According to Tip - A History

ACCORDING TO TIP

In two months According to Tip will finally be born on the stage of New Rep.

It's been a long and winding road. Here's how it began.

in January, 2001, I embarked on the project of writing a play about Tip O'Neill, a legendary character and an important figure in American history. I had no experience as a playwright, but as a longtime television commentator and speaker I already knew about writing for the spoken word as opposed that that which appears on the page. As a professional presenter I also knew about crafting stories and about delivering what audiences want.

Moreover, I knew the former speaker well. I had covered him for years as a TV journalist. I assumed nothing, though, and spent the first three months of the project on research. I reread everything of note that had been written about him. I sought out friends, colleagues and adversaries for their insights, something I have continued to do as the years have rolled by.

In April of 2001 I set to work on the first draft of the play and by July it was finished. I was naive enough to think my work was essentially over. Silly, silly boy.

That summer we staged a reading before about fifty friends and acquaintances. That was my first wake up call. I knew that I had something, but that it was far from a finished product - really far. I went back to the drawing board and began rewriting - and then re-writing again.

At this stage Michael Allosso, who is a well known acting coach and director, came into the picture. He helped in the shaping of the script and directed three workshop performances that were held at the Vokes Theatre in Wayland, MA. Actually, they were somewhat more than workshops because the actor (me, if you can believe it!) was off-book. The audience again consisted of friends and acquaintances. The workshop performances were not open to the public and no one paid to see fledgling production. Rita Fucillo of Playbill Magazine and The Show of the Month Club was invaluable as a producer during that period. In June we did a truncated version (twenty-five minutes) for potential investors.

Here's what I had learned so far; we were getting better but we weren't ready.

Back to the drawing board. Finally, in 2005 we were ready. We thought. There was still something missing. We didn't have anyone with real business sense at the helm. I was in charge of the money, a sure recipe for disaster, which was just what ensued.

I relied on pledges of support from people I had solicited and blissfully went ahead and rented and, and paid for, Zero Arrow Theatre. What happened next still makes me cringe. Prospective investor after prospective investor backed away when it came time to write the checks. I had been too innocent, or incompetent, take your pick. The money didn't materialize and I had already spent about one hundred thousand dollars given by early investors.

The plug got pulled on the show, I was in debt to the tune of six figures, representatives of an actor in Los Angeles were threatening to sue and I was all alone. Just me and my script.

But a year later, like Lazarus, I thought I and my project were rising from the dead. A friend of mine, Seth Yorra, who has wide experience in theatre both here and throughout Europe, put me in touch with a producer in New York. The guy had some big-time credits, many of Eddie Murphy's movies, for example. I sent him the script and met with him to give my pitch, but before I could begin he said not to bother, that he had read the play and was in for the full amount of the production's cost. Hallelujah! We were off and running. Or were we? The producer was going to fund the project with an influx of money coming to this country from Eastern Europe. But a funny thing happened to the money on its way to America. It never showed up.

And we were back to ground zero again. Somehow, though, even though it had cost me considerable money and considerable heartache I never gave up on the project. I believed in it. I felt it was too good to let die.