5 minute read

Bryan Batt

Bryan On his rich acting career and New Orleans’ postpandemic arts scene Batt

No doubt about it: local actor Bryan Batt was destined for the stage and screen. Encouraged by his arts loving mom, Gayle, at the tender age of 10 he took to the boards of the old NORD theater in the basement of Gallier Hall and has been acting since. New Orleanians know this native son by many hats, starting with the Batt Family’s ownership of beloved Pontchartrain Beach and star turns on multiple local stages (Tulane and Le Petit Theatre, to name two). He’s a Tulane Greenie who, in 2014, sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the university’s first home football game in the new Yulman Stadium. And while he’s been beamed into our living rooms as Salvatore Romano on Bravo-TV’s awardwinning “Mad Men,” not all realize the scope of Bryan’s big and little screen and theater work. At last count, this busy actor has 49 film and television credits to his name, most recent being the locally-shot short film “Garden District,” for which he won Best Lead Actor at the March 2021 London International Film Festival. And this isn’t to mention his many off- and on-Broadway roles, ranging from his first 1980s performances in “Forbidden Broadway” through starring roles in multiple musicals, including “Cats.” Among Batt’s other hats: co-proprietor with his husband Tom Cianfici of the beautifully curated Hazelnut gift and homewares shop on Magazine Street, Emeritus Governor and former board member of Le Petit Theatre, and author of three books (“She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother: A Memoir,” “New Orleans Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In,” and “Pontchartrain Beach: A Family Affair”).

Advertisement

WOW!

And even more wow? He’s simply the nicest fella you’d ever want to meet, easy with a big smile and hello for people waving to him on the street and happy conversations at the drop of a hat for friends. It’s no wonder that young, wanna-be actors gravitate toward Batt, seeking advice and asking how he “did it.” He laughs when he explains: “I just moved to New York blindly (after graduating from Tulane) and had no idea what I was getting into. It’s a bizarre business and you do sacrifice for it, at least in the beginning. Back then, the job ruled your life decisions; you performed no matter what, even when an immediate family member was dying or getting married, or you were deathly ill. Although now it’s more lenient and if it can be worked out, they’ll do it for your benefit.”

Secret

“I am an extremely shy person. One way I get through stressful situations is to pretend to be someone else. A lot of actors are that way, shy.”

GETTING STARTED

Acting was something Batt always wanted to do. NORD’s youth theater program in the ‘70s had a minimum age requirement of 12 years, “But I lied (to get in). It was ‘Lil’ Abner’ and I went on as Pappy Yokum when I was 10!” Then-producer/director Ty Tracy “was very open and progressive. NORD was for the children of the entire city and the only requirement was you had to be talented.”

LASTING LESSONS

Tracy taught the impressionable Batt three lasting, key theater lessons. About the importance of stage awareness, “I learned if you can see them, they can see you.” Of role gravity, “Don’t drop your character until you’re completely off the stage in your dressing room.” And most hard hitting, “All of you are replaceable; there’s a million people people lined up to take that part.” NORD opened his eyes about more than the theater. The privileged little boy from Isidore Newman, living a very protected life, was put into an incredible mix of New Orleanians from every walk of life had his eyes opened. “I didn’t understand the racial problem then. But it’s made me realize (now) how far we’ve come and yet still need to go.”

“IT WAS GENETIC!”

Batt comes by his theatricality naturally – he was born to it. “My grandfather (Harry Batt, Sr., Pontchartrain Beach founder) was quite a showman, larger than life. He loved the entertainment business and was a real impresario. I got part of it from him, and then my mom and her mother, Hazel Nuss, who had multiple dance studios.”

POST-PANDEMIC PLANS

About today’s dark theaters, Bryan Batt compares COVID-19 restrictions and cancellations to what we experienced in New Orleans post-Katrina. The same uncertainties and worries within the theater industry have been very much the same over the past year-plus. Batt describes how he wrote and performed in his one-man cabaret act, “Batt on a Hot Tin Roof,” at Le Chat Noir (then on St. Charles Avenue) the year after New Orleans’ post-hurricane devastation. “Barbara Motley (Chat Noir owner) called me and said, “Bryan, people are coming back, there’s nothing to do, no entertainment. Come sing your songs and tell your stories.” His husband Tom directed the hugely popular show, with its list of songs and stories about theater and personal New Orleans experiences, which he later took on the road. That same hunger for live performances is what Batt sees will drive audiences back to theaters across the country. Since spring 2020, he’s been busy reworking a one-man drama, “Dear Mr. Williams,” he wrote for and performed at the 2018 Tennessee Williams Festival. The drama is an exploration of Tennessee Williams’ time in New Orleans and the influence his works had on Batt, and Batt’s personal affinity for the great playwright. The revised work is a collaboration with Tony-nominated director Michael Wilson; they hope the play will premiere this fall and open Le Petit Theater’s new season.

AND PROGNOSIS

Batt is optimistic: “It will take a while for Broadway to come back. But New Orleans has always been kind of insular in good and bad ways. We’re naturally resilient. If it’s not working, let’s morph it into something else. If the glass is half-empty, add vodka! We celebrate everything – life, death, and everything in between. We’re gonna be fine!”

Trevor Wisdom is a native New Orleanian and managing editor of Nola Boomers.

This article is from: