Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

When I first moved to New York City, I had an internship with the Circle Repertory Company. There are many amazing Actors and Writers and Directors I have met because of that theater company over the years, but there is one who will always stand out to me as being the best Actor I know. This is not to say that there are not other wonderful Actors who I have met over the years - my love of theater, my own growth and education as an Actress and Writer and my inspiration to continue following a dream of a creative life in spite of incredible odds that could have turned me away have been fed and nurtured because of the talent and passion and inspiration of many, many people. But from the first day that I met him, Brian Tarantina has somehow been an inspiration like no other, a pure creative force who I admired from afar and never dreamed I'd have the chance to work with, and then when I did work with him, he made my creative life and work come alive in a way that would have been unimaginable without him. I've been in plays with him in some of the most off the beaten track venues, blessed by the fact that someone of his immense talent and stature would take the time to be in a play not only with someone like me, but in the odd spaces and places where I began to produce theater when my own business was in its earliest stages. His amazing voice and his personality that brings so much music and texture and layers of depth to any play or film he is in has inspired me on many occasions in the plays and stories and monologues I was writing. And I'm in good company, because Lanford Wilson, one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century, often wrote plays with Brian's voice in mind and with Brian as part of the development process because his talent as an Actor is matched by his hard work and dedication to his craft that brings a naturalism to his work that rarely exists except with the greatest actors throughout history.

I had seen Brian two years ago at a celebration of the life of Michael Warren Powell, who had been the Artistic Director first of the Circle Rep Lab in the earlier days and who went on to bring the LAB into new stages when Circle Rep as a company no longer had a space to perform in. As I took my seat I heard a voice, that gorgeous and inimitable voice that somehow sounds like singing. Over the years people have tried to describe that voice, but there is no way to describe it. It's simply Brian's voice and one of the warmest and most expressive there is. Knowing him as I do, it brings back so many memories, not only of plays we have done or that I've seen him in, but of days and nights talking about theater, of his voice over the phone calling me up when I was feeling blue, or once when I was sick with the flu and he showed up at my door carrying orange juice and other gifts he hoped would help me feel better. And they always did - he's a treasured friend, and a creative spark that has kept me going through many a long dark night.

Recently I went to a reading of a play that I had heard he would be in, but the night I was there he couldn't be. It was a really great play and the actor who took his place was excellent, but I kept wanting to hear that amazing voice and see that amazing presence on stage. I called him afterward and while we talked he told me that he was up for a Screen Actors Guild award for his work in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," and when I heard he'd won I couldn't have been happier for anyone. In my book he's won awards for years, as an actor, a collaborative partner and a friend, but to have him have this kind of recognition from the Screen Actors Guild is an honor that he not only deserves but that will help him know how much his work is respected by so many. It's a fitting tribute to the way that he works that the award is for Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble In A Comedy Series because although Brian is a star that shines brightly, he is always a generous actor on stage and screen who makes sure to work with others for the best for all. I often say to people that Acting is the hardest art form anyone can love to do, because not only is it impossible for Actors to do their craft without other people, but we are reliant on other people to cast us, to write the plays, to direct well, and to do their part on stage or screen with us. An Artist and Craftsman like Brian Tarantina makes everyone's creative life come alive, inspiring the writers, making a director's job easy, and giving casting people someone exciting and inspirational to brighten their days. And to be on stage with him is an absolute dream, that amazing voice and his presence, dedication and camaraderie bringing any Actor's work to another level and showing us all what award winning acting can be.

Brian Tarantina

Photograph From The Artist's Profile

On IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/BrianTarantina