Thomas G. Waites draws from a lifetime of experience for his one man show, Lucky Man – A Warrior’s Journey. (Photo: Thomas G. Waites)
Thomas G. Waites is taking the highs and lows of his multi-hyphenated life on stage with Lucky Man – A Warrior’s Journey, an incredibly personal one-man rock monologue backed by his band, Heartbreak Waites.
Now running through June 22 at The Gene Frankel Theatre, Lucky Man begins in 1976, immediately following the moment when Waites was forced out of Juilliard’s Drama Division. Two years later, he began to find himself in starring roles in On the Yard, The Warriors, and The Thing.
Despite the fact that he was working with heavyweights like Al Pacino and Kurt Russell, alcohol was consuming his life and destroying his career, marriage, and family.
In Lucky Man, he shares the lessons he learned through attending AA, friendships, music, and love.
He spoke with The New York Independent about his impactful career, getting co-producer John Goodman to come on board Lucky Man, and how his acting school, TGW Acting Studio, continues to inspires him.
The New York Independent: It’s very brave to bring your personal story to the stage.
Thomas G. Waites: If I don’t make it go well, there’s no backyard. It’s fight or flight. It better be good, or else!
Tell us about the decision to share Lucky Man. Why now?
Last year I did a production of Much Ado About Nothing with my students. Afterwards, I got my heart broken as a result of ensuing circumstances. I was betrayed and hurt so badly by people I loved. I was paralyzed by the pain. I said, ‘Waites, are you going to lick your wounds, or are you going to do something with it?’
I felt so unlucky in love with all of this stuff. That’s when I thought of Lucky Man and all of the great things that have ever happened in my life, and I stitched together a draft of it. I brought it to The Actors Studio. Estelle Parsons was the moderator. Kathy Narducci [of The Sopranos] is a former student of mine, and she’s a member of the studio and she was in the front row. They gave me amazing feedback and said, ‘You’ve got something really great here, just don’t do this. Think about doing something else.’ Ironically, the question of finding what do in place of it became the dramatic action.
Later, I was supposed to play for a gig in Manchester. I had rotator cuff surgery so I couldn’t play. I did my one man play instead! I did it for these guys at a bar and they were stomping and screaming. It went really well there. Now I have this great director named Joe Danisi, who is also from The Actors Studio.
You have done so much stage work. How does writing your own story compare with the rest of the credits on your resume?
Getting naked would be easier than what I’m doing. Some people write in an allegory, and some people write autobiographically. I don’t think of myself as a writer. I’m a guy that writes. I’m good with dialogue from doing so many plays.
Tell me about the title Lucky Man: A Warrior’s Journey.
I was in a film called The Warriors. I got fired from it. It was catastrophic at the time. I thought it was going to kill my career. I am a warrior. I fought through the wilderness and I’m still standing. I believe that I can inspire other people that are ready to throw in the towel themselves. You have to fight if you want to survive.
How is music incorporated into your life story?
I’ve been writing music for a long time. I had a band in the 80s called The Pushups. I used to do one-handed push ups at CBGB as part of our act! Then I moved into more of the music that I like, such as Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen. I’ve always been writing my own material and trying to find different iterations that would express the music properly. The music in Lucky Man is important music from a broken heart and helps mend the heart. The songs are a Greek chorus and reflect upon the actions of the central character and what he’s doing. It goes pretty deep.
How did John Goodman come on board to join producers Evan Azriliant and Without a Net Productions?
John and I have been good friends for many years. We cut our teeth together as actors. I saw him in Big River and knew he would work for the rest of his life. He’s amazing. We did a TV movie together called “Face of Rage” with Danny Glover. We’re both in recovery, so we kept in touch about that. I told John my story and he trusts [my voice]. He knows my talent and he’s seen my writing before. I’m very committed, passionate.
You have seen and done it all from film, to television, to theater, to music. Is there a genre that has left the most profound impression on your life?
Shakespeare. He’s the greatest writer to have ever lived. How many people have tried their hand at writing, and the result is only about 100 literary geniuses. Shakespeare has given me a livelihood because I teach it at my Actors Studio. I also like directing.
Choose two experiences from your vast career that were most influential.
The first was playing Prince Hal in Henry IV at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. It came after playing Richmond in Richard III with Al Pacino on Broadway. I was on my way out of a performance when I just happened to catch the eye of a British director who was running the festival for a summer. He saw my performance and called my agent and said, ‘Here’s our season, he can play whatever part he wants, just tell us what we have to give him.’
So I got to play Prince Hal, but I got bad reviews. Those are moments that change you if you let them. I said to myself, ‘Are you going to take this laying down, or are you going to fight?’ I flew my voice teacher to Cleveland and had him go through the text with me. Even in just one night, the difference was incredible. I had completely transformed by the third performance. I called the critic and asked him to come back. He was blown away.
The other experience was working with Al Pacino on a number of [film and theater] projects. American Buffalo is a three-character play! To get to do that when you’re a young actor… the electricity! To watch him work every night was incredible. He’s a real artist.
Tell us about your TGW Acting Studio. Why did you create it and how does it continue to grow?
A lot of people teach acting. I think it’s really important that an acting teacher knows how to act. Prove it! Don’t just sit there and criticize it. You don’t know what it’s like to carry a motion picture on your back, or do a lead in a Broadway play, or be an episodic television guest star, or go to Baltimore to do a play for eight weeks. You don’t know what that’s like until you have done it. Hopefully you’ll be able to impart the pragmatic aspects of acting and how to be able to do it day in and day out. I teach classical technique mixed with method. It’s my own style.
What would you most like people to take away from Lucky Man?
Buoyancy, hope, pain, joviality, and catharsis.
Lucky Man plays Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM and on Sundays at 3 PM, and runs for 85 minutes. The Gene Frankel Theatre is located at 24 Bond Street in New York. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by visiting luckyman.eventbrite.com.
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