ACCOMPLICE
LEND ME A TENOR was a hit. Press notices, word-of-mouth and e-mail all sang its praises and made it necessary to add extra performances. "People who came backstage asked, 'How did you make it look so easy?' Well, not by taking it easy. Tiger Woods doesn't make it look effortless by exerting no effort. It's a matter of commitment - effort and teamwork. There's no place for individual stars. A Barry Sanders can't be a great running back by himself. He's part of a team and if they don't all function perfectly, he doesn't either. There were no individual curtain calls. That, like the whole process, was strictly ensemble."
Jack has strong views about community theatre. The term itself, he contends, carries a stigma for most people. "It conjures up the picture 'amateur/ amateurish.' But some of the best shows I have ever seen were huge Equity Broadway productions - and some of the worst shows I have ever seen were huge Equity Broadway productions. The same goes for community theatre. I saw the original Broadway production of JOSEPH AND THE MAGIC TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and I've seen scores of other versions - but none of them was as good as one I saw at a community theatre. A central danger for community theatres, in Jack's view, "is that they tend to become as inbred as a litter of prize poodles. Instead of mutual support theatres are too often at each other's throats. If you're involved in - and particularly if you are in charge of - a community theatre, it's not just desirable, it's your solemn responsibility to see the work being done by other theatres in your community.."
"Magic Circle seems to me to be a very young company that is already doing work of a professional quality as high as any in this part of the state. I'm glad if I've been able to contribute to that. BUT the last thing I would want now would be to be taken on as some kind of permanent actor/director in residence at Magic Circle! That kind of move gives you a feeling of safety, sure. But, when you become safe you become complacent and you stop growing. . .The craft of acting is a never-ending process of discovery and growth. I think of my godfather had it right. The guy couldn't screw in a light bulb, yet he was a hugely successful vice president of a giant firm. How did he do it? He told me: 'I always surround myself with people who are more, not less, talented than I am - and then I make it possible for them to do what they do best.'"
Community theatres, Jack insists, should do just that - and too often do just the opposite. They form a resident cluster of home-grown performers and technicians - and then around them, on a piece-work basis, cast a transient labor force of less talented people. The aim, as with some of the old barn-storming ham-actors of the 19th century, is to make the star - in this case the resident team - look better by comparison.
"It never works," Jack Stauffer declares. "All that happens is that you maintain a kind of lowest common denominator of your existing standard. It's an attitude of theatre people that reflects a malaise in our nation as a whole: Americans are more and more programmed to live in an atmosphere of accepted mediocrity. Throw up barriers to keep people out and that's a pretty good guarantee that you'll stagnate. People keep telling me there's only a 'limited talent pool' on the Monterey Peninsula. Don't you believe it! The problem is that a lot of performers of real ability are just tired of auditioning again and again and never getting parts."
With more than a quarter century of professional theatre, movie and TV work behind him, Jack Stauffer now declares with disarming honesty, "I'm looking for work! I still have a passion to grow and to learn. What I dreamed of doing when I was five years old I still dream of doing today. And I hope I can find opportunities to do it with people who are more, not less, gifted than I am - because that means I can learn - even maybe even steal something - from them!"