{"id":547,"date":"2021-12-28T20:01:22","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T01:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sakatajeanne\/?p=547"},"modified":"2022-03-14T18:20:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T22:20:42","slug":"547-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sakatajeanne\/547-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MACBETH at The Public Theatre, 1990\u2013My Mainstage Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

I walked down the halls of New York\u2019s Public Theatre in the early morning, and gazed at the photos on the walls in awe.  Meryl Streep.  Raul Julia.  And so many more theatre and film luminaries and legends.<\/p>\n

What on earth was I doing here?!<\/p>\n

It was the first day of rehearsal for the New York Shakespeare Festival\u2019s production of MACBETH, starring Raul Julia.  The director, Richard Jordan, had cast me as an understudy at Los Angeles\u2019 Mark Taper Forum in Vaclav Havel\u2019s morality play, TEMPTATION, and I had gone on for a performance, and Richard had heard good things about me.  He told me he wanted me to come to New York to audition for one of the witches in MACBETH.  \u201cAnd you\u2019ll be auditioning for Joseph Papp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

I was floored.  Wasn\u2019t New York full of actors who could play this role?  Why on earth was he asking me?  This understudy job was my very first job at the Taper, and my theatrical experience before that was largely 99-seat theatres, often working for little or no pay.  But somehow Richard saw fit to ask me to come to NYC to audition for the legendary Joseph Papp!<\/p>\n

I flew to NYC and memorized every line of the \u201cchestnut speech.\u201d  I planned out my audition costume\u2013scraps and rags thrown together.  A dear friend, Meg Kruszewska, coached me on the audition.  I would start the monologue lying on the ground, croaking ungodly sounds out of my mouth.  I\u2019d slowly rise and raise a rattle in the air above my head, do an incantation, perform the monologue, spin madly around in circles, and collapse in a heap to the ground.  <\/p>\n

Then I got the phone call from casting director Nancy Piccione.  \u201cJust calling to confirm that you will be auditioning for Mr. Papp at 1:00pm at the Public. tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

GULP.<\/p>\n

I got there early and rehearsed the lines over and over in the hallway.  Richard Jordan opened the door and smiled at me.  \u201cDon\u2019t worry, you\u2019re going to do great!\u201d  he said.  And I walked into the room and there was  Joseph Papp.<\/p>\n

He smiled kindly at me and greeted me.  \u201cI\u2019ve been hearing good things about you from Richard here.  But you\u2019re too pretty to be a witch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bless his heart!  But\u2013did that mean I wasn\u2019t going to get the part?  Suddenly I was worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, let\u2019s see what you\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

I took a deep breath and collapsed on the floor and began croaking ungodly sounds out of my mouth.  And then I did the monologue exactly as Meg and I had planned, and collapsed on the floor again.<\/p>\n

It was over. I had no idea  how I\u2019d done.  <\/p>\n

I slowly looked up.<\/p>\n

Mr.  Papp looked at me, then he looked at Richard Jordan.  He smiled.  \u201cOK,\u201d he said to Richard.<\/p>\n

Richard looked at me, beaming.  \u201dJeanne—\u2018OK\u2019 means you got the part!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

If I could have levitated into the air above the Public Theatre I would have.  I couldn\u2019t believe this was happening to me. \u201cTh-thank you so much!\u201d  I think I managed to stutter.   \u201cI\u2019m so honored to be part of this production.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the first day of rehearsal.  I am staring at a photo of Meryl Streep on the wall, and who should come around the corner but the star himself, Raul Julia.<\/p>\n

\u201cH-hello, Mr, Julia.  My name is Jeanne Sakata and I\u2019m going to be one of your witches.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled said, \u201cAND I AM RAUL.\u201d  He said it quietly, but I had to type it in BOLD just now because that\u2019s the way I heard the words, like they were thundering through the ears of this little 99-seat theatre actress who was still stunned she was in this production.<\/p>\n

So much more to tell, so much more!  But how very fortunate I am to say, this was my first mainstage Equity role.  <\/p>\n

This is where it all began.<\/p>\n

MACBETH<\/strong>
\nNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, PUBLIC THEATRE, 1990<\/strong>
\nPictured:  Raul Julia, Jeanne Sakata, Mary Louise Wilson, Katharine Hiler.
\nPhotos by Martha Swope,  \u00a9The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\t<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\t<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I walked down the halls of New York\u2019s Public Theatre in the early morning, and gazed at the photos on the walls in awe.  Meryl Streep.  Raul Julia.  And so many more theatre and film luminaries and legends. What on earth was I doing here?! It was the first day of rehearsal for the New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlight"],"metadata":{"_edit_last":["38"],"_wpac_members_redirect_to":[""],"_wpac_show_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_show_excerpt_in_search":["0"],"_wpac_nonmembers_redirect_to":[""],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"],"_edit_lock":["1647296352:277"]},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMACBETH at The Public Theatre, 1990\u2013My Mainstage Debut - Jeanne Sakata<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/sakatajeanne\/547-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MACBETH at The Public Theatre, 1990\u2013My Mainstage Debut - Jeanne Sakata\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I walked down the halls of New York\u2019s Public Theatre in the early morning, and gazed at the photos on the walls in awe.  Meryl Streep.  Raul Julia.  And so many more theatre and film luminaries and legends. 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