 600 monologues.

"One's about a man walking down Times Square," he says. "His chest opens up and a wooden bridge comes out of it."

It's been optioned to become a small movie.

He also wrote a monologue about a man sitting in a subway on a hot day. It's so hot, his face begins to melt.

Then there's the one about the man who had a face-to-face talk with Jesus.

"Hallucinogenic" is the word Mr. Alterman uses to describe his monologues. (Think Rod Sterling on acid, or Ray Bradbury or Gabriel Garcia Marquez writing for the stage.)

The local cast of "The Long Weekend."

Then there's "The Little Man," a monologue about a married woman who falls in love with the man next door — who happens to be 2 inches tall. Fort Myers actress and public relations maven Bonnie Grossmann performed it at last year's Write to Act benefit for Theatre Conspiracy.

The monologue was so richly received, and the benefit so successful, that Write to Act has come up with a new program this year based largely on works by Mr. Alterman.

"The Long Weekend" will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18 at Theatre Conspiracy. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds go toward the theater. The evening consists of a number of monologues and scenes written by Mr. Alterman, as well as a few originals by members of Write to Act.

Taking their chances

Write to Act is a group of business and theater professionals assembled by Ms. Grossmann to explore writing and acting for the theater. In addition to Ms. Grossmann, the founder, the group consists of John Bartis, Bryan Chaikin, Robert Hilliard, Max Jacobs, Kevin Pierce, Amy Tardif and Marsha Wagner. They meet every Thursday evening to read and discuss one another's original works.

 

"We read it… discuss it, talk about the performances, how we came across," Ms. Grossmann says. "We grow as actors. They then rewrite the pieces, and get to grow along with the material.

"People who write get a lot out of hearing others read their words."

Ms. Grossmann and Mr. Alterman are longtime friends; the two were acting partners in a class in New York City a while back and kept in touch.

Last year, when Ms. Grossmann needed a monologue for the benefit, she contacted Mr. Alterman and wound up using his piece about a woman's unexpected romance with a 2-inch tall man. When she started thinking about this year's benefit, she contacted Mr. Alterman again. She sent him biographies and headshots of the Write to Act members, and based on that information,

John Bartis (director)

he sent back 40 monologues from which to choose.

In addition to off-Broadway, TV and film experience, Ms. Grossmann also has casting expertise. (Among others, she gave Erik Estrada his first acting job.) The Write to Act group read various monologues, with different people trying on different ones for size, until they landed upon their current line-up.

Mr. Alterman suggested they have something to hold the monologues and scenes together, so Ms. Grossmann came up with the theme "The Long Weekend."

"The action takes place from a Friday morning through Sunday morning," she explains. "We find (the characters) in different places doing different things at different times… They're unique individuals. It's very surprising when they reveal themselves.

"They're madcap and take chances. There's a kernel of truth and revelation in each of these monologues. In each of these characters, there are real surprises."

Mr. Alterman's monologues, she says, "took people out of the safe place, so people are going to take chances.

Bryan Chaikin

"The members of the group are thrilled and delighted, and all allowed themselves to open up to the material. The material allows them to be brave and have a great deal of fun. When something is so well-written and openended, you put your own personality to it."

One man's story

 

Mr. Alterman, who lives in New York City, is a much sought-after acting coach who helps his students perform monologues and prepare for auditions. He's written 16 books (his 17th, "Auditioning With Glenn Alterman," is about to be published) as well as numerous monologues and plays.

A monologue, he says, is "a good story with a beginning, middle and end, with as many colors as possible — emotional colors. It tells you something enlightening about being human.

"Each monologue is its own person… You're creating, for those two minutes, three minutes, 10 minutes, a real person.

Mr. Alterman's monologues are all active, in the present tense, "like right now," he says. "I don't write monologues that are past tense… It's very in-the-moment." In contrast, he says, parents who read bedtime stories to their children are doing monologues in the past tense: "Once upon a time."

Bonnie Griffin Grossmann (founder)

But with a monologue, he says, "The idea is you don't want to put people to sleep. You have something that's active and present and emotionally engaging."

The monologist/playwright/acting coach discovered his talent for those things while he was working as an actor. It was a fluke, he says. "I was an actor looking for a monologue, and one day, out of frustration, I wrote my own."

Although he'd never done it before, he discovered he had a real gift for writing. It's a story echoed by many other actors who couldn't find the type of material they wanted, who wanted fresh material and monologues that reflected who they are. Monologists such as Danny Hoch and the late Spalding Gray wound up creating their idiosyncratic material that way.

"Most monologists begin that process out of a sense of frustration, not finding material out there that really speaks to them, so they speak for themselves, whatever their issues are," Mr. Alterman says. "Danny Hoch is more urban, Dael Orlandersmith, a black woman, deals with a lot of the issues she had growing up. Spalding Gray was very cerebral and introspective; he worked a lot of things out in his shows."

Robert Hilliard

Charlayne Woodard, he adds, would go to dinner parties and tell stories. Depending upon the reactions she received, she'd include or subtract those stories from her shows.

"Spalding would literally go out on stage and have nothing. He'd have an idea, and just start talking. And depending upon the audience reaction, he developed his pieces. The audience loved to be there in the beginning, seeing ideas turning into the piece; they were there at beginning of the process."

As for Mr. Alterman, "I've written nine books of original monologues, (creating) 500 or 600 people."

After he created his first monologue for himself, other actors in his classes asked him to write monologues for them. In the first year, he created almost 80 monologues.

He's written a book of 101 one-minute monologues, but also writes longer pieces, such as "The Sealing of Ceil," a one act, 20-minute play that won the Arts and Letters Award in Drama. (Ms. Grossmann does a scene from that in "The Long Weekend.")

 

Max Jacobs

Mr. Alterman's 10-minute play "Coulda Woulda-Shoulda" won the Three Genres Playwriting Competition and is included in the textbook "The Three Genres — The Writing of Poetry, Fiction and Drama." He's quite proud that his play is used as an example of a 10-minute play, alongside a play of Edward Albee and one by William Saroyan.

Not all his monologues are absurd. He's also written "issue monologues" about Iraq, abortion, gay rights. "It just comes from wherever it comes now," he says. "I just love writing them. They're such therapy.

"Whatever craziness is going on (inside us), if we could all do it, wouldn't it be wonderful? Channel it through a character. It's amazing how much you resolve."

If you go

 

>>What: "The Long Weekend," a Write to Act fundraiser for Theatre Conspiracy >>When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18 >>Where: Theatre Conspiracy 2711 Park Windsor Drive, #302, Fort Myers >>Cost: $10 >>Information: 936-3239

Kevin Pierce

The Cast

 

John Bartis (director) John Bartis is a professor of voice and drama. He

performed as an actor and singer on Broadway for 15 years. He appeared in "Inside U.S.A" with Beatrice Lillie, as well as in "Miss Liberty," "Call Me Madam,"

"Hazel Flagg," "Dig We

Must," "Shoestring 57," "I Feel Wonderful," and more. His former pupils include Ruth Buzzi, Calvin Lockhart, Julie Newmar and James Farentino.

Bryan Chaikin Bryan Chaikin is the principal multimedia designer for D of G Design & Advertising in Fort Myers. He acted in two shows in college and wrote "Family of Substance," produced at the Pittsburgh City Theatre.

He's published in "The Three Rivers Review," "Born Magazine," "Independent Mind" and "Si Senor."

Bonnie Griffin Grossmann (founder) Bonnie Grossmann is a graduate of the American Musical

Amy Tardiff

& Dramatic Academy, studying under Sanford Meisner, Lehman Engel and Hanya Holm. She's appeared off-Broadway and on TV and film with actors such as Sam Waterston and Woody Allen. She heads Clarity in Marketing, a Fort Myers-based marketing company.

Robert Hilliard In the '40s and '50s Robert Hilliard received several playwriting awards, was a member of Actors Equity Association, was a New York drama critic, and wrote, produced, directed and performed in theater, radio and early television.

He then became a journalism professor and did a stint as chief of public broadcasting at the Federal Communications Commission.

Max Jacobs Max Jacobs has performed on Broadway in "The Zulu and the Zayda" with Louis Gossett and in 13 Off-Broadway productions for organizations such as the Pearl Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music (Next Wave Festival) and Theatre for New Audiences. He's participated in 76 productions at 24 theaters. He's also served as chairman of the board for the Cincinnati Royals Professional Basketball Club Co. and member of the Board of Governors, National Basketball Association.

Kevin Pierce Kevin Pierce is a voiceover actor based in Fort Myers, whose corporate clients include DuPont, Mobil and Chevrolet. He hosts and produces "The Florida Environment" radio program heard statewide on public radio stations and hosts a program about Florida Gulf Coast University on WGCU-TV. He's appeared in readings with The Company, Theatre Conspiracy and the Pirate Playhouse.

Amy Tardiff Amy Tarfiff is the station manager and news director for WGCU-FM public radio and spent the past 14 years as Southwest Florida's host of NPR's "Morning Edition." An award-winning jouralist, Ms. Tardiff received an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television News Directors Association. She's performed in local shows with the Cape Coral Cultural Park Theatre and the Off Beach Players.