241: 20 Acts in 60 Minutes
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from W.E.C. Chicago, it's this American life on My Real Glass. There's this theater company in Chicago that for years put out a new show every single week where they performed 30 plays in 60 minutes, called The Neo Futures. And when we first broadcast today's program all the way back in 2003, a bunch of us were sitting around talking about that group and one of us had just seen one of those shows and we thought, you know, that would be really fun. Thirty stories in 60 minutes? Let's try that. Instead of our usual, each week we choose a theme, bring you three or four stories, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What kinds of stories would we end up with if we did 30 in one hour? Or even 20? What would it sound like? We honestly had no idea. And so, that's what we're going to do today. Today we're going to find out. And I have to say time is wasting if we're going to fit everything in. How many will it be? How many will we squeeze in? There is but one way to find out. And that is to stick around. And let's begin with this one. Back one. Don't I know you. Throughout this hour, we're going to be bringing you two-minute documentaries, fantastically short works of fiction, and all kinds of little stories that we ordinarily can't use on the radio show because they are just too short, even though they're really fun stories to listen to and perfect stories for the radio. Our first story is one like that. It's one of those stories. You know how people, you know, have their greatest hits stories of things that happen to them. We went on a massive search for stories like that from all over the country. And this is one of the stories like that that we found. And I happened to this actor named Tate Donovan. He told it to our producer, Starley Kine. He was at one night going to a Broadway play with a friend, being treated in this way. He never gets treated. We're sitting around waiting for it to start. And, you know, I'm not a very, I'm not a sort of recognizable actor. I'm an actor who works, but I never get recognized. So, all of a sudden, like, you know, the ten minutes we're sitting there for it to start, you know, three or four people come up to me and recognize me. I mean, they know exactly who I am and they are recording lines from a television show I was on. I'm like, "Hey, you were Joshua on Friends." And I've always admired stars who are really gracious, you know. So, you always think, "You know, that's what I want to be like. I want to be really friendly when I'm famous." So, I wanted to be friendly and sweet and go out to the people. They don't have to come to me all the time. So, for like a little window of time though, you were exactly the kind of celebrity that you wanted to always be. You were gracious and reserved. And warm, you know what I mean? I wasn't like one of these distant celebrities. I was like, "Hey, I was genuine." They all left thinking, "That guy's a really great guy. He's like so sweet." I was exactly how I wanted to be. I was doing it. I was doing great. And then the kid with the camera came along. And this nervous kid. He must have been 16 years old. He's in a rented tuxedo, unbelievably, like shy and awkward. And he's got like an acne. And he's got a camera in his hand. And underneath the marquee is his date, who is literally like a prom dress. And she's got a corsage. And she's really, you know, nervous and sort of clutching her hands. And he sort of comes up to me and he sort of mumbles, you know, something like, you know, something about a picture. And I'm like, "I just feel for him." So I'm like, "Oh, absolutely. My gosh, sure. I have no problem. My God, you poor thing." And I go up to his girlfriend and I wrap my arms around her. And I'm like, "Hey, where you from? Fantastic. I'm going to see the play. It's great." And the guy is sort of not taking the photograph very quickly. He's just sort of staring at me. And he's got his camera in his hands and he's down by his chin, you know, and she's very stiff and awkward. And I don't know what to do, so I just lean across and I kiss her on the cheek. And I'm like, "All right. Come on. Take the picture. Hurry up."
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