Feature
by Mavis Manus
Mark Travis is the most unusual theatre director in Los Angeles. It's not
simply that he has mounted some of the most highly regarded productions
in recent years ("Equus," "The Coming of Stork," "Wings"),
or that he has also directed tv and films, or that he has lectured and given
workshops on directing, or even that he as written a book on the subject.
What makes Travis unique is the singular contribution he has made to the
development of a new theatrical art form, that of the solo autobiographical
show.
It was Travis who collaborated with Paul Linke a decade ago in "Time
Flies When You're Alive," which not only turned performance art inside
out but moved audiences so powerfully that the show became a national and
international hit. What was remarkable about the piece was the way it attacked
the ultra-sensitive issue of cancer and death. Linke, an actor known heretofore
only for his role in a silly but successful tv series, came forward and
talked about his wife's doomed struggle with breast cancer in such a subjective,
revealing way that audiences were taken to a new level of emotional connection
and empathy. At the same time, the monologue was spoken and staged so brilliantly
that it came off as compelling theatre as well.
Travis, who
worked with Linke for two years in developing "Time Flies,"
followed up with such other outstanding one-man shows as "No Place
Like Home" and "A Bronx Tale," prompting the L.A. Times
to credit him with having "carved a mini-genre staging one-man, real-life
theatre pieces."
"A Bronx Tale" went on to achieve the biggest success of any
of Travis' projects, making the transition from 10-minute workshop speech
by actor Chazz Palminteri to Equity-waiver production as a full-length
play to Hollywood feature starring the same actor. Ironically, Travis,
who spent several years working with Palminteri on "A Bronx Tale,"
was aced out by the latter when he sold his story to Hollywood. Travis
not only was not invited to direct the film (as per their original agreement),
but was denied both credit and money.
The case is now in the courts and Travis declined to comment further during
the course of our interview, except to say that the thing he feels saddest
about is that "a great collaboration between me and Chazz was ruined.
We had an understanding and a camaraderie that was terrific, and a lot
of other work could have come out of it. But with the success of 'A Bronx
Tale,' Chazz opted to break with those who helped him develop it. This
spoiled his relations with many people who had been supportive of him."
Travis' book,
"The Director's Journey" (to be published in February '97 by
Michael Wiese Productions; $26.95; 800-833-5738), focuses on the all-important
area of creative collaboration. It came out of a lecture Travis was asked
to give two years ago at the Showbiz Expo on how to direct actors in a
film. "I was hired because of my background in theatre," explained
Travis. "I delivered a marathon lecture which was aimed at working
film directors who know everything--from camera angles to editing to budgeting--except
how to get performances out of actors. It was exhausting and when I was
done, I thought, whew, thank God I'll never have to do that again, but
then an offer to do a book came out of it. I ended up putting every bit
of my spare time into the writing, a two-year labor of love."
The book starts with the three key people involved in any theatrical or
film project: the writer, director and actors. "They have to agree
on how the story is to be told; everyone else--lights, camera, costumes,
whatever--is there to serve the process. The director's vision comes out
of the script; it shouldn't be imposed on it. His only job--it's relatively
easy, too-- is just to talk. The tool is communication. Every discipline
involved in a film has its own language; the director needs to be able
to communicate with each of them," Travis stated.
"What I also do is teach how to make the crew a performing crew.
On one film I consulted on, I showed the director how to give the crew
acting exercises and theatre games. They all rose to the occasion. It
was a million-dollar movie on a 20-day schedule, with very complicated
things to do. Yet everyone worked with dedication and the film was brought
in on time and went on to be successful," he recalled proudly.
Travis teaches
these skills to film directors in an ongoing series of workshops sponsored
by the Directors Guild of America. "I have a pool of 150-200 actors
who volunteer for these workshops," he said. "I demonstrate
my techniques with them for the edification of the film directors in the
audience. It's just basic stuff like how to approach the rehearsal process,
how to break down the script and so on. After one workshop, I had a young
director come up to me and say, 'I spent a hundred thousand dollars to
go to film school at USC, but nobody ever showed me what I've learned
here--which is how to tell a story."
Travis' main energies at his "Travis Group Training Center"
(a full acting school) are concentrated on his Solo Workshop. "I
love this class because I love to work on new things, things that haven't
been done before. It's a challenge to take someone who doesn't think he
or she has a story to tell, and to find that story with the person. I've
yet to find someone who didn't have a story to tell. That doesn't mean
they can always write it or that it will always be successful, but the
material that comes out of these people is mind-boggling.
"Another part of it is that I find the autobiographical storytelling
process fascinating. I'm not interested in the ordinary one-person show
where an actor impersonates a famous character. What turns me on is storytelling
theatre, theatre that takes me inside someone and dramatizes the experiences
and events they've gone through. The only other equivalent is the novel,
where you can get deeply inside a character. It's not so much what the
story is, but what the individual feels while going through the action
that moves you.
"Also,
on the commercial level, I find there is a huge appetite for this kind
of thing," Travis commented. " 'Bronx Tale' bcame a feature
and 'Time Flies' has just been sold to HBO, for example."
Travis himself has signed with PBS to do a six-hour tv series featuring
actors from his solo workshop. "Each hour will have a theme,"
he stated, "such as 'Losing It' (your virginity, that is) or 'Scenes
From a Marriage,' or 'Death and Dying.' Four or five performers will be
highlighted, each doing short monologues of varying lengths. There's an
educational potential in this too. I can see a teacher somewhere using
these tapes as a vehicle to open up conversations with her students. The
bottom line is that it's ok to talk about these personal things, it's
ok to be honest and open with each other."
Theatre people in New York and Europe have asked Travis to come and demonstrate
his system, but he feels it might not prove to be successful. "I
can't go in for a short time and demonstrate all this, it just doesn't
work. I've also tried to train people, so that they can carry the message
elsehwere, but that doesn't work either. You have to have a certain personality
to work with an actor on an autobiographical piece, to keep asking them
to dig deep into themselves, share everything with you. It becomes like
a little marriage. Hell, I often spend more time with a student than I
do with my own wife!"
Travis is still interested in directing full-cast plays in future, but
there's no question that the kind of theatre closest to his heart is the
one which offers a solo peformer baring his or her heart in the most intimate
and personal way imaginable.
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