American Schauspieler

2007-01-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

What we are

2006-07-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

Bio for Alexander Thomas

2005-07-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Member Screen Actors Guild & Actors Equity Association

Alexander Thomas was born and raised in Albany New York (USA). He has studied acting and peformed in New York City and Los Angeles.

He began writing in '96 and premiered his solo play, 'THROW PITCHFORK', off-Broadway at New York Theater Workshop in 2002 and had a regional premiere later that year at The Kitchen Theater Company in Ithaca, NY. 'THROW PITCHFORK' has also appeared at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California, The Jaw West Festival in Portland, and the October Festival in NYC. 'THROW PITCHFORK' was the closing performance at the 4th annual Thespis Mono Drama Festival 2004 in Kiel, Germany and received a "Besondere Auszeichnung" (Special Honors) Award.

'THROW PITCHFORK' is published by Playscripts.com.

He is currently touring and promoting 'BLACK STUFF', a two man show which he co-wrote and performs with LeVan D. Hawkins. 'BLACK STUFF' has played the National Black Theater Festival 2005 in North Carolina and recently ran at The Kitchen Theatre Company.

Some of Thomas' other stage work includes; Athol Fugards "Swize Bansi Is Dead", Genets "The Blacks", Sam Art Williams' "Home", and the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award winning production of the Viet Nam drama, "Tracers". Thomas appears in the short films"Sleep Tight" and "Invisble Scream".

Some of his training includes classes at The Stella Alder Studio, the Sam Christensen Studio and the Miesner Technique with Richard Pinter.

He currently resides in London, England where he is developing his new piece, Other Within, which explores the lives of Blacks living in Germany during the Hitler era.

Alexander is on the "Usual Suspects" list of artist with The New York Theater Workshop.

What is THROW PITCHFORK about?

2005-06-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

Willie Thomas, an overworked, alcoholic, African-American father, passes on a legacy of self-hate and anger to his four sons: Jimmy, Wesley, Cleve, and the youngest, Alex. Each finds his own way to digest this legacy -- Jimmy through hard drugs, Wes through petty crime, Cleve through education and the arts. The older brothers are seen through the eyes of young Alex, who had a pitchfork thrown at him by his father during a drunken rage. He desperately searches for self-definition as he attempts both to emulate and separate himself from his brothers and father. His search crystallizes when his father's true story is revealed -- as a child, Willie suffered a cruel injustice at the hands of a racist Alabama penal system, which virtually robbed Willie of his childhood. Written for one energetic actor, Throw Pitchfork explores serious terrain with much comedy.

What is BLACK STUFF?

2005-06-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Written, developed and performed with writer/performer LeVan D. Hawkins.
An unbiased, often irreverent, uncensored, satirical trip through the sometime murky, often contradictory labyrinth of Black identity.

FOR MORE INFO GO TO: http://www.blackstuff.net/

OTHERS WITHIN: ANATOMY OF A WORK IN PROGRESS

2005-06-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

When I began researching the lives of Blacks living in Germany during the Hitler years as a possibility for a short theater piece, I didn’t know what to expect, and did not expect much.

When to my surprise I discovered not only that there were some estimated 20,000 to 25,000 Blacks (many as citizens born and raised) in Germany at that time, and that there was also (albeit not well known) a wealth of information already written on the subject, I was inspired to create a full theater piece out of the material.

THE PROGRESSION OF OTHERS WITHIN
Others Within began has a 10 minute solo-piece and had four performances along with 7 other 10 minutes pieces at Highways Perfomace Space in Santa Monica Ca, USA - under the bill NOT ABOUT ME, and then another performance at the Power House Theatre in June of 2005. It had a workshop performance as a solo piece in Sept of that year at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, New York.

It's next incarnation saw the development of a 2nd character thus becoming a two-hander with a 50 minute running time, which had a staged reading in London, England at the Oval House Theatre directed by Tunde Euba and featured actor Anthony Ofoegbu (both London based artist) along with myself, in December of 2005.

The continued exploration and research has forced it grow and open up even more and now it is two-act play with 5 characters. This version was workshopped with New York Theatre Workshop as part of one of their week long residencies at Vassar College June of 2006

It rewrites and adjustments continue and it will now have a reading at the English Theatre Berlin (formerly Friends of Italian Opera) in Berlin, Germany, featuring actor Cornell Adams, Sept 17th 2006

The title "Others Within" is taken from a chapter of Duke University Prof. Tina Campt's book "Other Germans" a seminal book in this field of research. Tina Campt has also offered some much valued advice on the development of this play.

Stay Posted.

Walking Black (excerpt from Black Stuff)

2005-06-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

I was 14 when I started walking Black. Nobody taught me, I figured it out. I know that’s a little late, but I was kind of a nerdy kid. I was real short, had big feet, gangly arms, a gawky walk and was always daydreaming. I got tied of other black kids telling me I walked like a white boy. They’d stop me just to tell that. “ Hey, you walk like a White boy.” I couldn’t do it right away I had to practice before I took it outside. The only thing worst than a Black guy walking like a White guy is a Black guy walking like a White guy trying to walk like Black guy.

So I figured it out scientifically. It’s in the bop. It’s in the little bop. You bend the knee a little bit and get a bounce and a bop. Then take a step and a bend and a bounce and a bop, step, bend, bounce and a bop. Practice around my bedroom first; step, bend, bounce and a bop, step, bend, bounce and a bop, step, bend, bounce and a bop. Then feverishly, step bend bounce and a bop, step, bend, bounce and a bop. Around the house, whatever I did. (mimes doing house chores: sweeping or mopping) step bend bounce and a bop, step, bend, bounce and a bop. Finally, I took it outside. Downtown in my “hood” I felt good, I felt connected. I felt Black!.

Then I’d go uptown and run into some of my White friends “Hi guys!” They would ask; “Why do Black guys walk like that?” They would give me that look; that,You’re Black, aren’t you’re an authority on everything Black, look. I would say “ The walk. Oh, that. Well, you see, it comes from, ah… Africa! It stems from the cultural tradition of the tribal transition from the boyhood to the manhood of the brotherhood into the jungle-hood…that’s why we call it the hood! They would wipe a couple of strands of hair out of their face, like this, and just look at me. In some unconscious effort to fit in. I too would then wipe hair, which wasn’t there, out of my face. And every move that they made, flipping their hair back, running their fingers through it, I found myself emulating precisely their movements even though I did not have that kind of hair and it wasn’t about to fall in my face. Then I would go back downtown with the brothers and I would go, “Yo…(catches himself wiping hair and stops abruptly) what’s happening brothers?”

(Exits)

excerpt from Others Within

2005-06-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Berlin, 1938, an after hours jazz club, late but still too early for any serious business it’s almost empty. Maurice sits up stage with his back to the audience. He is playing a piano. A rag-time jazz type piano playing is heard. Claus sits up stage at table, a drink in front of him and a newspaper. He reads the front page. He pulls an unopened envelope out of his coat pocket, stares at it, and puts it back then takes a drink, stares back at the paper, then pulls out envelope again, puts it back, drinks. He repeats this until the piano tune ends. He swings around facing Maurice and claps in hands in applause.

Claus:
Sie spielen sehr gut.

Maurice:
(Maurice turns a little startled when he sees Claus)
My man! I didn’t even know anybody was in here yet…not this early. What’s that you saying?

Claus:
Sie spielen sehr gut...oh, Sie sprechen kein deutsch...Sie sind kein Deutscher... you don’t speak German...you are not German, are you...?

Maurice:
Well, hell no, my man…

Claus:
…Americaner…

Maurice:
Yeah, America… but you know, I speak...ah, ein...bischen (mispronunciation)

Claus:
Ah, Ein bischen...a little

Maurice:
Yeah, man, a little, I only know a little.

Claus:
Nur ein bischen…ok, you know only a little, I will speak only a little (Laughs) I said you play good. You play your music very good.

Maurice:
Well, I came to Germany to play, I guess. What’s so funny, man?

Claus:
You Americaners…hmm… you are…ah…. lazy. You never speak another language. Black, white, you never bother.

Maurice:
Lazy…well, most of these cats speak English anyway. You speak pretty good German, homeboy. What’s your name? My name’s Maurice.

Claus:
Ich bin Claus

Maurice:
Claus! Claus! What are you German?

Claus:
Ja, I am German.

Maurice:
You German?

Claus:
Ich bin deutsch. Ich wurde in deutschland geboren und habe hier mein ganzes leben lang gelebt. Verstehen Sie? You understand a little?

Maurice:
A little bit…

Claus:
I said “I was born and lived my whole life in Germany”.

Maurice:
That’s what I thought you said.

Claus:
I know; Sie wussten gar nicht, daß es ueberhaupt schwarze Leute in Deutschland gibt ...understand? (Maurice indicates he does not) “You didn’t even know there were black people in Germany”, right?

Maurice:
You got that right.

Claus:
Americaners, hmm… I read about you. You think you are the only black people on the planet…other than Africa of course.

Maurice:
Been touring Europe the last decade since 1928, in and out of Germany, ain’t never seen a black man claiming he’s German.

Claus:
You have never even heard of it have you?

Maurice:
No, I heard something about this. The Rhineland…you from the Rhineland, right?

Claus:
No! I am not one of those Rhineland bastards. I am a German citizen, a citizen!

Maurice:
Ok, you’re a citizen; don’t get in tizzy, keep your skivvies on my man. No harm meant. Have another drink, Claus…on me.

(Maurice pulls out a flask, opens it and sets it in front of Claus)

Maurice:
I got to keep my own mojo workin’ know what I mean, Claus? Go on man, get a taste.

Claus:
Get…a taste?

Maurice:
Yeah, get a taste.

Claus:
Taste…schmecken

Maurice:
What?

Claus:
Taste…

Maurice:
Yeah, get a taste. Take a drink.

Claus:
Ah, drink, ach ja, danke

Maurice:
You welcome...ah, bitte, bitte. (Claus takes a drink. It’s clearly very strong stuff)
That’s shipped from back home. That’s boot-leg back woods, down-home, sho’ nuff country shit. That’ll jack you up, blitz you out blotto, baby.

Claus:
Sprechen Sie englisch?

Maurice:
What?

Claus:
English…

Maurice:
Yeah, you speak English, right?

Claus:
Ja, I can speak English. You are not speaking English.

Maurice:
I speak English, sucker; I’m from America. I’m American… ick been American.

Claus:
Ich habe mir das gedacht. Ich kann Sie kaum verstehen.

Maurice:
You a black German I’ll be Got-damn, ain’t that a bitch, ain’t that a blip, ain’t that a blippity bop, de bloop, de bleep.

Claus:
What means you Americaner?

Maurice:
Where’re you from, man?

Claus:
Ich habe Ihnen gesagt…I told you. Ich wurde in deutschland geboren und habe...

Maurice:
Yeah, yeah you “geboren” here got it. But where’re you really from, slick? Where’s your people from, your momma, your daddy. Where’s your daddy from?

A Published Rant About Critics

2005-06-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago the LA Times ran an article about the state of cultural criticism, called Critical Condition, which was basically about how critics are bemoaning (whinning about) the fact that their power for making or breaking a piece of work is on the wane, mostly because of the internet and blogs like this where any person can print their response to a film, a play etc. I wrote back a letter and they actually published. An artist got to critique the critic(and get published) how cool is that?!
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LOS ANGELES TIMES - LETTER: PART II
Sunday June 5, 2005

Critic's Credentials

I have often asked myself, "What is the skill of a critic?" "What is her discipline?" "What does he practice everyday?" "What do they do?

When I performed my solo play, "Throw Pitchfork", off-Broadway, it was the result of a daily regimen of writing which turned into weeks, which turned into months. Then a couple of years of flying back and forth to New York for workshops with groups of seasoned professional writers, directors, actors and dramaturges who gave feedback and insights based on their years of activity and experience, forcing me to rewrite and restructure the piece that I had already worked so diligently on.

Then came the rehearsal process, since I perform my work as well. A grueling three weeks of rehearsal at New York Theatre Workshop: seven hours a day, six days a week on my feet going over every moment, every movement.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not an artist who got bad reviews and wants to whine about it. In fact, I had many excellent reviews from impressive New York sources, and only one bad one.

But still I asked myself those questions I posed earlier: "Who is this person that comes, sits on their butt for the length of my show, does not talk to me or any other artist connected to the production, does not talk to an audience member (in short, does no work), goes home and writes a not very skillfully written critique of my work?"

"What do they do? What are their skills and discipline?"