LGBT film festival qFLIX is over and a grand time was had by all! But for those of you craving a culture fix, have no fear, GayFest!, the LGBT theater festival, is next on the community’s arts schedule.
With four main-stage productions and half-a-dozen one-night shows, there’s something for everyone! Comedy, drama and music are all part of the 16-day festival staged by Quince Productions. Talented actor and director (among other things) Bill Egan stars in one of the productions, “Mother Tongue,” opening Aug. 14. Egan has been in lead and background roles in everything from “The Sixth Sense” to “Veep.”
He took a moment between rehearsals to speak to us about life on and off the boards.
PGN: Are you a Philly guy?
BE: Born and bred. I went to Cardinal Dougherty High School and Drexel University and got an MBA at Eastern, so yeah, I’m from the area. I spent a few years in New Jersey, not far from the bridge, but it wasn’t for me. I was like, Where is everything? I had to get a driver’s license for the first time.
PGN: We moved here when I was a kid from the New York/New Jersey area and the only thing I knew about Pennsylvania was from a National Geographic story I saw on Amish people. I remember thinking, I am not wearing one of those bonnets!
BE: That’s so funny. Speaking of the Amish, that’s one of the shows I worked on, both as an actor and with the art department: “Amish Mafia 3” on The Learning Channel. I do a lot of work booking entertainment for the Atlantic City boardwalk, so it was during our down time in the winter. Then I worked on what was first called “Amish Horror Story,” a takeoff of “American Horror Story,” but they changed the name to “Amish Hauntings” on the Discovery Channel. In “Amish Mafia” I play a security guard. There’s a black Amish sect in Kentucky and one of the guys comes up and tried to take over Levi’s territory. A lot of the real stuff that happens to these guys gets integrated into the storylines and that’s all I’m allowed to say. It was really interesting, and fun.
PGN: I know you wear many hats. Tell me about some of them.
BE: For a long time I was doing sales and marketing at a corporate level and doing the acting thing on the side. I was working with medical-information systems, which is what I got my MBA for, with a focus on hospital administration. We’d study medical ethics instead of business ethics, etc. I did one of those MBAs in 22 months while working full-time and doing plays at night. I originally went into acting from college and did fairly well and then all of a sudden the roles for 20-something men seemed to dry up and I was like … What am I going to do? So I got a corporate job with a steady paycheck and insurance.
PGN: When did you start working with Plays & Players?
BE: I got involved with them in 1989, between high school and college. That was before there were 500 small theater companies in the city. People would come from New York to audition for roles because it was close enough to get agents to come down and check them out. Plays & Players was used by a lot of playwrights for trial runs of their shows. Terrence McNally had most of his first performances at Plays & Players before taking the shows to New York. I remember my first audition. I was 18 and was auditioning for the part of someone in his 30s or 40s. I figured I’d played 30- or 40-year-olds in college, why not? So I get to the audition and the New York director was like, “So, how old are you?” I said 18. He said, “Huh, I thought you were 12. You know in theater we actually have 35-year-old people to play 35-year-old people.” I was like, “Oh, OK.” But the children’s theater was casting a show at the same time and one of the directors was sitting in at the other audition. The next day I got a call to do a part in “The Wizard of Oz.” I developed a relationship with Plays & Players and Society Hill Playhouse and other companies in the area that lasted for years.
PGN: And some of your other hats?
BE: Well, my primary focus is acting but I also like to direct, mostly theater projects, and as a supplement I started getting involved as an art director in the TV and film world — everything from set decoration to wardrobe to props, anything to establish the look and feel of a scene. It’s a great way to learn about the TV and film business. That’s how I got into directing; when I didn’t get a part I’d volunteer to assistant-direct as a way of still being able to participate, and that eventually led to directing. Learning about all that goes into a show helped me understand more as an actor too.
PGN: What was a favorite role as an actor?
BE: Last year I was in the GayFest! show “Take Me Out,” which was a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a fictitious famous baseball player coming out, and his relationship with his teammates and how people reacted because he was such a popular player. We did it right before the trend of a lot of professional athletes coming out. Funny enough, it was one of my straight friends who played the gay player and I played the straight friend. It connected to so many facets of my life: theater and sports and identity.
PGN: Did you play sports?
BE: Yes, baseball, volleyball and soccer, pretty much everything but football — and I love football, just never played. More recently, I’ve played with the gay volleyball and softball leagues. My dad was the coach of every team imaginable and I have two younger brothers and a sister who were also into sports.
PGN: You just wrapped up the qFLIX film festival. How did it go?
BE: Really well, people really enjoyed having the festival back in the Gayborhood and the films were very well-received. We had filmmakers from other countries around the world, as far away as Uganda, and the locally made films were a real big draw as well. Next year will be even bigger and better and, in the meantime, we have a few special programs planned during the year. Film idol Tab Hunter will be here Oct. 20 and we’re giving him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
PGN: You mentioned a summer hiatus, but you actually have some acting gigs coming up soon.
BE: Yes, there’s a show called “Over My Dead Body” starring Linda Hamilton from “Terminator” fame that’s airing on the Discovery Channel. I worked on that last summer as an actor and as an art director and it’s airing now. I played something different each week, from a cop to an EMT, etc. I even got to play one of the killers once — well, attempted killers. It airs Monday nights. She was great to work with, very professional and down to earth. And then I’m acting in the upcoming gay and lesbian theater festival, otherwise known as GayFest!. I play a lead character in a piece called “Mother Tongue.” It’s a very funny, modern sex comedy. We have a lot of fun, comedic shows this year and some really good actors. Rich Rubin, the producing artistic director, tried to make it a lighter experience this year. There are a few more serious pieces, but for the most part it’s lighthearted fun.
PGN: There were a lot of good but serious films at the film festival so this will be a nice contrast.
BE: Yes, and a lot of the shows will take place at my old stomping ground, Plays & Players. We are also having shows at Studio X, which is the home for Theater Exile. It’s right around the corner from Broad and Reed.
PGN: There are so many great little theater spaces popping up all over the city!
BE: It’s true. Over the last 15 years, despite a lot of government funding being cut, people are finding ways. It’s a great sign that theater is still growing in this city.
PGN: Biggest theater mishap?
BE: There was one show where I went on stage and completely lost my voice. It was at a show in the Shubin Theater, and I had to come out and deliver a few lines and nothing came out. The other actors finally figured it out and delivered the lines for me! Of course like any actor, there have been times when I’ve skipped big chunks of dialogue without even realizing it. The more you do it, the more you get used to covering when a phone that is supposed to ring doesn’t, or an actor who’s supposed to knock on the door doesn’t give you the cue. It’s all part of the thrill of live theater.
PGN: I always had nightmares that I’d forget what day it was, like I’d look at my watch on a Wednesday and go, “OMG! I thought it was Tuesday! I’m supposed to be on stage!” and then wake up to find it was still only
BE: Oh yeah, I have those nightmares. Or that I’m on stage and saying the lines to the wrong show! And my fellow actors would go, “Why are you reciting Shakespeare? This is a Terrence McNally show!” I’d wake up in a cold sweat.
PGN: When did you get the acting bug?
BE: When I was a kid we went to see “Babes in Toyland” on a school trip. I wasn’t shy but I wasn’t overly outgoing, but the villain came in to the audience and pulled several kids onto the stage and it was so much fun. Especially being able to see what was happening backstage, I wanted to learn more. My family had no connection to theater; the first play that most of my family saw was something I was in. They were very supportive, although at one time I’d done the play “Our Town” so often that one of my aunts said, “I love you but if you do this show again, I don’t care if it’s on Broadway, I’m not coming.” But of course she came to everything anyway … and usually fell asleep by the second act.
PGN: Was it ever difficult being an out actor?
BE: I don’t think so. [Laughs] I think it’s almost harder in theater these days for straight actors because everyone assumes you’re gay. When someone says they’re straight, the reaction is usually, “Uh huh, really?” TV and film is a little different, for as many who have come out, there are still a lot in the closet. My personal story is a little different. As a teenager I was really misinformed. It was during the AIDS epidemic and I thought saying that you were gay automatically meant that you were going to get AIDS and die. There was no other information and no one was saying anything about it. There was no way to look anything up and no one to talk to. Later on, I found out that one of my uncles was gay but I didn’t know that for years later. The only equation that I knew was gay equals death, as crazy as that sounds now. So in college, I got cast in a show with a friend from high school. We started dating then got engaged. Then, of all places, at my grandfather’s funeral she mentioned that her license was coming up for renewal and that it would be nice to have my last name when she got the new card. For some reason that cut through to me and I was like, “Oh my God, what am I doing?” There was this whole dramatic moment when I told her I was gay and it was harder than telling my parents or anybody else since. I was so overwrought that when I finally told her, she said, “Oh thank God, I thought you were going to confess that you killed someone and needed me to help conceal the body!”
PGN: That’s quite a leap! [Laughs] What’s that say when that’s the first thing your fiancé thinks of?
BE: Well, she was an actress and we tend to go for the drama! My parents separated when I was young. They went to high school together, married and had three kids before they were 21. They got divorced in the ’80s and the Catholic Church gave them a hard time, wouldn’t give them an annulment, so they had to go to other churches to be remarried. When I told my dad, he said, “Don’t worry about what the Church has to say. When I wanted to love someone else, they rejected me so remember … ” [Stops to wipe a tear]. My dad said, “Go and love whoever you want.” It was a real special moment.
PGN: Aww, so sweet. Random questions. What is your favorite LGBT movie?
BE: Wow. That’s like picking my favorite kind of ice cream. Geez. I think it all depends on what was going on in my life when a certain movie came out. I remember “Longtime Companion” having a huge effect on me. I’ve been lucky to meet and work with many people from that cast. Then I was able to play a supporter of Tom Hanks’ character in “Philadelphia.” “Jeffrey” had a huge effect on me, and I loved how mainstream it was, especially in terms of casting, and have been fortunate enough to play the character Steve at the Walnut Street Theatre Studio. I also remember — see I told you this was going to be tough — sneakily renting any movie by Pedro Almodovar. I mean, a young Antonio Banderas doing gay movies … Wow! More recently, I think the best LGBT films have come from HBO: “Angels in America” and “The Normal Heart,” to name a few. OK, I’ll stop there. I could go on and on.
PGN: If you were to perform in the circus, what would you do?
BE: Well, I really love animals, so maybe something like that. But, I really like trapeze, so I would probably end up there.
PGN: What’s your middle name? Why?
BE: Well, my middle name is Joseph, so technically my full name is William Joseph Egan IV. You can check my driver’s license, so the why should be obvious. But alas, there will be no fifth.
PGN: What quality do you like in a man?
BE: I’ve always been drawn to artistic people. Someone who can make something in a new way or see something I’ve never thought of before.
PGN: If you were a Smurf, what would your name be?
BE: Honestly, I was always intrigued by Hefty Smurf — was that his name? [Laughs] So I would be whatever Smurf he wanted me to be.
Find out more about GayFest! at http://www.quinceproductions.com/gayfest.html.
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