 Let's start now - we are one week away from tech, and 23 days from Press Opening for the 2019 revival of Hell in a Handbag's Poseidon! Rehearsals have been awesome and fun. This cast is insanely talented and funny funny FUNNY. Without a single exception, every actor is making hysterical choices and cracking each other up near constantly. I've had the pleasure of working with a bunch of these people before, but there's possibly more though that I've admired in other shows or worked with in other non-acting capacities that I'm so jazzed to share the stage with for the first time. Then you've got our wonderful director, Derek Van Barham, who always has specific notes that encourage us to be even more goofy and yet more grounded in reality. Our choreographer Breon Arzell makes such creative choices that vacillate from classical musical theater to drag fabulousness to cartoonish ridiculousness. And then David Cerda's familiar yet updated script, with new songs, that ape the original Poseidon Adventure with love and heart. This is my second time on the SS Poseidon. In 2009, I got my first major Chicago theatre gig thanks to the brilliant Matthew Gunnels - I outlined some of this when I worked on Bewildered two years ago. I started out in the role of Otis / Crewmember #1, then I played Nonnie's brother Teddy, and finally for one magical night I played that catatonic lounge singer herself. And this time, I get to play Mr. James Martin, played in the film version by Red Buttons. Without revealing too much, Mr. Martin's arc has been quite beefed up in this update, and I'm so excited to share the character's journey with audiences. As well as two awesome new Cerda/Lamberty songs!! The 2009 production of Poseidon was a life-defining event for me, informing the art that I would create for the next decade, introducing me to the artists that would become my friends and collaborators, and forming the base for my career. I am forever indebted to David Cerda, Matthew Gunnels, Brigitte Ditmars, Steve Kimbrough, Jason Grimm, Trista Smith, and so many others for making me feel at home as an artist in this city - not to mention my fellow 2009 Poseidonites Michael Miller, Elizabeth Lesinski, and even David Lipschutz, who I'm so glad to be joining on this new voyage. I never imagined myself in this role - it may only be that I'd considered myself disqualified based on my height, which is significantly taller than Red Buttons, who visibly is much shorter than his TPA co-stars. And I'm not a ginger. BUT I can play the "lovable loser" type preeeettty well, and as soon as I started playing with the cadences and vocal qualities of Red Buttons, I was having a lot of fun - which especially in Handbag shows, means you're doing something right. I was so pleasantly surprised at our first read-through, as it was clear that David had spent a lot of time crafting a fuller arc for Mr. Martin. And when I first heard the new songs and lyrics, I was balled over with excitement, and the teensiest bit of fear, that I got to play this pivotal role in the show. I only hope to do it justice. Curiously, I'm finding a lot of my inspiration for this character (outside of the movie and Red Buttons' work) from Anton Chekhov. In Junior year of college at ISU (2005), I was in a Realism acting class, where we studied Chekhov's Three Sisters. It immediately became one of my favorite plays, and I was cast in one of my favorite roles, Kulygin, the older husband of Masha. Our teacher, the late Patrick O'Gara, encouraged us to live in these characters, even when, like in Act 3, our characters are outside of the action, obscured from the other characters. Kulygin is a beautifully tragic character, who thinks that his life is a comedy - despite the fact that nobody ever laughs at his jokes, if they are even listening to him in the first place. His failure to connect with other humans just reinforces his coping mechanisms, leading to a character who is just desperate to be acknowledged. Admirably, he never stops trying to connect, even when it's clear that his wife wants nothing to do with him, and that he doesn't really fit into this family. As someone who has been dealing with depression and anxiety for my whole life, I find these characters, Kulygin and Mr. Martin, to be so inspiring. No matter how bad things look for them, they always try to find hope, and share that with those around them. It's a struggle to do that, and it's often a losing battle. But to admit defeat would mean death (symbolically for Kulygin, and quite literally for Mr. Martin), so they keep going. They Keep On Climbin', as we sing in the show's finale. It's an essential life lesson, one that's worth remembering every single day. So this one is for the passengers in my life who didn't make it to the end, but who enabled me and so many others to survive: Patrick, who encouraged me to dig into those uncomfortable parts of my psyche and share them with the audience; for Matt, who allowed me to be goofy and claim moments in the spotlight, even as a chorus member; and, as always, for Mom (Queen Mary?), who told me to "play it to the hilt", and who I always see in the audience when I'm performing. This is going to be a very special show - I hope you can see it! Tickets are now on sale!  
I just closed one of the more difficult shows I've ever been in - Lifeline Theatre's We Found a Hat. Just because it's a TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) show, doesn't mean we skimped on anything. If anything, we packed two hours of gags and jokes into a tight 50 minute play with music. I had a heavy load of percussive cues (tambourine, maraca, bells), not to mention I learned to play harmonica for this play. Add on some very physical comedy in a heightened style of near-cartoonism, and lots of technical cues, and you've got a very complicated show that needs to move with the swiftness of a roadrunner.
But luckily. when you're working with a company as supportive as Lifeline, with a cast that was game for absolutely anything, and a director and design team dedicated to making the best show possible, you can rest assured that the final product with entertain audiences both young and old. We left it all on the stage, and I couldn't be prouder. You can check out an excerpt of some of the silly hijinks and the heart of the this special show, below; as well as a glowing review here. On to the next one!
It happened at 8:04pm Central Standard Time. I was in rehearsal for the high school production of 12 Angry Jurors that I'm directing. Meanwhile, my friends and family were tuned in to NBC, texting me congratulations and pictures of their viewing parties.
My highest profile job to date was two lines. I will have those two lines etched into my brain for life. To anybody who doesn't know me, they'll blink and miss me - which is ideal. My purpose was simply to move the story along. As they say in the biz, sometimes you just have to "deliver the pizza." As an actor, I'm trained to dig deep and express my deepest emotion, but in this job, I just needed to "deliver the pizza" and not overthink it. I think I achieved that. And so it goes. 12 Angry Jurors opens next Friday, I start rehearsals at Oak Park Festival Theatre next week, and at Lifeline Theater the following week. I'm taking On-Camera 3 at Vagabond, and working on editing more film clips into a reel. Bring on those auditions!  Well, one of my dreams finally came true. On September 24, I shot an episode of Chicago Fire. A two-line role on a network series.
It was my first audition for any TV episodic, so I didn’t expect much to come from it. The audition lasted 30 seconds, tops. A week later, I was put on check avail - again, i thought, well that’s nice, I’m in the top two or three for this role. Then the following week, I got the call from my agent that I actually got the part. I only told people who were super close, until I had my costume fitting. This was when it all became real. I had caught up on the previous season (which surprisingly hit me squarely in the feels), and to be in the same wardrobe department as the whole Chicago Fire/PD/Med universe was overwhelming. Oliver Platt, S Epatha Merkerson, Gary Cole, David Eigenberg had all been there (I assumed at least), and certainly my friends and colleagues who had been on the show certainly had come through here. I snapped the above photo while waiting to try on suits. After that, I told a bunch of people, even though I still wasn’t quite sure it was really real. I bided time until it was finally time for me to go to set - 6:30am on a Monday morning. Dave Eigenberg was the first to introduce himself as we got onto the van to go to set (nbd, just Steve from Sex and the City, not a big deal at allllll). A relatively unfamiliar face was the next in, he introduced himself as Steve; I later realized I’d seen him star on Broadway a few years ago in Hand to God (Steven Boyer). Sure enough, then followed Mouch, Otis, Severide, Casey into the van. And I was an equal. They treated me, this two-liner actor, as an equal. Mind = Blown. Since this is a professional website, I’ll end the celebrity gushing there. The day was long, we shot at a hotel on south Lake Shore Drive. I had left my cell phone in my trailer, so I didn’t take any pictures, but I’m glad I did that, because it kept me focused on the task at hand. I soaked it all in - it was one of the most harmonious and professional workplaces I’d ever worked in. Every person on set was there to do their job, and they did it very well, with positive attitudes and respect for each other. While I’ve been making my acting career my top priority for over a decade, I was still shocked that this first step into television was actually happening. No doubt it will take much more work and auditions and bit parts to get where I want to be going. But for the first time, I feel like it’s truly possible. I think this episode of Chicago Fire will air on Wednesday, October 31 at 8pm. I'll be in the first five minutes. I just got done with a summer contract working as an Actor/Educator for Compass Creative Dramatics. The tour took me to Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and gave me an awesome opportunity to engage young actors and introduce them to acting in theater. I had an awesome time out on the road, but I am glad to be back home.
My old home, the one I grew up in. I moved out of my apartment in Chicago at the end of June. I had lived at Clark and Wellington in Lake View with Walter, my cat Charlotte, and a rotating third roommate for over five years - the longest I've lived anywhere other than my parents' house. My Mom bought this house in Countryside in the late 70's, Dad moved in around 1984 and they married. After living in my mother's womb for the standard nine months, I emerged in mid-January 1985. My sister Megan popped out in September 1986. The four of us lived here, with intermittent guests like my older half-sister Sharleen, our Polish nannies (Yasha, Helen, and Helen), our dogs (Yasha, and then Daisy), and our cats (Bruno, Monique, Rocky, Adrian, Onyx, and now Charlotte), until 2003 when I left for college in Normal, IL. Meg then went to college, Mom and Dad got a dog, Daisy, I moved back for a year after college, I moved out, Meg moved back in, Meg moved out, and things went like that until Mom passed away in October 2015. Shortly after, Meg and her cat Onyx moved back in to help Dad cope, Meg and Onyx moved out, Dad went to Florida for winter, Meg and Onyx moved in and out, earlier this year Dad's new girlfriend moved in, and now Dad's moved in to his girlfriend's new house. The original plan was that I would move in to the house with my Dad, and we would live together for the periods when I was not out on tour with Compass, but now I have the opportunity to live in this house alone for the first time. Well, me and my cat Charlotte. I've taken my Dad's office and repurposed it into a studio and office for my acting career - the first time I've ever had an office that wasn't also my bedroom. I now have a bedroom that is just my bedroom, a kitchen with counter space and a big dining table, and three bathrooms all to myself. I'm establishing a new rhythm, focusing on my goals, and aiming to achieve them one by one. I already booked one contract in first audition since coming home from tour, and I've got several auditions already lined up. I'm working on my voiceover studio, and am looking to start submitting voice auditions next week. I'm recommitting to my chosen profession and am working my butt off. It feels pretty cool to do that in the first place I ever called home.  "Bewildered" is a Homecoming.
My first major show in Chicago was with Hell in a Handbag, "Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical", in 2009. I played a fan of Poseidon Adventure who also played Crewmember #1, and I also played Water for most of the show. I sang "Mama Says" from Footloose at my audition, but I don't remember much else except that it was at North Shore Baptist Church in Andersonville, blocks from where I was living at the time. I got the call that night from David Cerda saying I'd been cast, while I was having a party at my apartment (like a 24 year old does). I was so nervous at our first rehearsal, and barely said anything to anybody, other than my lines. Steve Kimbrough was the first to say hello, and had made extra copies of the score to share. Steve is so unabashedly kind and generous, and he made me feel at home immediately in this crazy family. Soon he was giving me rides home, along with Derek and Jason, starting friendships that have defined my life in Chicago. Meanwhile, our unsinkable choreographer Brigitte Ditmars worked with this very motley group of "good movers", gauging actors' dance skills and finding out how to best magnify their talents. Constantly conferring (and giggling) with our director, Matt Gunnels, the two had a friendship and creative partnership that is legendary. Brigitte and Matt pushed us to better ourselves every time, and set the bar of professionalism that I aspire to this day. Matt's no longer with us physically, but he's totally with us in spirit, in every moment, it's incredible. With all these people in the room who have worked with him, who were his close friends, who share his gay, fabulous, nerdy, naughty sense of humor. He would fucking love this show. Poseidon was a game changer for me. It was my first run of a play more than 12 performances - we ran for 5 months. It brought my first show-mance, which became my first major relationship. I went on for one night as an understudy for Ed Jones as Nonnie - my first drag role, which my parents saw (my mom took a fall on the stairs at the Chopin that night, and we had to take her to the hospital - long story). It established my first real theater family in Chicago, and I'm so glad to be back with them. I'm so fortunate to be in a room filled with personal and professional heroes. David Cerda is an amazing artist. It's a very specific art, and he's brilliant at it. The work he pours into his company is mammoth. Ed Jones is one of the funniest people I've ever acted with - everything he does in character is hysterical. I can almost hear him adding, "if only he was as funny when he's not acting". Michael Miller is a surgeon when it comes to creating and characters, and he commits so fully to his choices - he takes his comedy seriously. And his graphic design work on posters is nothing short of iconic - full of precious detail and clever af. Brigitte Ditmars has long been the best choreographer I've ever worked with - she discovers each actor's hidden potential for dance and exploits it to the hilt. She drills like a Sergeant, and demands only that you work your ass off. It doesn't ever need to be perfect, it only needs to be better than the last time she saw it. Like she told us at our first rehearsal, she's "tough, but fair." As director, she is confidently steering this massive ship with zeal. When Honey West is a freaking understudy on a show, you know it's fucking good. When Caitlin Jackson is belting her face off, you know it's fucking good. When you've got Steve Kimbrough playing straight, you know it's fucking good camp. Not to mention the small army of insanely talented stage artists whose reputations do not necessarily come before them. Robert Williams is hysterical committing to his ridiculous dual role. AJ Wright is a wonderful partner for this (hopefully) ingenious Darrin gimmick. Betsy Morgan is soooo Elizabeth Montgomery - she just fucking gets it. They - and Abner, and the Magic Stage Hands, and god help me anybody else I'm missing in this huge cast - are going to be household names imminently. The work is so good. The music is a warm nod to classic musicals with a subversive edge that goes over the top and then some. The script comes off as a wild spec script for a spin-off origin story, written by Bruce Vilanch (except better). Did I mention David Cerda is playing Endora? Ed Jones as Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur! My mom would have loved this show - her son gets to play Dick York! I don't have very many specific memories of watching Bewitched with her, but I know she was at least familiar with it, if not a fan. She loved this kind of show, the wholesome family comedy - and she'd love the subversive musical take on it. Even if she might not "get" men dressed as women. I'm very proud of this show. It's such an escape from the shitshow that is our current national spectacle. I love to make people laugh, and I love to sing - the atmosphere of a musical, the energy of the live audience. It's why I do this. We're just at the beginning of this journey, but so far, it's a good one. It is a new year, and I am focusing even more on my goals than ever. Which is why I'm here, updating my website.
2016 flew by, here are some headlights:
2017 has started with a lot of change, which I am very excited about, and will update very shortly. Thanks for reading! Boy, has it been a busy Spring! After closing Ten Dollar House in January, I went right into Lester's Dreadful Sweaters at Lifeline Theater. It's a very clever children's musical about a boy who despises the knitwear of his Cousin Clara. I play the Father, Ben (a schoolmate of Lester), a Bandit, and a Clown.
What I'd thought would be just another children's show, actually became quite the challenge. The music was surprisingly dark, and it took some getting used to the rock-and-roll style. Playing multiple characters, I had to do several quick-changes and come up with specific, distinct characterizations. Finally, this show moves very fast, involving all sorts of props and set pieces - there turned out to be as much choreography between the actors backstage as there was on stage. Our director Heather Currie was very collaborative and insightful, and helped the five of us actors gel and create an ensemble. Meanwhile, I've finally completed the Improv track at iO, and am currently in Graduation Shows on Sunday nights! I've had such an awesome time working with my class, discovering new and usually dirty-minded scenes and characters. Last week I played a bee exorcist, a schoolchild who doesn't really know what a lesbian is, and the personification of a wish. Until recent years, I've found so much security in working with a script - it's great to be free of that, and confident that I can create characters and scenes instantaneously without the need of a writer. I'm trying to keep myself relatively free for the spring - I've been in rehearsals or shows consistently for seven months. Of course, there were a couple opportunities I could not pass up. On April 24, I'll be participating in the staged reading of a new musical "A Woman Onstage" as part of Pride Films and Plays' Gay Play Weekend at Center on Halsted at 4pm, the same day of our last performance of "Lester's Dreadful Sweaters" at Lifeline. In May, I'm excited to head up to Mineral Point, WI to reprise my role as Bob Neal in "Ten Dollar House" - that show was such a watershed moment for me as an actor, and I am really excited to reunite with the cast and crew and bring the show back to life in its' historical setting. Finally, I've written a short piece for myself and my frequent collaborator/best friend Marissa Chastain that I am excited to shoot at the end of the month with Yadhira Arroyo. I've been mostly focusing my creative talents toward the stage lately, so it will be nice to return to film. I'm excited to take the experience of the last several months and translate it to a different medium. Other than that, I'm getting by just fine. I'm working in HR for a fantastic moving company. I absolutely killed "Love Shack" and "Psycho Killer" at Karaoke last night with my Nothing Special peeps. NSP just opened a fantastic production of "The Rise and Fall of the Mad King of Scotland", so we had cause to celebrate. I've also been able to see a couple other awesome plays: "D.O.A." at Strawdog, and "The Misanthrope" at Piccolo Theater. What a joy to see the hard work of your friends and peers. Advancing confidently in the direction of my dreams. Well, they like me. They really like me.
As uncomfortable as this feels, I need to share some of the fantastic things people have been saying about my performance in Ten Dollar House. I've never received many reviews in the past, and these are particularly glowing, so here goes: "The real star of Ten Dollar House is Sawa, whose comic timing and aloofness mingled with vulnerability imbues the entire production with warmth and heart." --Clint May, Chicago Theater Beat "As Neal, Sawa carefully and honestly keeps his performance from veering into caricature even with all the overly witty and sarcastic quips in the script." --Scott C. Morgan, Windy City Times "Scott Patrick Sawa is a most commanding force as Bob Neal. Mr. Sawa manages to capture both Neal’s eccentricity and artistic side, while still finding Neal’s vulnerability and quieter moments." --Colin Douglas, Chicago Theater Review Obviously, it's been an honor to work with an established Chicago company like Pride Films and Plays, as well as my extremely talented castmates, crew, designers, writers, and director. The best though has been sharing this story, a slice of Midwestern gay history, with the audiences. They've been the best audiences I've ever had, and I'm so proud to have been a small part of Bob Neal's legacy. This has been a dream. And now, onto the next one, Lester's Dreadful Sweaters, at Lifeline Theater - we begin rehearsals tonight! Cheers!  For the last several months, I have had the profound honor of working on the play Ten Dollar House for Pride Films and Plays. Easily the toughest role I've ever took on, I play Bob Neal, an interior decorator in 1930's Wisconsin, who falls in love with his handyman while restoring historical buildings. It's an amazing and true story about a committed relationship between two men in a time when being gay was strictly taboo. We follow Bob and his partner Edgar as they fall in love, open a antiques shop/teahouse/restaurant, weather the economic downturn, and figure out how to create a lasting relationship in a time when there was no such thing for men of their persuasion.
Working with Michael Graham, Joe Anderson, Tom Chiola, Jean Marie Koon, and Mindy Barber has been a dream. Michael is a director of great nuance and insight, and helped me mold my performance into something grand yet subtle. Joe has been the best stage partner I've ever had - passionate and fearless in his dedication to the role. Tom, Jean Marie, and Mindy have been a complete pleasure to work with, and have challenged me to dig ever deeper into this character and his relationships. The crew of this show too has been invaluable: our stage manager Albert "Beep" Trefts with his precision and professionalism, our ASM Alicia Crook always being in the right place at the right time with a prop or costume piece, our costume designer Joshua Allard with his genius attention to detail in costuming and his endlessly deep knowledge of period style. Our designers Sarah Lewis (set), Kallie Rolison (Sound), and Aimee Warshal (lights), and Joshua (costumes, of course) has created a beautiful world to live in and explore. And our producer David Zak has been so supportive and helpful through this entire process, it's been an honor to finally work with him. Finally, Martha Meyer and Rick Kinnebrew, the writers who brought this story to life so brilliantly, with such poignance and humor. I am forever indebted to them for entrusting me with this role. This is such a wonderful story that speaks to today's issues, while shedding a light on lesser-known rural gay history. Working on this show has helped me get through one of the worst periods of my life, following the death of my mother. It has given me a greater purpose than simply showing off my acting skills; to share this true story that honors the past while inspiring today's audience has been such a blessing. As an actor who's somewhat uncertain of what the future may hold in terms of a career, it has been cathartic to play Bob Neal, a man who's encountered similar uncertainty in his business and personal life, and has gotten through that uncertainty and the other obstacles that have come his way. It's not always perfect, and he makes mistakes along the way - hell, things that he might regret for the rest of his life. But he sticks to his principles and his goals, and he created something that lasted. As an artist, I want to create something that lasts, build my own small empire. I want to be my own version of Bob Neal. We have 8 more performances. Audiences have been so enthusiastic about the show, I received some great feedback from peers and critics, and I even received my first fan mail! As with my Mom, all I have is love and gratitude and respect for those who have made this show possible. Love, Respect, and Gratitude. For always. |
