The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 137

SPOTLIGHT By Kathey Clarey The Fresno Bee iiwuii Acting workshops Saturdays beginning April 17 at John Robert Powers 4747 Firet St Cost: $400 Classes open I ton: 265-655 57 more than 400 television shows in 50 feature films and more than 80 plays moment of inspiration came when he was 14 and seated beside a friend in a movie theater kept saying better than that guy up seen him act and thought a lot better than he So I started taking drama lessons and acting in community By the time he was 19 Platt had put together a one-man show in which he played Abraham Lincoln After a performance one night a white-haired man with tears in his eyes came up to him and said really heard the Gettysburg Address for the first time that evening Platt knew then that acting was his work His credits include the TV shows and and the movies and Cat From Outer and more than 75 plara He and Callahan have done commercials The two met -on a show called and in 1974 and have been friends since They agree acting is a hard business even more today than when they started I first came out here and went for an audition it would take only one interview Now you go to three for four interviews where 18 or 20 people are Bitting around at a table at 10 in the morning waiting for you to make them ay or make them you look at the numbers quit immediately" Callahan said if you have a dream one door may lead to three doors and those three doors to another who ever made it been told by at three people James Callahan James Callahan and Howard Platt have decided to put their acting experience together and take it on the road One of their first Btops will be Fresno where they will do a five-week workshop that begins April 17 Who are these guys? Known more by their faces than their names they have racked up credits in television movies and theater Callahan may be best known for the role of Walter Powell on the TV series in Platt recently appeared as a judge on The day of the interview he was due at an audition for Law" Callahan joked about having to leave that afternoon to dub for the movie of the Living Dead Part have to suck blood through a he said send you a Why are the actors doing a workshop in Fresno? Driving back to Los Angeles from their native Chicago a few weeks i Callahan i Platt developed the idea of sharing their experi-eilCeS with aspiring actors and others who can use acting techniques in their work They decided on Fresno for a couple of reasons Both did plays by William Saroyan early in their careers and the pressure and urgency to succeed as dominant here as in Los Angeles actor can build a foundation in a place like Fresno begin acting on a more relaxed Platt said Platt said that the workshop is for everyone who wants their lives to be more successful: all storytellers The better we tell the story the more we expand our imagination the better our lives will be" One of the things they plan to share during the five-hour sessions is respect for people in different jobs and to be nice to everyone because the way you treat people can make or break a career Their advice: let ego get in the way can learn from Platt said learn from people in our seminars always an exciting always asked do you know if got Callahan said answer is hard work talent and the dream to succeed Anyone who has ever made it has been told by at least three people he Asked why he became an actor Callahan said I was young and darling and handsome what else could I The real story goes back to an eighth grade play in which he was the only boy in an all-girl cast knocked over a fake chimney and ad-libbed a line Afterward the sister said to me That was very good And I thought finally did something In the Army a director friend convinced Callahan to join the special services unit and act in plays He was hooked After he was discharged he went to the University of Washington where he did a play every nigjxt for two years He has since appeared as a guest star on has has least he all storytellers The better we tell the story the more we expand our imagination the better our lives will Howard Platt THE FRESNO BEE Sunday April 4 1993 SPOTLIGHT 3.