The Roundtable Fall of '99: My First Independent Film

I actually started filming this in the middle of my run for Puss in Boots. It was September 1999. Puss In Boots had just opened and Debbie Phelps, my manager, had called me to tell me about this independent film called "The Roundtable". It was produced by Alpha Productions out in New Jersey. I asked her alot of questions about the film because I made it very clear that I wouldn't do any films that had profanity, sex, drugs or violence which basically covered most films. She assured me it didn't. So I trusted her. I went to the audition in New Jersey. When I got there I met the director Paul McDaniel and the assistant director Avril Speaks. They asked me to do a monologue. I did a monologue from "The Amen Corner" where my charecter is telling his mother that he has to leave her and go out in the world to make his own way and pursue music. At the end of the monologue he tells her "you have to let me go!" I loved this monologue because it related to me so well. Anyway, about two days later Debbie called to tell me they wanted to cast me in the lead for the film! I had curbed enthusiasm because I still hadn't read the whole script. I needed to be sure it was not an improper film for me to do. They emailed me the script and it was very clean like Debbie assured me. The film was about my charecter, James "Lucky" Sanderson, who was a star basket player at his highschool. Then there was a robbery and murder of a store owner and my charecter was framed by crooked police. The film's primary message was about coruption in the police department. I liked the message and the charecter and couldn't wait to start filming. The producers were hoping to get the film a theatrical release. That never happened. You can buy it online though I believe. If you go to www.netflix.com and type in the search bar The Round Table you will find the movie and a summary. The actor on the cover is not me but it's supposed to be my charecter Lucky. I was intrigued by the film making process. First of all we shot all the last scenes first. So in one day you could be filming the last scene and then filming the first scene the next day. I thought that would throw me off as an actor. Not being able to carry over the emotion from one scene to another. But it didn't. One day I was on my way to set. We had a night shoot and I was leaving school. I had to take the subway to 8th and Market street. I bought my ticket to get on the PATCO train to Lindenwood NJ where the shoot was going to be. I put my ticket in the machine and it was supposed to come back out so I could get on the train. For some reason it didn't and my train was coming! I paid for my ticket so I jumped the bar and jumped on the train. The next thing I knew I heard the bell on the train ringing and heard a bunch of people running towards the train! It was two police officers! They cuffed me and arrested me and took me to the back office in the subway. I didn't even know they had one of those. I tried explaining to the cops that I paid for my ticket and it wasn't a theft of services. But they weren't buying it. I wasn't officially arrested but I was fined and given a court date. I never paid the fine though. I did show up for the court date a few months later. The irony was when I finally did get to the set we shot the scene when I was falsely arrested for a crime I didn't do! A week before we shot the last scene I went to New York to audition for Theatre Works USA. They are the largest national touring theatre in the USA for young audiences! I was very excited and confident about this audition! I knew I was going to get cast in one of their tours!

Raising the bar: 1999-2000

It's the fall of 99. I had just returned from the Tom Sawyer tour that spring. I worked for Conflict Resolution Theatre that summer with the Department of Recreation. It was run by Judy Nelson who I worked with me at Peace Theatre. They had creative differences and she left them and started her own troupe call Conflict Resolution Theatre funded by the Department of Recreation. So I left Peace Thatre too out of support for her. Peace Theatre actually offered me more money. Anyway, that fall I re-enrolled back in Communtity College. I set a goal for myself for the upcoming theatre season: Top my accomplishments from last year! When I took the year off from college I set very high expectations for myself. I then went out and accomplished more than I even anticipated! I had done two national tours! I never expected that! I felt like I proved my point. That I am a signicant talent who could hold his own and even stand out from my counterparts. So I raised the bar. I had to top it some how. In July of '99 I had an audition for the Rainbow Company. They were the children's theatre outreach program for the acclaimed Prince Music Theatre. One of the largest theatres in town. The Rainbow Company was run by the late Ricardo Martin. I had three call backs! I even passed the dance audition but I wasn't cast. At this point in my career I took audtions hard. I got very excited when I got a call back and was crushed when I didn't land the gig. So I took this one hard too. It was a blow to my self-esteem. You are constantly asking yourself 'am I good enough?' 'why don't they like me?' 'Am I as talented as I thought?'. I now tell people acting is an illness. An illness consisting of easily inflated and deflated egos. Chronic insecurity. Yet we intentionally put ourselves in the line of fire of criticism, subjectivity and ridicule so we can have short lived and often insincere moments of applause and praise. We need to be contantly reafirmed of just how good we are from directors, audiences and fellow thespians only to still doubt ourselves. I was in denial about this when it came to myself. Only now do I acknowllege it. The only time I am genuinely, supremely and fearlessly confident is when I am on stage performing. To me those are the only moments in this business that make sense. Everything else is an absolute contradiction! As a advid believer in logic, in a way, me being an actor is an contradiction. It took me a while to realise this. My next big audition was for the historic Hedgerow Theatre. They were doing a family production of Puss in Boots. The story about the match making cat. I took the R3 out to Media PA. The theatre is hidden in the woods off the side of the road. I read for Puss and then sang "My Corner of the Sky" from Pippin. I thought I had a weak audition and didn't expect to hear anything. A week later Paul Kuhn the director called and offered me the role of Puss! The Hedgerow Theatre was a well respected theatre in the Philadelphia area and I was honored to be offered the title lead role. The cast included: Joshua Browns (the Ogre) he was hillarious! Matthew Daciuk (Pierre), Grey Kelsy (the Quenn), Mike Fallon (the King), Elisabeth Audley ( Gabrielle) and Natalie Gapari (Marie). The director and writer Paul Kuhn liked me alot and even wrote additional songs for me in the show. The show wasn't really a 'musical' but more like a play with music. I had three songs. I enjoyed my run at the Hedgerow. It was a very unique theatre company with it's own distinct culture. I would stay over night sometimes at the Hedgrow House instead of going back home so I could do the Saturday matinee performances. It would have been a drag to take the two hour train and bus ride if I just to come back early the next morning. Toward the end of the run of the show the Hedgrow offered me an acting apprenticeship. A full time acting gig! I turned it down because it only paid thirty bucks a week! Plus you didn't just perform. You had to teach, stage manage, do costumes, lighting, teach the kids theatre programs all for only 30 bucks a week!! I was still flattered they offered me the gig though. A week or so later my manager called me to tell about an audition for an independent film titled "The Roundtable". This season was really starting to shape up!

My First National Tour: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

It was the end of January and the Aesop's tour was coming to an end. This saddened me because I didn't want it to end. There was talk of of an extension to the tour but it never materialized. So that January I enrolled back in Commuity College. My mother was relieved I was back in school. But I remember feeling out of place back in school. I was very arrogant at the time and felt that college was useless to me. I wish I took school more seriously. It would have me a stronger and more disciplined person. Also at that time I had moved out of my parents house. I moved in with my friend Kirk Wendell Brown. He was twice my age and one of the finest African-American actors in the city. He was classically trained in Shakspeare and made me want to to be classically trained as well. We met in 1998 at the Walnut Street Theatre when he was the Assistant Theatre School Director. So when he told me he had a room to rent in his South Philly home I jumped at the chance. Anyway, I was at school in Febuary of 1999 when I got a phone call from a woman I was in an acting class with at the Walnut Street Theatre. She worked for American Family Theatre. She had paged me and left me a message saying that the actor playing Jim on in their national tour of Tom Sawyer was leaving the tour because of an illness in his family. (I later heard that was a lie and he was actually leaving to do the Smokey Joe's Cafe tour which paid more money.) They were having a hard time finding the right actor to replace him. It was a six month national tour and they were in week three! They asked me to audition. I was very excited when I got off the phone with them. I knew I was going to get it! I was very confident! So I left school and walked over to the offices for AFT. When I got in I met the director and writer of the show Don Kersey. He asked me to sing a song and I sang Why Do Fools Fall In Love he asked to read for the part of Jim and then ran me through some dance routines. After the audition he told they were seeing some other people and he would be in touch very soon. That was Thursday. They called me Friday morning and offered me the role! I signed my contract that afternoon. They told me they already had my plane ticket to Springfield, MO and I was leaving Sunday night! The actor I was replacing, Kwame Reme, was leaving the tour Wednesday! So I would be in the show Thursday!!! Now that is crazy! Quite big challenge for my second professional gig! I had to learn my lines, music, lyrics, harmonies and choreography in three days!! First of all I wasn't a dancer! Period. I loved to sing but I never had lessons. I never even thoguht about being in a musical! But here I was! I was supremly confident I could do it and do it very well. That Friday I stoped by my mom's house to tell her and my family about the tour. My mom was suprisingly cool about it. She said you better get back to school when you get back. On Sunday I took a train to Baltimore and caught a flight to St. Louis then on to Springfield. I learned all my lines on the plane ride! They gave me a tape of the music and I learned most of my lyrics as well. Before the plane landed I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to meet my new cast mates. When I landed I was picked up at the airport by the road manager Bill Girard. I later learned that this guy was a jerk and he was fired two weeks after I got there and replaced by Charlton Barton. I met the cast that night. They were: Ben Naaz, 25 (Tom Sayer), Aaron Moreland, 24, (Hucklebery Finn), Christopher Yustin, 22, (Captain, Injun Joe), Kerry Ann Lambert, 23, (Becky Thatcher) and Tracee Feree, 23 (Aunt Polly). I was the youngest at 18 and they never let me forget it. That Monday morning we starting rehearsing the show and teaching me the blocking and chorography. They stared teaching the songs too that day. The first four shows I watched Kwame. I sat in the audience and I was very impressed with show. The show played these huge old theatres in front of 2000 to 3000 peaple twice a day! That gave me a rush! When the show started the audience was very amped. I couldn't wait to get in the show! Thursday came very quickly. Kwame had left the day before. I was going on stage. I was going to be in the show. Now I should have been nervous. I only had one rehearsal! Only a week ago I was siting in class at college! But I was ready. I was extremly confident that I could pull it off without a hitch. If I did mess up I felt I could cover up somehow without the audience ever knowing. Right before going out on stage our road manager was over the mike geting the audience ready. "Are you guys ready to see the show?!" he shouted. The audience screamed YES at the top of their voices! I was ready. We were at the Futlon Theatre in Fulton, Mo. The show went of without a hitch. Well, they were some glitches on my part. I droped a line here or there and at one point in the dance I forgot my steps and improvised a line for Huck and Tom to teach me the dance too. The audience thought it was part of the show and laughed. Mistakes will happen on stage just make sure you cover your butt and your cast mates! There was alot of drama on that tour. I don't have the time to go though it all. But there alot of good times too. They gave me the nick name Pokey and to this day if talk to any of them they still call me that. That tour went to Florida, New Orleans, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seatle to name a few. To this day only me and Chris remain friends. We are actually business partners too in real estate projects. That tour ended in May of 1999. My family though me a party when I got back. I remember Kirk saying to me before I left for that tour " So, you want to be an actor?" That tour proved to me that I was a lifer.

Philadelphia Theatre Caravan: Aesop's Fables Fall of '98

So it's the summer of 1998. I had just decided to take the year off from college to pursue acting full-time. My mother was very upset by this decision but I had to do this for myself. I enrolled in an acting class at the Walnut Street Theatre called Acting By Mistake with Bill Roudebush. I loved him as a theatre coach. He really loved working with me as well. After doing comedy improv for the past four years of my performance career with Peace Theatre, it was a welcomed change of pace to be doing dramatic scenes from the Amen Corner. I was recomended a manager from Antonio Benidict, an actor I worked with in Peace Theatre that summer. Her name was Debra Phelps with Quiet Tip Managment. She had got Antonio a gig as Dennis Rodman's stunt double in the movie Simon Sez. I auditioned for her in August of '98 and she signed me on the spot. She started sending me out imediately. I got called back for a Sean Conery film called Finding Forester and I had three call backs for Animal Factory directed by Steve Buschemi. You might reconize him from the movie Big Daddy with Adam Saddler. He played the homeless guy. He was also in Armegedon. I was very suprised to meet him at my call back. I couldn't put a name with his face. I then auditioned for Philadelphia Theatre Caravan. This company was run by Drucie McDaniel. They were doing a touring production of Aesop's Fables. The tour was going to upstate New York and parts of New England. I was very excited! I went to the audition and it went very well. I then had to wait to hear something. The next day Drucie called me at home to tell me I was cast! I tried not to sound too excited but I wanted to jump up and down like I won the lottery! I did jump around after I got the phone. I needed this gig so bad! I needed to prove I belonged in the real theatre world. I needed to be apart of real professional productions and feel like I belonged. I needed to be reconized as a significant talent. It was a vindication of sorts. I remember signing my contract and feeling such a sense of accomplishment. We started rehearsals in October of 1998. The cast included two other actresses. Monica Moran and Thea Chaloner. Our stage manager was also an actor named Jason Stockdale. Me Jason did a show together three years later called The Secret Garden. I learned from my cast mates and aspecially Drucie. She would coach me after rehearsals. To this day I never forgot how she preached about discovery. I needed to bring that element of discovery and newness to my role and performance. Thea and Monia were older than me. Thea was 24 and Monica was 25. They both held degrees in theatre. They taught me alot. We used to to these physical warm up before shows. Strecthing, jumping jacks etc. This got my body lose and ready to to do a physically demanding show like Aesop's Fables. We had great time doing that tour. Our first week on tour we drove straight to Buffaloe NY! The tour closed in January of 99. I wanted to compromise with my mom so I renrolled in Community College. That semester lasted a month before I left school again. This time to do a much bigger tour!

Peace Theatre: Nothing To Lose

Peace Theatre was the genesis of my acting career. It was the summer 1995. I was a freshman at Martin Luther King High. Good Shepherd Mediation Program had come to our school to start a peer mediation program in conflict resolution. Not that I cared. I only went to the training because the program director, Elisa Hines, promised summer jobs to students who completed the training and became peer mediators. So me,Patrick Williams and Canard Stratford agreed to we would go the training so we could get a job. I was fourteen going on fifteen and the thought of having my own money was a dream come true. I had applied unsuccessfully to Chicken George and this seemed like my last shot to get a summer job. At the end of the school day I was walking down the hallway to go the training. I then remembered my mom telling me and my brothers that under no circumstances would she let me get a summer job. I thought for a second I might be wasting my time. My mom wouldn't let me keep the job anyway.

I must have stood there for a few minutes stagnated in indecisiveness. I didn't know what to do. After a while, I decided to go to the training. I had nothing to lose. I would get the job and see if my mom would let me keep it. I had no way of knowing at the time just how much this one decision would change my life. I got to the training late. The training lasted four days during after-school hours. Once I was done the training we received certificates to be peer-mediators. Our job at the school was mediate disputes when needed. That job didn't pay. We were only interested in the paying gig! I got an interview with Good Shepherd a week later. They were located at 5336 Chew Ave. For some reason I couldn't find the office. So I went home and stood up Elisa Hines the director of the program. I thought I blew it.

The next day I ran into Elisa Hines and to my surprise she rescheduled. A week after that I was offered a position at Good Shepherd. First of all, when I was hired, I didn't know my job description. Secondly, my mom still didn't know about the job yet! So I went to my mom and told her about the the job and asked her if I could keep it. She said yes! I was shocked! I didn't even have to do much convincing! I still didn't know my job description. I told my mom that we were hired to be peer mediators. I didn't lie. That's what I assumed.

I missed my first day of work because I didn't get my work permit back in time. I was bummed. I didn't even call to tell Good Shepherd to say I wouldn't be there. I just assumed I lost the job! Elisa called me and asked where I was. I told her and she laughed. She said you didn't come in because of that? So the next day I went in to work. I was very excited! That is until they told us the job description. We were hired to a theatre troupe called Peace Theatre. We would develop and perform loosely improvised skits about conflict resolution that would tour summer camps all over the city. I thought it was crazy! But I was getting paid! I didn't complain. Our first performance was July 11th, 1995 at a summer camp in SW Philly. I was so nervous! I remember counting the number streets as we rode on the trolley, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, hoping time would delay the inevitable! Performing in front of people! I was now petrified! I remember there were only eleven kids at our first show. After the first minute my nervousness went away. I remember thinking "I can do this,it's not that bad at all."

Our second show that day was at a summer camp in West Philly for 91 kids. I was a little nervous at first but only at first. I remember I said a line and everybody laughed. That was amazing to me! I never thought I was funny! Ever! By the second day of performing I was totally at ease. I looked forward to making the kids laugh and conveying a positive message at the same time. Me and Pat proved to be a great duo. We had very good chemistry. Our troupe leader Bob Napper loved us and would give us free reign in the performance. I had a blast. I never wanted that summer to end. I went back to school the next year with a renewed self-confidence. I starting feeling good about myself for the first time in my life. The next summer I planed on going back to Peace Theatre. But Peace Theatre changed their policy for the summer of 1996. They wouldn't bring back any performers from last year. They would only hire high school students with a professional theatre background. So basically they told me thanks but no thanks. I was devastated. Pat didn't care. He had a lot of jobs and Peace Theatre was just another job to him. But not to me. It was so much more. It became apart of my identity. So I called Elisa back and asked her what I needed to qualify. She said I needed a resume and a head shot and professional theatre experience. I had none of that. I decided I was going to try and get the job anyway. So in my 8th period Spanish I wrote out a resume listing my experience in Peace Theatre last year. I grabbed an old photo of myself jumped on my bike and rode to Good Shepherd for my interview. I had nothing to lose.

A few days later Elisa called and offered me a position with Peace Theatre! What had happened was they had cast the whole troupe. But then somebody dropped out. Cheryl Cutrona the Executive Director of Peace Theatre thought it would be a good idea to bring me in to replace the actor they had lost because I was the only one with prior Peace Theatre experience. So I was in! The troupe was six high school actors with a lot of theatre experience. They were: Shane Slater, Rachel Brown, Burgandy Holiday, Walter Threadgill, Daniel Thomas and me. Our trope leaders was Robert Schiller and Julie Lake. I was intimidated by them at first and wondered if I could hold my own.

That summer trumped my first summer with Peace Theatre! It was that summer that I decided I would pursue an acting career. It made sense to me and felt so right. I stayed with Peace Theatre for the next two summers '97 and '98. However it was in '98 after my freshman year in college that I decided I was a big fish in a small pond with Peace Theatre and decided to try and audition for real theatre companies and productions. I was eight-teen now. I needed to know if I belonged in the theatre world outside of Peace Theatre. Elisa and everyone at Good Shepherd told me I had a lot of talent and should pursue other theatre and film projects. In '97 my troupe was leader was Judy Nelson. She was the first one to tell me I had a lot of talent and really should start taking classes. So in the fall of 1998, much to the dismay of my mother, I decided to take the year off from college and pursue it full-time. I hired a manager enrolled in acting classes at the Walnut Street Theatre and started auditioning. As a devout Jehovah's Witness there were a lot roles I wouldn't accept. But I was determined to find out where I fit in, if at all. After all, I had nothing to lose...

Purlie at the Ritz Theatre

Purlie!

I've been rehearsing my new show Purlie for about two weeks now. The music is pretty simple and not that complicated. The cast is great. They give off a good vibe. Tomorow we start choregraphing "Walk Him Up". Stay tuned for more updates on the show!

Mike Acting Out

Hello all! I just wanted to inroduce you to my blog. I started this blog to document my acting carrer from the past 11 years. I used to keep mementos from all my shows in a shoe box on my window seat but then it rained one day and the box got wet. I salvaged most of the pictures and play bills from my show but I still needed a safer place to put them. So I started this site with the help of my sister. So stay tuned for upcoming pictures, playbills, news articles and stories. Talk you soon!

Mike Hogan

All Filler...

This is just filler text to get the blog up and running. Mike should be adding his own content soon. We will have all sorts of great things on here including pictures from past productions, play lists, news articles, and possibly even video clips of plays Mike has been a part of. This will be the place to go to find out what productions he is currently acting in or what may be in the pipeline. So, stay tuned!

Jemilah
blog administrator