The road not taken

The road not taken

For Oscar nominee Chazz Palminteri, producing with two friends
offered a new series of choices and challenges.

By Jennifer Richmond

Daily Bruin Staff

Life seems to be a series of choices. They range from simple
things like what to eat for dinner to major decisions like what to
do for a career.

Three theater professionals made a decision to work on a play
together, a play that just happens to be about life-long choices
and their long-term effects.

So, on a hot day a couple weeks ago, Academy Award nominated
actor Chazz Palminteri, his friend actor/writer Dayton Callie and
director Jana Robbins got together at Robbins’ Hollywood home and
discussed Callie’s one-man show, "The Participant," and why they
made the decision to produce the show.

"(The play) was a lot of things that were important to me," says
Palminteri. "You know, choices about how people could change their
lives.

"I really admire Dayton (Callie) for getting his act together
and writing this thing and getting it out there because not only is
it a theater piece, it’s a piece that people can see and relate to.
And they can be better people when they leave the theater. It’ll
make them think, which I think is important."

The show was created by Callie two years ago

"I was just sitting around one day, contemplating my life and
what happened and what was going on and it was a very contemplating
kind of day," Callie says with a chuckle.

"Well, tell them what you were thinking about," Palminteri
says.

"So, yeah. I was sitting there. I said ‘What the hell happened?
How did my life end up here? How did these things go on in my
life?’ Really, just how the fuck did this happen?"

"Take the ‘F’ out," director Jana Robbins instructs the
reporter. "But if you come see the show, you’ll hear that word a
lot."

How the "F" this happened is Callie’s life had started to fall
apart right around the play’s conception. His two children were in
prison and he’d recently been divorced.

"Dayton was going through a lot of pain at that time,"
Palminteri says. "It was a time in his life where he just thought
about the things that he was doing and realized that sometimes
you’re not responsible for your children.

"You realize that they have to be responsible for themselves.
And that no matter how much you try to raise your children in the
best possible light, you can only take so much responsibility and
the rest is really theirs.

"He thought about what he could’ve done that he maybe didn’t
do," Palminteri says, "and so, that’s why I think this is such a
play from the heart because it’s about being a parent, but it’s
also about being a child. That’s why I think this piece is so
important for other people to see."

The director was interested in the show because it’s about a
person coming to terms with the choices that they make in their
life. "It’s really about who your role models are," Robbins says.
"There are a lot of kids getting involved in street gangs and
violence at this point in time." This is what Callie was looking
at.

"You know, what choices did (Callie) make in his life as a child
and then as a father that caused some negative experiences in both
his own life and the life of his children?" Robbins continued. "And
in what matter was he responsible and what matter wasn’t he
responsible?"

The director believes that Callie created a dramedy that makes
you laugh while taking a moment to look at yourself and your life
in a serious light.

"It’s very strange that (you’re watching the show and) you’re
laughing and laughing until the tears run down your face," Robbins
says. "But you walk out of the theater and go ‘Wow. I have
something to think about here.’"

But the real reason the show makes you think is because boys
grew up thinking that being the best was being the toughest, having
no fear and learning how to fight, talk and act like a man. "And in
this play," Robbins says, "(the audience) gets to take a look at
what it is to be tough, to be strong, to fight; but what that gets
you is often ending up alone, having a lot of fights in your life
and more problems."

STAGE: "The Participant." Written by/starring Dayton Callie.
Directed by Jana Robbins. Produced by Chazz Palminteri. Running
through May 23 at Theatre Geo. Monday and Tuesday at 8 p.m.
TIX:$15. For more info call: (213)466-1767.