Once a high school athlete who hoped to go pro, Dane Reis, learned how to pivot early on due to body injuries and surgeries. What started out as a favor to a friend of his sister, ended up being a long-time love and career. Mr. Reis is a successful actor, stage manager, and now host of his own podcast, where he talks with show business professionals. He chose to get on the other side of the interview and answered a few questions for me.
The test of any person’s fame is whether their notoriety transcends those who follow their field. Such is the case with Kobe Bryant. Upon learning of Bryant’s untimely death on January 26, 2020, many of Broadway’s finest felt called to thank him for the inspiration he provided.
I’m sitting on the cold bleachers as the pelting rain makes me thankful for my extra layers. Concession stand hot chocolate clutched between my gloves, I cheer for the home team. Looking down the sidelines and seeing number 22 is bittersweet. He stands, shifts, stretches – ready to go in to the game at any time. But that time never comes.
My first experience of a ceremony was in 2008 when I was an ASM for the London Handover in Beijing – (the big red bus with Leona Lewis singing and Beckham kicking a football from it!) Originally out in Beijing as Stage Manager for the National Youth Theatre (who were singing the UK National Anthem), I threw myself at the handover stage management team for the 10 days we were out there and offered myself up in any way that could make me even the tiniest bit useful.
Its been over 2 months since I was sitting on a wet plastic stadium seat about to watch the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia and its just been over a month since I finished working for the same organisation for the past 2 years. Along with many others I had a small part in working towards that point, the Opening of the Games and a week of major sporting events that followed.
Since we’re just days away from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang it seems like it’s the appropriate time to celebrate the silent heroes of the Olympic Games, the show creators of the Olympic ceremonies. Time after time they take something ‘impossible’ and turn it into a challenge. We have seen Muhammad Ali lighting the flame, James Bond parachuting into the stadium together with the Queen of England herself, An archer shooting a flaming arrow over an enormous crowd and a rocket man flying around the arena with a jetpack.
After 12 hours my legs were concrete slabs barely attached to the rest of my body. My heart was beating so quickly I swear the people next to me in line could hear it and were contemplating calling 911. Sweat was forming and dripping seemingly from every pore in my body and my brain was overwhelmed with an incessant buzzing, intermittently interrupted with the lyrics to “I Hope I Get It.”
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