I have decided to start a monthly post called “Artist Spotlight”. I will be interviewing people in the theatre business- everyone from actors to crew members to office workers. Theatre is so much more than just what we see on stage, and I want to give some insight to what else is going on to create the play you watch.
My first spotlight is actor and educator, Tom Teti. My history with Tom goes way back…I have known him for about 25 years. We first really met when I was nine and playing the Ghost of Christmas Past to Tom’s Scrooge at Hedgerow Theatre. He has been a part of my life at both Hedgerow and People’s Light. I have also had him as a theatre teacher.
Tom wears many hats, and is excellent with each one. Here’s some insight to the man himself!
What performance changed your life?
This is hard, because I don’t really get attached to them in this way. Lenny changed things because I was known after that. Sweeney Todd because it was my first musical.
What is the earliest dream role you can remember having? Did you ever get to play it?
Hamlet. And No.
Tell us about your funniest on stage mishap.
Hedgerow, very early on. I was only 24, playing van Helsing in Dracula. Dolores Tanner had me do an older man. Beard, Durch, white hair. Used Skuff Coat shoe polish. Was still teaching school, so I was hurrying one Friday, got to the theater and put on the makeup. But I ran out of shoe polish and didn’t have enough for the top of my head. I used some white clown face makeup, and decided to sprinkle some talcum powder in my hair to be sure. In a scene where I was supposed to chastise myself not being smart, I did something I’d never done before, and slapped my palm up against my forehead. A mushroom atom bomb cloud went up in the air. The audience howled with laughter. I tried to shout them down with my next line: “I should have foreseen that!” They howled some more, even louder. The actor playing Seward who was listening to me, George Karras, waited until the laughter died down and then delivered his line: “Don’t blame yourself.” They howled even more and the show was a comedy that night.
As someone who has taught theatre, what is something you have learned from students?
Interesting. I learned from students that it is sometimes easier to ask them to do something that I don’t really know that much myself. They improve things I did, they were better than me. And that meant that the point of me teaching was really to point out WHEN I thought they were engaged as actors. I learned how to be a good watcher.
What is the biggest role theatre will ever play in your life?
A coalescence of many factors that are indicative of my life preferences:
Non-sedentary,
Project oriented,
Team work,
Investigative,
Change of people,
Conducting the attentions of witnesses, a kind of ministry,
Tapping into the greater emotions,
Irregular schedules,
New topics, learning, research,
Sharing.
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There’s a lot to be said about someone who has such a long history in many aspects of theatre. Tom has seen and done it all. Of course, it’s a shame he never got to play Hamlet!
Stay tuned for our next artist spotlight next month!
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