Small Roles: The Actor's Best Friend (They Just Don't Know It)

It is Sunday, 9:33 and I’m a little under 24 hours removed from the closing of Tennessee’s William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Not only is it a beautiful play, but all in all this was a truly beautiful production. When I say that, it spans the WHOLE production. Beautiful set, lighting, acting and above all else I was privileged to work with truly beautiful, unique and inspirational human beings.

My role in the play was as Buster, one of the little “no-neck monstas” in charge of ruining the lead character Maggie’s day with hot buttered biscuits and skinamarinka dinka dinks. It wasn’t a HUGE role. The play was roughly 3 hours and 30 minutes long…and my total stage time probably equaled roughly 5 minutes. Sound terrible? Well, it actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

Every actor wants to be the lead, and anyone who says different is a liar. There is always a little part of us actors that wants to be the title character with all the lines and the most stage time. It’s that tiny narcissistic side that every human being possesses. That being said, when someone gets a “Buster”  or a “Chaplin the Valet” they can end up getting upset or wind up feeling bad about themselves. There can also be a sense of entitlement that comes out of it. After they read the cast list and see their name next to a minor character it can make their head spin thinking “I deserve better than this!” This article is specifically for that actor. The actor who has just been cast in a small role and thinks that it is the end of the world.

What a beautiful family

Let me start by telling you that IT IS NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK! In fact, you should be excited. Before you get a Rebecca Corbette in Rabbit Hole or Stanley Kowalski in Street Car you need to have those small roles. You, my friend, have just been rewarded with a chance to push your creativity to the limit. Time for an explanation on some acting lingo. In the very early stages of approaching a role you have to do your scoring and set up your Given Circumstances (the rules that set the world the play takes place in). This includes things like time period, setting, characters birthday, birthplace, etc. Basically it’s an origin story made up of events that have led them to the current period of time in which the play takes place. The way you establish your G.C.’s is through the script of the play. With the lead characters, the Givens are usually incredibly thick and the plethora of information given about the character leaves little room for creativity on the part of the actor. Don’t get me wrong! I’m not bashing lead roles (that would be stupid if I did) I’m just saying that one of the benefits of small roles is the ability to create your own Givens using the creativity of your mind.

that you’ve gotten the opportunity to play a small role before you go out and conquer the world as Rebecca Corbette in

Not much is said about Buster except that he is a no neck monsta, is from Memphis, is the son of Mae and Gooper, is a twin and plays pots as drums. No point of view is offered on his parents, no explanation of any aspirations or goals, a whole lot of room for creativity. Some actors would look at it as “I CAN DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH THIS CHARACTER! WHAT IS MY MOTIVATION! (Throws script on ground, spits on it, then proceeds to jump into his bed kicking and screaming)”. This is not the way to approach it. I decided to take what I was given and run with it.

When establishing my Givens I took into account the fact that I was the oldest of five children and I sing skinamarinka dink in the play for Big Daddy’s birthday. This was all I needed to craft the story of Buster Flynn.

It was acceptable in the 50's

MY ACTUAL ORIGIN STORY FOR BUSTER:

Buster is the oldest child in the family and is always in competition for attention from his father. He wants to grow up to be a successful author, but his parents and family don’t support him in this decision. They tend to neglect him. At home, all of his siblings ave rooms upstairs while Buster is stuck in the basement. His hobbies include watching Howdy Doody and play card games. Mainly solitaire. On Sunday its chores day. He has to clean the floorboards, empty the mouse traps and clean the cinders from the hearth. He is incredibly desperate for attention and approval from his family. It is for this reason that he subjects himself to performing tricks at his parent’s disposal, including singing skinamerinka dinka dink at Big Daddy’s 65^th birthday. It’s all a desperate search for love in Buster’s world. But despite this neglect and exclusion, he still finds it in himself to smile and have faith that everything will all work out.

Basically…I made Buster a male version of Cinderella. Only with a small role like this could I actually get away setting this as my back story and justify my overall objective of getting my father’s approval.

Cade Pierce letting me show some brotherly love!

Having a small role also allows you the opportunity to better your own acting process by giving you more time to watch the leads work. I got exceptionally lucky because each of the leads in this production of Cat were incredibly talented and dedicated to their work. Each person approached their work differently, too. I won’t name any names, because I don’t think they’d like me giving away their own personal secrets, but I still need to document them, because they will go on to influence my work and how I approach my roles. While doing read throughs with one of my very special and talented friends, it was interesting to see how he had highlighted his script. He would highlight is roles in yellow, the last sentence of the line before in pink (for the line reader to read) and what other characters said about him in blue. Another actor who I’ve looked up to, and have been slightly jealous of for the past year, but who I’m happy I got closer to this year made a special playlist with songs that he would listen to before the show. And one of the most dedicated actors I have ever met went so far as to dress up like his character at our very first cast dinner and spoke in a southern accent for the entire run of the show. I don’t think I would have been able to observe these processes if I hadn’t had the size of the role I did. The lack of stage time rewarded me with a plethora of experience and ways to approach my future productions.

I could go on FOREVER about the beauty of small roles, but I think you’ll only find that a small role is wonderful if you approach it as so. When I was cast in A Game of Love and Chance last year as a valet I hated it. I went into it with a negative mindset and it was a depressing experience for me. It’s fun for me to compare my role then to my role now. This role was probably ten times smaller, but I went into it with a positive mindset and it turned out to be one of my favorite productions that I have ever been apart of. A wonderful cast and a beautiful production team helped to make this show great. I will treasure my experience from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the amazing people I was able to work with for the rest of my life as an actor.

All I can say to the cast and crew is thank you for being you! Much love!