Poll: How Vain are we about getting press?

Question:For the pros here - An article come out this week in one of the area newspapers about a show I am doing. (Exciting!) I always get really excited about press ... and then feel like a total ego-maniac. But heck, everyone likes to have their name in the paper. I was wondering ... that mixture of pride and egotism is such a weird, specific thing. Your experiences?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: For the pros here - An article come out this week in one of the area newspapers about a show I am doing. (Exciting!) I always get really excited about press ... and then feel like a total ego-maniac. But heck, everyone likes to have their name in the paper. I was wondering ... that mixture of pride and egotism is such a weird, specific thing. Your experiences?

It is such a weird feeling, like you said, for me as well.

I think for me, it feels really nice to have something tangible to do with the show I've been working on. In the theatre, we work so hard, but our work exists only in time - you can't hold onto it. So when we get press coverage, it feels like a part of our work we can hold onto and keep forever.

Does that make sense?

I tend to be a perfectionist and self-deprecating when it comes to my acting. I think if anything, I have too small an ego and too little self-confidence. However, when I get press I really do feel pride and excitement... and feel a bit weird and wonder if I'm being really egotistical. Of course, my family buys several copies of the paper or magazine (or whatever) - which boosts my excitement, but mixes in a certain amount of embarrassment as well.

We just took press photos for a show we're about to open next week. This theatre always gets a lot of attention in the papers... and I was in every photo they took, so I'm waiting with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and hesitation to see what comes out in the papers. The dichotomy of anticipation and hesitation is such an odd feeling. But I am looking forward to having something I could clip out of the paper and put in my scrapbook... even if I never look at it again. Strange, no?

**EDIT**

I think it's a feeling of validation as well. Not just that we're actors, but that we exist and have been noticed.

Press give us exposure so that people and the media get to know us. It is the pr part of the business.

I once got reviewed for my job (Theatre in Educaton Stage Manager). The actors were performing potted Shakespeare in the round and I was running around the outside helping with costume changes, sound effects etc. I was called 'The miracle in black' in the paper. On the one hand - great. On the other - bad - I was hoping to be invisible! I am glad now to spend my time sitting in the dark in prompt corner cueing shows and just being the 'voice' on the front of house announcements. Its funny though, a good review for a show is great, but a bad one (unless you secretly know it is true) means that the critic is rubbish and didn't get the play!

I LOVE the attention! It's great! Like when I'm main cast I love getting my picture taken and getting a mic. I feel like if you worked for it it's good to fell happy!! I think in moderation people love the attention! =)

Whaddyakiddinme??? Aintcher name in the paper what it's all about? If we weren't egomaniacs we wouldn't be in this biz. It offers cold comfort in every other respect.

"Why do we work our a**es off? Applause, applause!".

I keep every clipping, showbill, memorabilia, etc. from every show I have done. Egotism? You betcha, sport.

On a less frivolous note, the clippings, etc. remind me of how hard I worked, how I grew, and how much more I have to learn. The one review that is still burned in my memory was from ca. 1987 (I am about your age, BTW) : "(he) confuses 'laid-back' with lazy acting."

Ouch. That one still hurts.

In this world of Instant Celebrity, it is nice to know that some of us still get a little frisson of excitement about press coverage of a project. I just finished a run of Fiddler (Tevye of course; I am finally old enough), and the local rags raved about it.

It's going in to my collection.

I don't dint look at the review until everyone else does and someone tell me about it. It is my " Bad Luck " superstition.
But why do I Act and Sing ??
The Rush on stage,The Fun Being with others having fun with your friends,The Applause. Its like Air to me.

Press can be sooooo tricky.

A friend of mine wanted a little press for his production of Angels in America but his announcement about it being "mature in content" backfired and he was picketed by the religious right. Of course, people came some to spite the protesters; others, to see what the fuss was all about. But another friend across town was doing Equus very quietly to full houses with more male frontal nudity thatn the brief exam room scene in Angels.

I also think it's a little hard to get excited about press that WE generate ourselves, like press releases. But attention that we get without any prior notice is -- most of the time! -- good news and a little thrilling.

Reviews, however, are something that I refer to as a two-edged sword. A good review can either make an actor arrogant or complacent; whereas, a bad review can either kill and actor's spirit or fire him up. And you can't look at your good reviews and think "What a discerning guy!" and then look at a bad review and think "Well, he obviously doesn't know what he's talking about." If you pay attention to the good ones, you gotta pay attention to the bad ones. Sometimes I think it's better not to pay attention to them at all and just do your best in the role you were cast in and do what your director is asking of you.

I think it is also always important to consider the source. Smalltown newspapers who do any reviewing at all often consider it their job to support the local little theatre and wouldn't give a bad review if a one-act ran 3 hours; they'd just mention the lovely costumes. And many reviewers simply don't know a lot about their subject. A large Southern town has a free arts newspaper critic who works as a mechanic full time and writes a column on theatre for the local arts rag. He once gave a review for a summer stock production of Mame that was so bad that they had to pull two musical numbers from the show because they were simply unable to pull them off -- a big rousing chorus number, "That's How Young I Feel," and the 11th hour ballad, "If He Walked Into My Life"! Nothing like telling a two hour story and not delivering on the "moral of the story." So how are we supposed to take any pride in a review writen by someone like that? Now, Frank Rich, yeah. John Lahr, sure. But Irma Bighairandglasses in East Jesus, Tennessee? Probably not.