On Sunday, January 14th, 2001, Jonathan and Richard participated in a benefit event for LAMEC (Los Angeles Media & Education Center) with several General Hospital stars. There, they performed a scene from Sam Shepard's True West, playing the part of brothers. The following are fan reports and photos from the event and the post-party that followed.
photos:
The following were supplied by Alison and Liz's Stephen Nichols
and Mary Beth Evans Scrapbook
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Two more photos can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/fossl_2000/LAMEC/lamec2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/fossl_2000/LAMEC/lamec7.jpg
miscellaneous:
jonathan:
"We went into a bookstore, and we're like, we gotta find a play, and we couldn't find anything. We watched a tape of True West of John Malkovich and Gary Sinise doing it, and we laughed all night long watching it. So we just thought it'd be fun to do. It's a brothers piece so..."
richard:
"It's kinda cool how the audience gives you a kind of energy. It's like you can almost feel their eyes, and yet you're totally doing what you're doing. It's almost like they give you a kind of energy. It's kinda cool."
Click here to read an excerpt from the play!
NOTE: I don't know which scene they performed; it may have been this one, it may have been a different one. Also, I *believe* Jonathan played "Lee," and Richard played "Austin."
reviews:
...the Jackson brothers tackled Sam Shepard's ''True West''. This was some high drama for the boys, who were good but neither one of them looks old enough to drive so it was pretty cute seeing them do this scene...
...Next up, the Jackson brothers. They did a scene from TRUE WEST about two brothers trying to make it in Hollywood. I loved them, I loved the scene and I loved seeing Jonathan again. I agreed with Caren here, Jonathan did overact here. But the range this kid has. The subtleties (sp?) he's capable of. I was completely sucked in. Not only is he LUCKY, he is SO much more. And I was almost equally impressed with Richard. The scene: 7. The talent? 10...
...JONATHAN JACKSON - I wasn't going to talk to JJ because he's one of those people I'm slightly in awe of. But people seemed to be leaving him alone so I went over to chat. The kid is shy. I felt like a bumbling fool. I told him how wonderful he was etc, etc. He was nice but damn quiet. I didn't get the sense he had anything lined up job wise. (Yes I did that TV schmooze talk thing.) And I did notice though that Elizabeth Korte made a point of going over and talking to him. Would he come back? I bet he would but that's just my gut from last night...
JJ wasn't being ignored. He just had times where he wasn't being asked for pics and autographs. Stephen, Sarah & Maurice always had people around them. It's really no surprise considering most of the people there were in their 30s or older.
Jonathan definitely had fans there.
I wasn't leaving him alone. I got pictures and autographs of him and his bro. They were so kind. I asked JJ if he thought he would be doing any scenes for GH in the near future and he said not at this time. Sorry Becca. It may be a while.
...The Jackson brothers were both very good. Jonathan overacted a bit, but he was still wonderful. Richard, although not quite in his brother's league, was also quite good....
To begin, let me just say I had a GREAT time and came away with even more respect for GH's actors.
The evening began with NICOLAS CAGE of all people!!! He introduced his favorite teacher - John Ingle and made a nice speech about the wonderful contribution to teaching LA's children that LAMEC will provide. He was very down to earth.
I will just describe the parts I liked best.
John Ingle and Leslie Charleson (who is SO skinny) introduced each scene. John did a solo skit later that night that was hilarious, called ''YMA dream''...do you remember David Letterman saying ''Uma meet Oprah'' at the Oscars the year he hosted? Well John's skit was sort of along those lines...but expanded, LOL! It was classic.
Lisa V and Tava performed a scene from Graceland. Which was truly FUNNY, and they were really great, high energy! Graceland is about a couple of real Elvis fanatics. I thought they were both able to do a lot more comedy in those roles than they are allowed to on GH, and it is something they are great at.
After them came Lane Davies (!!!) and Nancy Grahn in a scene from the Sure Thing. They were AWESOME. Theirs was easily one of the favorites of the night. The scene was just their style, that witty romantic comedy. And Loren Freeman who plays Eldon on GH was cupid in the scene. It was classic, I really enjoyed that one.
Jonathan Jackson and his brother Richard Lee performed a scene from True West, a Sam Shepard play. Jonathan was truly magnificent. He has such stage presence. He blew us away.
STEPHEN AND MARY BETH played a scene from Night of the Iguana. Mary Beth played a spinster (forgetting the name now) and Stephen played T. Lawrence Shannon the defrocked priest. The scene opened with Stephen writhing, tied up on a hammock trying to get free. Mary Beth's character was an artist drawing him. They were both WONDERFUL. There was a lot of sexual tension between the characters, and they play that so well. There was a very involved discussion between the characters, mostly about her lack of experience (ahem), and he seemed to really want to reach out to her. Their chemistry was on full display. It was definitely my favorite of the night. (but then, you knew it would be, LOL).
The last scene of the evening was Sarah Brown as Lizzie and Chad Brannon as *Star Buck* in a scene from ''The RainMaker''. Sarah was the standout, she really blew us away. Very in the moment, and has a strong stage presence. She played so many emotions in the scene, all so convincingly. She took your breath away and what a scene to end the evening with. Chad Brannon fans would have been sawoooning, he took his shirt off.
All in all, I would have to say my favorites were as follows:
Drumroll....
(1) Stephen and Mary Beth's scene (duh!).
(2) Nancy and Lane's scene from the Sure Thing
(3) Sarah as Lizzie in The Rain Maker
(4) Jonathan Jackson in his scene from True West
(5) John Ingle's skit (YMA Dream)
Afterwards, right outside the theatre, there was a tent set up. It was colddddddddd! But there was good coffee and lots of people. Lots of actors and their families mingled about.
There was a lot of press in the tent, and lots and lots of pictures BETTER be out in the mags.
The play was from 8-10 and the party lasted til about 1am.
Tava, Stephen, and Maurice were the last ones there I think, but almost everyone stayed for a long time. The food was good! A great buffet style spread!
Unfortunately we could not take a picture of Nicholas Cage because we had to refrain from the use of flash photography during the show. All of the stars were so friendly and willing to sign autographs and pose for pictures at the party afterwards. I have to say that Chad Brannon was exceptionally friendly, as was Mary Beth Evans and Stephen Nichols.
Jonathan Jackson's hair is now longer than it was when he was last seen on GH, and he is even cuter in person. Both he and his brother were soooo kind. I noticed that when a fan asked JJ if she could take his picture, Richard offered to take the fan's camera and take the picture of the both of them so she could be in the picture too.
They say the camera adds 10 lbs, so I figured the stars would be thinner than they are on TV. But I could not believe how skinny Maurice Bernard, Chad Brannon and Stephen Nichols are. Maurice was still in his costume after the show, which was like an outfit from the 1970s, and he had a 70s hairdo. He was still cute though.
Who did I think was ''drop dead gorgeous''? I'll tell you. BILLY WARLOCK. He was flawless, and was parked only 2 cars away from me in the parking lot. He wasn't in the show so I guess he had to park in the public parking like everyone else.
There were 3 stars in the audience that were not in the show (but they were at the party afterwards). They were Frank Scanlon from Port Charles (he was a real cutie-but I can't remember his name), Billy Warlock, and Coltin Scott. Coltin and Billy both had a date with them.
Landon Wine seemed much younger in person than his Character, Andreas.
Constance Towers and Jacob Young were not there afterall.
It was a great night! I LOVE LA!!!!!!
I went to the event last night and had a great time. I took some nice photos, I think,since they're being developed now. Everyone was very nice,and I spoke with a lot of the cast that I know from GH. I spoke with Jonathan just a minute--how I first met him at the set when he was first on the show--he remembers. Anyway,the short scenes from the plays were fun to watch, and everyone did a great job. Very entertaining.
If you went to the event and would like to share an opinion or any photos, please email me at J2@nufnuf.com :)
