Alan ‘Spo’ Schwartz
Actor/Drama Instructor
Hollywood, California
E-MAIL: [email protected]
FAX:213/467-6665
Alan Schwartz
Alan Schwartz is an accomplished actor. A native of Chicago, IL, Schwartz, 30, has been a resident of Los Angeles, CA since 1989. He is nationally known under the nickname ‘Spo’.
Why ‘Spo’?
He explains he just got tired of people asking him “Can you talk?” One day, eight years ago, he decided to be known as ‘Spo’ which stands for “Sign Performance Only”. In other words, he just signs and is deaf, period. And that nickname has stuck since then. Spo is the third in generation of a Deaf family and has one deaf sister.
The Acting World
Spo is full of surprises because he has many other skills. While studying cosmetology at a private school in Illinois, Spo did haircuts for clients out of his home. One day, a female client exclaimed how great Spo’s facial expressions were and encouraged him to think of doing some acting in theater.
After some thought, Spo decided to audition for the play ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ coordinated by the Center on Deafness. To his surprise, he was selected for the role of Lazar the wolf and Perchik. It was through the three month long tour and performances of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ that Spo got to meet other well-known actors and actresses including Bernard Bragg and Julianna Fjeld.
He explains that he was a classmate of Marlee Matlin who remains a close friend of his to the present. Matlin had also been very involved with the Center on Deafness as well as Bernard Bragg.
As Spo’s interest in the theater grew, he decided to attend the National Theater of the Deaf (NTD)’s Summer School to further develop his skills in acting and costume design. He also attended The Deaf Way in Washington, D.C. in 1989 where he was inspired and encouraged to consider moving to Los Angeles to further his acting career.
Meanwhile, he was hired by Northwestern University School of Acting as its Guest Artist Actor. During that several months, he played the role of Tuc in ‘Mother Hicks’. He continued to attend NTD summer school.
Spo had another skill – bowling. A serious and consistent bowler, he went to the Deaf World Bowling Tournament in Las Vegas and took advantage of this opportunity to visit Los Angeles for the first time. He liked what he saw and came to a decision to make the ‘big move’ to L.A.!
What Other Skills?
Acting, Cosmetology/Hairdresser, Costume Design, Bowling… what else? When asked, Spo gave off a list of his other interests: “I’m sort of hooked to garage sales! I love working with children. I like doing things around the house… landscaping… and collecting antiques.”
Since Spo’s move to L.A., he has engaged in a variety of experiences: he performed for the Little Theater of the Deaf when it was first formed by NTD on the west coast which gave him the opportunity to travel to various schools in Los Angeles County to give performances for three years under jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Music Center.
He appeared in two productions of Deaf West Theater ‘Medea’ and Aladdin’. He also performed for actress and comedian Vikee Waltrip’s Light Flashes Improv., and in the Studio Theater production of ‘A Company of Way ward Saints’ at California State University, Northridge.
He also broke into the movie industry. He appeared the ‘women & Children First’ episode of “High Incident” on ABC where he acted as the deaf brother.
More recently, he appeared as a pharmacist clerk along with Bridges Fonda in the movie ‘The Break Up’ produced by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks which will come out this Spring. He related a story of how the production was having problems with two different trained actor dogs which they couldn’t get to do what they wanted. They gave up and finally decided to try Spo’s own dog famed ‘Craig’ who, surprisingly, was able to perform. So Craig will also make an appearance in the film as well as Spo!
SPO Theater
Six years ago, Spo also set up a non-profit organization and one of its projects is SPO Theater (SPO stands for ‘Sign Performance Outreach’) which continues to teach art and theater, give workshops and brief one man shows at various Deaf Awareness Month events, schools, libraries and museums in Los Angeles County.
He also works for Deaf West Theater as their Workshop Leader. Through a grant Deaf West received, Spo gives workshops involving script writing, making costumes, translating scripts, and photography at various schools. He has appeared at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)’s Very Special Arts Festival and most recently, LAUSD’s Family Day Picnic. He has also participated in hearing and cultural Festivals and Events. He taught Drama during one summer at the first Multi-Arts Camp hosted by Deaf Arts Council.
Spo recently conducted the Shakespearean play of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ at Fairfax High School with a twist: since the play is for both deaf and hearing families, Juliet is hearing and comes from a hearing family while Romeo is deaf and struggles to communicate. Such challenges is enough to keep Spo busy!
Goals?
Being ever on the ‘go’, Spo still has some dreams. He is becoming interested in real estate. He hopes to do more work in movies, continue teaching deaf children because he feels strongly about the need for deaf role model teachers. He points out that while he was young, Bernard Bragg was his role model and he wants to be seen as a role model himself to encourage the children to grow up to be great role models.
“I have attended five NTD Summer School sessions so I am considered qualified to be a teacher for theater. In Los Angeles, there are not many experienced teachers. We need more teachers because there are so many Deaf people who want to be actors and actresses but don’t know how to do it. They don’t know how to use the right approach.
“I am not a starving actor, but I see myself as a professional actor and teacher”. Spo, who is single, recently purchased a house in Hollywood. He continues to be a ‘freelance hairdresser’ and also dreams of buying another house and just wants a “happy life.” He estimates having taught over 1,000 children to date and hopes they will always remember for the rest of their life that they had looked up to a deaf role model. Some of them may move on to be actors or interpreters.
“Many kids do not have communication at home. Many families speak Spanish only. So for these children to see a deaf role model, it impacts on them and they will always remember it. Most teachers are hearing, so I must applaud Deaf West for providing this opportunity as well as SPO Theater.”
Advice
“If you want to become an actor or actress”, Spo has to say, “consider it your second job. You can’t just move here and get an acting job. There are no job openings for deaf actors in movie or TV – maybe once a year. How many deaf actors are out there? You’d need to have a first job. For example, I teach. Actors also are constantly learning skills – you can’t just sit back and wait. Acting is not a career.
“I do notice deaf accessibility to the movie and TV industry is improving… the industry is finally realizing they need to hire deaf talents for deaf roles and that it is not necessary to hire hearing talents to act these roles. We do have deaf actors and actresses available. This is reality.”
Judaism
Spo admits that as he was raised in a working class Jewish family who did not have much money, the family did not actively engage in major holidays and he did not have his bar mitzvah. However the family did celebrate holidays such as Passover and Hanukkah. My first real experience was when I attended Marlee Matlin’s bat mitzvah which had a big impact on me.”
“I take pride in my religion although I do not regularly attend Jewish services”, he adds, “I respect all religions.” In the past year, Spo has become more involved through JDCC where he played a major role in ‘A Kosher Affair’, a play that was produced for JDCC’s Fifth Anniversary Banquet last year.
Spo is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. For any movie or theater work, he can be contacted through his agent, Sid Craig with the Craig Agency at 213/655-1487 TTY or [email protected]
