Out Of My Mind—Episode 3 Show Notes

by Jay Douglas · July 18, 2015

Performing Your Role as a Theater Audience Member with Christine Cox, House Manager of the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.

Ahmanson Theater

Christine Cox has been with Center Theatre Group, the organization that runs the Ahmanson Theater, for 28 years, the last 16 as house manager. Her job carries with it the responsibility for everything that happens from the the theater’s front doors up to the front edge of the stage. That means if a restroom is not clean, a patron loses her false teeth (it’s happened) or an audience member needs to be coaxed into behaving appropriately, the situation might ultimately wind up in Christine’s lap. With all her experience, Christine takes it all in stride. Her philosophy is to remain low-key and helpful, looking for ways to solve problems to everyone’s satisfaction with the minimum of fuss and bother.

She suggests that for you to have a good time, exercise planning, patience and the Golden Rule of acting in the theater the way you’d like the people around you to act. So, arrive early and take your seat comfortably ahead of the opening curtain. If you do arrive late (it happens) be patient. Theater policy is typically to seat late arrivals at appropriate breaks in the performance, so that the audience inside the auditorium has the opportunity to learn the characters and situation without interruption. Once inside the theater, take your seat and refrain from commenting on the sets, the costumes and so forth. They may be new to you, but the people around you have seen them already and may not appreciate your commentary.

If someone’s actions or behavior does upset your enjoyment of the play, Christine suggests a little co-operative problem solving. Begin with, “You may not be aware of this, but…” and then explain what’s distracting you: we can hear you talking very plainly; the candy you’re unwrapping is very loud; you’re taking up all the space on the armrest, and so forth. Most of the time, according to Christine, your neighbor isn’t aware of the situation and will simply correct it. If not, don’t scold or threaten. Wait until intermission and ask an usher to reseat you or otherwise handle the problem.

Here are some other tips from our conversation:

feedback from a hearing aid is one of the most common annoyances in a theater. Often a patron is using an assisted listening device and has put his or her hearing aid in a pocket without turning it off. Ask the patron to turn off the hearing aid. Even though the first part of your conversation might be a bit loud (the patron probably won’t hear you well without the hearing aid), it’s better to have the conversation than tolerate the buzzing and feedback;
once the curtain rises, put your cell phone away. Texting, which you may think is perfectly silent, is distracting to the people around you. (In some occasions, actors have criticized texting patron from the stage. You don’t want to be that patron. Honest.);
taking pictures of the set, costumes, staging and performers is not only distracting, it’s against the law. Every aspect of a play is copyrighted. While your intentions may be pure (you want a souvenir for yourself), the theater staff has no way of knowing this and they are required to enforce the law. Christine recommends buying one of the show programs, a legal way of leaving the theater with those souvenir pictures;
if anything prevents you from enjoying the performance, contact an usher at intermission. Responsible house managers will do their best to reseat you, and address the situation later. Don’t expect a house manager to lecture a patron in your presence. The house manager’s job is to make sure you have a satisfying experience, not take your side in an argument. A good house manager will speak to offending patrons in private;
above all, Christine says that many problems she deals with would vanish if people remembered they weren’t in their homes or cars. Part of the excitement of going to the theater is sharing the experience with the rest of the audience. In order to enjoy that excitement, you need to remember that private space behavior, such as talking, taking repeated trips to the bathroom and singing along with the show aren’t the experiences other audience members came to share. Be the patron you want sitting next to you.

You can read more about the Ahmanson Theater, by clicking here.

Reflections on Your Side-View Mirrors with Barbara Ward, Traffic Safety Specialist at AAA-Northeast

I was surprised to learn that most drivers, including me, have been driving around for years with mis-aimed side-view mirrors. While there’s no way to eliminate that blind spot when a car moves from your rear-view to side-view mirror, you can almost eliminate the blind spot by aiming your mirrors properly. Barbara Ward describes how it’s done. It may sound a bit foreboding, but after helping thousands of drivers have a better view of the road, Barbara is convinced a few minutes of your time can help save you from the sickening sound of metal meeting metal.

Here are Barbara’s instructions:

To aim the driver’s side mirror, lean your forehead on the side door window and aim your mirror so you can just see the rear of your car. Do the same for the passenger’s side mirror, only this time put your head under the rear-view mirror (or directly over the dashboard’s center console). When you sit back behind the wheel and look in your mirrors you’ll no longer see your car’s rear fenders. But you will notice that when a car leaves your rear-view mirror and moves to your left or right, you’ll be able to track that car in your side-view mirror until it reaches about the center of your car. At that point, you’ll pick up the car using your peripheral vision.

Some other safety tips Barbara wants to share:

rest the heel of your right foot on the floor of the car when driving. Holding it straight out while you operate the gas and brake pedals puts a strain on your lower back that leads to fatigue and discomfort;
sit at least 10 inches away from the steering wheel. You can check that by rolling up a sheet of letter-size paper and holding it between your breastbone and the steering wheel. If you sit closer you risk serious injury if your airbag deploys.

Barbara, and AAA clubs nationwide, are devoted to improving driver safety.

You can find out more about your local AAA club, and the safety programs it offers, by clicking here.

Suffering for Her Art with Jessica Cameron

Jessica Cameron

When you first meet her, Jessica Cameron hardly seems like a woman with a problem. She was born in Canada where she studied fashion design. She moved to Ohio to work for a prestigious fashion company, where her combination of rapid speech and Canadian accent led some executives to question her ability to make presentations and lead discussions. Someone suggested she take acting lessons to help her lose her accent and sharpen her speech.

The rest is a Hollywood story. The acting lessons took over her life, and she began planning a move out of Ohio and into Hollywood. Today, she is a successful actress, director and producer.

Then there’s her little problem.

Jessica’s has an intense, let’s call it obsessive, fear of spiders. It was not uncommon for her to walk around with five cans of Raid so she could make it from her car to her apartment with a certain degree of confidence. If she found a spider in her bedroom she couldn’t sleep all night. She would rather wake up to face a knife-wielding intruder than an itsy-bitsy spider spinning a web in a corner of the ceiling.

But it gets worse.

Jessica’s film genre of choice is horror. You pretty much can’t do horror films these days without eventually running into a spider. Where did that leave her? With the idea of using her art to help stand up to her fears. She doesn’t consider herself cured—she still won’t go near a spider and finding one by surprise still elicits a shriek—but spiders no longer affect her social life. She was able to sit calmly at a picnic table in Griffith Park in Los Angeles without once checking the table, or the area around it, for the little crawling creatures. And, she’s been able to channel her spider fears into her on-screen performances. She imagines what she would do if she were not on a movie set and those spiders, real or animated, were coming her way. Most of the time, that’s marshaling the wherewithal to run, “…like a bat out of hell,” Jessica said. It might be a movie, but on the screen her performance comes across as frightening real…because it is.

Through her acting, though, she’s found a certain degree of relief from her phobia. Although she won’t be exchanging small talk with a spider any time soon, her fear of spiders no longer takes over her social life. It’s a process, and Jessica has a leg up on her fear. Or, in this case, a leg up, a leg up, a leg up….

You can read more about Jessica Cameron and her career, and view some of her work on her website, which you can visit by clicking here.

The Magic Christian with Mark Horowitz

In his 35 years of financing and selling films for theater and television distribution, Mark Horowitz has seen thousands of independent films—some because he was involved with their distribution, some because he needed to know what the competition was like and some because he fell in love with the smaller films that Hollywood doesn’t to make anymore. For those of us who were busy growing up that we missed these films, or have forgotten about them, I’m going to invite Mark on the show from time to time to introduce us to some of his favorites (or refresh our memories). Today, Mark delves into The Magic Christian, which starred Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr (yes, that Ringo Starr). It’s one I missed the first time around and I’m glad Mark gave me the opportunity to see it and enjoy it.

Rather than summarize what Mark has to say, I’m going to use this space to provide some of the material that didn’t fit into the show. Mark has some interesting background on the writer, director and cinematographer, but if you haven’t listened to Mark on the show, do that first and then return for Mark’s commentary.

The Magic Christian is available on DVD, and you can find it on Amazon.com.

Music

The Out Of My Mind podcast theme by Silent Partner.

Contacting the Show

Email: jdouglas@thetheaterofyourmind.com

On the Web: Contact Out Of My Mind

Write: Out Of My Mind | The Theater of Your Mind, Inc. | 2215 Fern Dell Place | Los Angeles, California 90068

Book Jay Douglas as a Speaker, Podcast Guest or Consultant

Call 323-856-1795 for availability.

Photo: rpavich (Rights)