tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723695801125487014.post5620011530769068308..comments2022-12-02T13:16:32.839-08:00Comments on Jordan on Film: Andre Gregory: Before and After DinnerJordan Chodorowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17464841059379948758noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2723695801125487014.post-83292327151005603332013-05-09T13:48:55.854-07:002013-05-09T13:48:55.854-07:00Andre's home for many, many ... possibly too m...Andre's home for many, many ... possibly too many years, was the Theater of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. He pressed the flesh all over town to get production money, solidly a total give away, to produce what he considered art. It is debatable how many others agreed, but Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch both cut their teeth working in his theater. When it was sold by Ray Murray a couple of years ago, there was a radio funeral for the theater, although it is actually still standing, but Murray had started out working at TLA while Andre was the director. The stories were legion and perhaps legendary of characters that these actors to this day have not fathomed what it was they were supposed to be doing in plays that made little or no sense. In some ways perhaps futile, but in others perhaps a masterful training ground for actors to look well beyond what is on the written page for meaning. Still, the best thing that I think I ever saw Andre Gregory do was what he never pulled off, Wallace Shawn in "Uncle Vanya". The film was directed superbly by Louis Malle, but the performance was crafted by Shawn and Gregory, and it is well worth a look. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com