Here I am with Chalky White actor Michael Kenneth Williams. What it took to get here is pretty funny.
At 4:15 am the alarm clock went off. S,S, and S and out the door. My call time was 6 am. I went downstairs to catch the bus...lol...no bus, but I waited for a half hour with two others who were trying to get to the GMA Beyonce concert on the summer stages. After a bit a cab drove by. I hailed it and asked them if they wanted to split a cab. I gave them directions to central park.
I jumped on the subway to 890 FULTON. While on the train a 50 year old man struck up a conversation with me about same sex marriage and beating your kids to obey. He remarked about the changes in the world and growing up in the south and how he had to get up at 4 in the morning to make sure the fire was started in the kitchen before his parents got up and out of bed. He had a lot to talk about at 5am.
So I get off of the train and walk to 890 FULTON street where there are no trucks or any sign of a church or film shoot, to realize that I need to be at 890 FLATBUSH. What?! So I walk 8 blocks to Flatbush and realize that I am at 4 Flatbush. OMG! Hop into another cab. It's 5:35. Will I make it?
YES! Into hair and makeup. Haircut with a part cut in and when I started the day I had a goatee, left over from the King Lear a few days earlier. Considering an electric razor now, post shaving with potable water in a trailer. Into my trailer and costumes, off to rehearsal. I'm too tall. Director ,Alan Couter, asks me to consider the chacter as a man who has spent most of his time bending and scraping. Interesting choice I think...it also helped the scene take on another level of clarity.
90 year old actress Marilyn Berry and Dewanda Wise brought a wonderful earnest grace to their roles.
We wrapped at 6 and home again home again jiggedy jig.
