Stephen Nichols Fan Event

2001

~Recapped by nicholsevansfan~

Once again, it was a beautifully organized event, thanks to Linda P. and her helpers, and Lisa Nichols who arranged the very generous spread of food. We were given ‘Stephen’ t-shirts as gifts.

The Crystal Trees will get a kick out of this…the backdrop of the stage was trees (painted on cloth). It’s for the set of another play that is currently running, “Zimbabwe”. So all the pictures of SN that you see will have trees in the background, LOL!! Don’t cha’ just love it? Perfect setting 🙂

Ok, so we fans sat in the theatre seats, and Stephen came out, wearing all black, onto the stage. To say the man looked FINE is to not do him justice. He was simply gorgeous. I LOVE his hair and the beard. He was wearing that medallion necklace too, the one we all saw in the Emmy pictures. He said Lisa gave it to him as an anniversary gift.

Here are the highlights of the Q&A stuff:

As soon as he came out on stage, he checked out the audience and asked Sue, “Hey, where are the kiddies?”

There was some discussion about boxers vs. briefs, and he said it depends what he is wearing. 🙂

He said he had been trying to get back to theatre for the past two years. Regarding “The Zoo Story”… he still has high hopes for that coming through, maybe some time around January. Getting the rights has been difficult. Also hindering that production of Zoo Story is the sad news of Robert Guennette’s battle with cancer. (He had some tumors but is responding well to chemo). If you remember, he is Stephen’s long time friend who founded LAMEC.

Regarding GH, he took it in a realist’s way. He likes the paycheck and he isn’t going to give it up, but he thinks they are fading him out because they eventually just want him off the show. I guess there was some good news…he said for the past three weeks, he has been taping 4 days a week. He thinks its because they owe him (contractually), and didn’t mention any particularly good scenes coming up…but then, no one asked him about that either. Anyway, that means that soon, for a while, we will be seeing him a lot more than we are used to. Yay!

He said that he gives his scenes their all even when they don’t make sense, that’s his job. He also said if/when his job doesn’t fulfill him creatively, it’s important for him to do other things outside of work, and this play is one such thing.

He said LA theatre isn’t taken seriously. He said a lot of the actors doing theatre in LA don’t just do it for love of the work, they do it because they think that some Hollywood hot shot is going to show up to see the play and pluck them off stage for some movies, and that it doesn’t happen. He made the comparison to NY where that does happen at times because plays and theatre in that town are taken seriously by the actors and the industry. In order to do the play in LA, he has to have a job like GH, because theatre doesn’t pay. You do it for love of acting onstage.

About the play itself: he definitely sold me!

The play is an “examination of the psychology of the priesthood”, why people become priests, what happens to them when they become priests, how they transmute (use the energy that people feed them). I said something like, “You have some experience with that, too”, and Stephen said “I do have a little experience with that, too”. He also said some of the play is based on the playwright’s own experiences when he was a priest or going to become a priest.

I asked Gidem’s question that she suggested (I asked a few things, I wasn’t shy, LOL) about what is harder to play- a real life person or a fictional character. Stephen EMPHASIZED that the play is NOT about the real life guy from the Covenant House. It is just similar to the whole concept and controversy of that real life event. He is not playing that real life guy. So I said, ya, but you played Jim Morrison. He answered the question and said it’s not necessarily harder, it’s just different. You have free reign within the script in creating/portraying a character that is all your own, but when it’s a real life person, you have to try to capture the essence of who that person was. Stephen didn’t want to do an imitation, he just wanted to get to the heart and soul of the character of Morrison, rather than play his mannerisms. He said some people who knew Jim came to see the play, and some of them loved him as Jim, and some walked out saying “That’s not Jim”. Ah well….guess they expected Jim to rise from the shes, LOL.

Stephen is very happy, grateful and excited over the mail he is getting. He said it’s so great to open up that mailbox 🙂

We asked about whether writing to the show is futile. He said he doesn’t know how GH measures popularity. All he knows is they do count how much mail each actor gets, and they do focus groups. His concern with focus groups was that, the less he is on, the less they notice him. Of course he isn’t going to be popular with focus groups if they never see him on the show, or if he has some tiny bit part. How can he get new fans if he is never on? It’s all about the amount of exposure.

An SNL fan asked if SNL would ever get back together. Stephen said highly unlikely.

Linda K. asked if Stephen had seen Mary Beth on As The World Turns. He said he hadn’t, but he added that he had seen some of As The World Turns and it looks like a good show. The episode he saw was with Hunt Block, and Stephen said he was really good as a slimy guy. Stephen said it’s a good show, “Another Possibility”. He said it low key…but it got my attention! I think he meant he wouldn’t mind going there when it was time to look for a job.

I said it’s a very character driven show, and he said, what like Goofy and Minnie Mouse, LOL.

He said it’s his dream to do NY theatre, but he didn’t say whether or not he was going to pursue it. He reminded us that before GH came up, he was considering a move out there to do a NY soap and do plays on Broadway.

He asked if Mary Beth was going to be a regular on ATWT and we said no because she lives here, and he said, “Oh ya, that’s right she can’t.” LOL. But he was curious about her role. We said it was very well written. And SN knew about Hogan Sheffer because someone said he didn’t write for soaps before, and Stephen was the one who brought up that Hogan Sheffer was working for Dreamworks before ATWT. Stephen said ATWT would probably give her a contract if she was willing to stay in NY. I said she has a central character that could be a really major role if she did stay.

He said that when she was in NY, she called him up and told him that “they” (the show) had gotten her an apartment for her and the kids, and told Stephen he should come out and hang out for a while, but he couldn’t because of GH and the play.

I asked him what director or actor he would like to work with that he has never worked with before. He said he likes Stephen Soderbergh (director of Traffic) a lot, and Scorsese, and Sean Penn’s directing. He likes Penn’s movies even though they never get the attention they deserve. He would like to work with Jon Voight as an actor. Voight was a mentor of his; someone he would call up for ideas on how to approach a character.

Stephen was asked by Stefan’s Minion if he was on a deserted island, what would he name his volleyball. He hadn’t seen Castaway, so he didn’t get it until it was explained to him. He answered “Baby” …LOL… to which I said how about ‘Sweetness’? I don’t think he heard me. 🙂

He mentioned that his real life brother is expecting his first baby. He and his blues band are popular in parts of Europe and go tour there sometimes.

He thinks the dynamic with Stavros and Stefan could be interesting if it leads to explaining why Helena hates Stefan.

Sherry (Cassaho, SNL, SCGA) won a prize (raffle) which was a huge picture of Stephen.

After the Q&A’s, we had pics and autograph signings. Stephen was just so wonderful with everyone. He really tries to give everyone their quality time with him, and he appreciates fans so much. He looks you right in the eye when talking to you, too. He was very sweet to me. 🙂 When someone was taking our picture, he was hugging me and there was a delay, and then someone else wanted to take one, so we were waiting for that, and I said (OUT LOUD!) I don’t mind waiting at all! LOL.

I am kind of in fear for my life now, though. I had to take pictures for like five or six different people, and if those pictures don’t come out, I am dead meat! LOL. Pray for me? 🙂

I had a wonderful time. As always, Stephen knows how to make us smile. 🙂

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