My phone buzzed with an unknown number as I walked south on 19th Street. I knew who it was as soon as I heard the voice reminiscent of Martin Short’s, asking me, “So, do you want to become an actor?”
It was May then, but it all started three weeks prior in April. As it rained, I had a glass of red wine. The Philly Writers Collective was meeting at Solar Myth in South Philly and chatting at our usual table.
At some turn in the conversation, I say, “I want to find new ways to improve my writing.”
My friend Jonah, who is full of the best ideas, says, “Have you ever done an acting class?”
One more sip of wine and a Google search later, I’m browsing Reddit.
Reddit has a consensus: if you’re in Philly looking for acting classes, you have to go to Playhouse West.
Then, I’m in a dark theater at the far East edge of Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood, still sweating from the day outside, watching amateur actors perform brief skits on stage.
When one skit finished, a man in a grey suit and with a voice like Martin Short’s calls out a critique from behind a large desk in the pit of the auditorium to the participants on stage, “Have you ever played tennis in your life?”
“Well, no, but…” says the actor on stage. He drops his arm and looks down at the racket, still using wrong form to grip it.
“I know,” the man in the suit says, crossing his leg, folding his arms over his chest, and leaning back. “Because if you had, you’d know tennis players do not prepare for a match by bouncing their ball on their racket in their living room…”
The man on stage nods and leans towards the man in the suit.
“I don’t understand jealousy,” the man in the suit keeps talking. “I don’t feel that in life. I don’t understand characters that do that. And so I don’t play jealous characters. You don’t understand tennis players. Reflect on why you chose to play a tennis player.”
It continues like this for three hours. The actors range in age from early twenties to late fifties, and every single one leans in and licks up every word this man speaks.
On the way home, I look him up.
The internet says he’s Tony Savant and started Playhouse West in Philly in 2012 after a long successful career teaching at Playhouse West in LA with Jeff Goldblum and Robert Carnegie. And as it turns out, Tony Savant and Playhouse West taught James Franco, Ashley Judd, and many more.
So I can’t help but think, What is Tony doing in this theater off of North Broad Street?
Tony calls me two days later as I’m walking south on 19th Street, and in his firm, confident, and passionate voice, he asks, “So, do you want to become an actor?”
But I say, “No, I don’t want to become an actor. I am a writer. And I would love to profile you for my Substack, Gotta Start Somewhere…”
Continued in part II.
Such a cliff hanger! Better be a video of you doing a skit coming up!