My friends have always told me that
I’m incredibly good at spotting or finding celebrities in public places. So, it
was no surprise that I was the first, and one of the few, people to notice that
Tony Kushner was attending a theatre performance at USC this past weekend. Tony
Kushner is a highly acclaimed playwright, best known for writing Angels in America. This year, he rewrote
one of his plays, A Bright Room Called
Day, and our MFA theatre students are the first to produce this new work.
When I told my friends that he was
there, they all responded by asking me, “How did you know? I don’t have any
idea what he looks like.” And, quite honestly, I had no idea what he looked
like either. I read the environment around me and guessed that he was Tony
Kushner. I came to this conclusion because when I arrived at the theatre, there
was a small huddle of people off to the side, a bit out of place from the
normal crowd that attends USC SDA shows. I thought it might be a group of
agents and managers that the school invites to see their Year 3 MFA Students
perform, but I recognized one of the people in the group to be Camryn Manhheim,
a fairly well known actress. I personally know her television work from Hannah Montana in which she played
Selena Gomez’ mom when Selena was on the show as Mikaela, Hannah’s arch
nemesis. I had actually met Camryn Manhheim in 2011 at my sleepaway camp. Her
son had just started going there and she approached me to ask questions about
the camp. Oddly enough, I ran into her again while shopping about a year and a
half ago. I thought it was pretty funny that we were crossing paths again.
So, I looked at the group Camryn
was with and saw a little Jewish guy, realized that Camryn was probably friends
with Tony Kushner, stared at him for a second, walked into the theatre, saw a
row of reserved seats, and decided that they were in fact reserved for Tony
Kushner. It would make sense that he would come see the show considering he
hadn’t heard his words out loud yet. I googled him to confirm what he looked
like and naturally, I sat right next to the reserved seats. When he came into
the theatre, he saw the reserved seats and decided he would rather sit in the
back instead to keep a low profile.
I was incredibly excited he was
there. I look up to this man more than any other playwright. Now that I have
just begun my own journey in playwriting, I use his writing as an inspiration.
I think he is brilliant. But, since coming to L.A., I have learned not to
approach celebrities. I should let them live their lives and not add stress by
asking for a picture or advice. A few other people began to notice that he was
there, but not many. One woman tried to take a sneaky selfie with him and it
was clearly very awkward. After all, he sat in the back for a reason, right?
During intermission, my friend
Jordan said she wanted to go talk to him. I tried to stop her, saying we
probably shouldn’t bother him. But, she went anyway. She sat and talked to him
for ten minutes. He asked her a lot of questions about her life and
aspirations. I watched as they were talking and regretted not doing the same. I
realized that it’s not always bad to talk to someone with celebrity status.
Plus, no one really knew who he was, so quite honestly, he probably appreciated
when people could spot him. As I continued to reflect, I got jealous. I was the
one to spot him, so I should have said something. It’s interesting how there
are different levels of fame, different ways that fame is shown, and different
abilities you have with your fame. Tony Kushner is incredibly famous, most
people in the theatre world would know his name, and so would many others as he
is a Pulitzer Prize winner, but rarely would people know his face. He is more
famous than a lot of celebrities that get spotted on the daily, but Mr.
Kushner’s lifestyle and fame are tailored to the fact that he is a playwright. He
can generally walk around unnoticed like a normal person whereas a performer
cannot.
From this experience I learned that
not all celebrities are the same. I shouldn’t follow a general rule to never
talk to celebrities. I think the reason I have set this rule for myself is
because I realize that celebrities are just people and they should not be held
on a pedestal just because they got lucky and had their work noticed. But, with
that being said, there is no reason I should completely discount approaching
someone whose work I admire. It will not always be appropriate, but there are
times when it is okay.
Although I didn’t talk to Tony
Kushner, I did talk to Camryn Manhheim’s son who I had never met, but with whom
I went to the same sleepaway camp. He told me that his first feature had just
come out: Zombies, a Disney Channel
Original Movie. Sure enough, I went home, opened Netflix and saw his face on
the home screen as the image for Zombies popped
up. You all should check him out! I’m sure he will reach star status in a
matter of time.
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