Feature: John Behlmann Emcees the H-Town Cinema Celebration

This Friday's H-Town Cinema Celebration, Discovery Green's celebration of Houston filmmakers and film organizations, will give Houstonians a fun night out and a great movie. It's also given the night's emcee, John Behlmann, an excuse to come home.

(Like any true Texan, Behlmann admits he misses "good queso and Houston Texans football." Family and friends, too.)

His time away, however, has been well spent. Behlmann has racked up quite an impressive list of credits, having appeared in great films (like THE WOLF OF WALL STREET), great television (like THE GOOD WIFE), and Tony Award-winning Broadway shows (like JOURNEY'S END). Now he's back for, as he puts it, "[a] little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants (or more likely, just talking)" at the H-Town Cinema Celebration.

This year, Houstonians voted and selected THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL as the night's featured film - a film "worth watching anytime" according to Behlmann. "You couldn't ask for a better representative of Houston cinema than Wes Anderson, and you couldn't ask for a better representation of Wes Anderson than THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL." It's certainly worth a trip home.

Growing up in Katy, Behlmann started out in high school plays (at Katy Taylor - Go Taylor Mustangs!) and continued doing theater in college - while sensibly majoring in Government and French at Wesleyan, of course. "No one in my family is really in the arts professionally, so the idea of being a professional actor didn't really cross my mind," says Behlmann. "But during my senior year, amidst the confusion and anxiety of what comes next, I heard about grad schools for acting for the first time."

"I don't think MFA training is for everyone," says Behlmann of his choice to enter the National Theater Conservatory in Denver and pursue an MFA. "I'm glad that I went, because I don't think I was mature or self-possessed enough to move to New York and try to become an actor." But, Behlmann notes, there is a literal price to pay if you're not lucky enough to attend a school with a full scholarship for every student, like he did. "If you don't have the family means to pay for it, I don't think coming out of a graduate acting program with $80,000 plus in debt is a good idea for anyone."

"That's a practicality that many actors don't consider," he adds.

And ultimately, it was the opportunity to act that was crucial. "There's no better way to become a better actor than to just act a lot," says Behlmann. After graduation, he moved to New York, got an agent and has been, as he says, "steadily plugging along" ever since. "One of the great joys (and tortures) of being an actor is that the work is temporal." But, Behlmann says, this allows him to constantly step "into new types of roles and mediums" which present "different challenges to conquer."

Like being cast as Nuke Laloosh for a pre-Broadway tryout of a musical adaptation of BULL DURHAM. Behlmann admits, "[P]laying a leading role in a musical terrified me." But despite not having done a musical since college, and not being a trained singer or dancer, it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. "I loved the role and script and score, but I really felt like I had to get over some nerves about all the singing and dancing I had to do. Nothing beats the sense of accomplishment that comes with feeling like you pulled off that kind of challenge."

"I think my favorite roles have always been the ones that have scared me the most."

Challenging and scary are two words that can certainly be applied to another of Behlmann's interests - the trapeze. That's right, Behlmann is a trained trapeze artist, something he's been doing for over ten years and which he calls "one of the most fulfilling artistic endeavors" of his life. He and several friends formed a trapeze theater company, Fight or Flight, six years ago. "This summer we did an airborne parody of the movie JAWS, called This Is Not J.A.W.S. and sold out our off-Broadway run."

If that's not enough, and for John Behlmann it's not, keep an eye out. He'll soon start shooting a pilot for TV Land ("[i]t's written by the great Paul Rudnick and stars a whole fleet of theater favorites like Hamish Linklater, Megan Hilty, and Geneva Carr") and may be returning to the off-Broadway and Broadway stages in the fall and spring. But those projects are still tentative so, when asked, Behlmann plays coy.

"You'll have Google me later."

Up for a night out and an excellent movie? Good company and a little trivia? Check out the H-Town Cinema Celebration this Friday, October 2, at Discovery Green. Emceed by John Behlmann, the fun will start at 6:45 p.m. and the film, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, will begin at 7:45 p.m. For more information, please visit http://www.discoverygreen.com/1159521.

For more on John Behlmann, take his advice and Google him or visit his website at http://johnbehlmann.com/. You can also check out his trapeze theater company, Fight or Flight, at http://www.fightorflighttheater.com.

BroadwayWorld.com "Cut For Time" Extra

BWW: Do you have any advice for aspiring performers?

John Behlmann: Become a well-rounded person, indulge your real interests, and let your freak flag fly. I'm very grateful that I didn't spend all my time in college just taking acting classes. Experience as a regular suffering human being in the world can't be beat, and your weirdest wildest interests will make you a more interesting person and performer. Second, find other artist peers that you like and respect, and make things with them. You'll have a more successful and fulfilling time making things and building work with young inspiring people than that you ever will trying to do what you think is impressive to the imagined powers-that-be.

Photo credit: http://johnbehlmann.com/

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