By Alicia Rancilio
At 78, John Lithgow's acting career is not slowing down. He appeared in the best picture nominee "Killers of the Flower Moon" and starred with Jeff Bridges in the FX series "The Old Man." Recently, the two-time Academy Award nominee and multiple Emmy, Tony and Golden Globes-winning actor played the new kid in school. He learned dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz ensemble with Los Angeles-area high school students. It was filmed for "Art Happens Here with John Lithgow," airing Friday on PBS with the goal of promoting arts education.
Lithgow, who has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and was a Fulbright Scholar at the London School of the Arts, spoke with The Associated Press about going back to school.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: One argument about education is students need to prioritize math and science and learn to code. Arts education is a bonus but not a priority. What do you say to that?
LITHGOW: You've got to get kids excited about learning and eager to get to school. If there is something at school which is entirely theirs, something that is a creative project where they are really and truly expressing themselves…they're going to want to get to school. I think arts education is a huge part of that. I also think sports is a big part of that.
Q: You act. You've performed in comic operas and conducted music. You've written books and paint. For "Art Happens Here," you lean into being a novice, what's the takeaway message?
LITHGOW: Creating a show like this is to try to persuade people just to wake up. I mean, you've got to think about the children, especially after the children have endured two years of a pandemic. Two years of pandemic has been hard on all of this, all of us, but they've been catastrophic for kids. Kids are not used to going to school. They lost two years, and two years in the life of a child is an eternity.
Q: How did you decide which classes to take?
LITHGOW: I wanted it to be things that I'm not good at or had very little experience with, if any. I didn't want to do any theater. I wanted to do things that were technically difficult. I wanted to insert myself into a situation where I still had a lot to learn or a lot to remember. I wanted to be with a bunch of bright kids who were having a lot of fun with the new kid in class and trying to bring him up to speed.
Q: What kind of reaction did you get from the students?
LITHGOW: They weren't particularly dazzled by my presence. Not a lot of them, to my dismay, really knew who I was, until somebody mentioned "Shrek," you know? And that was only my voice. But they were very game, and they were such superb kids. Look, these were kids who had decided to go to ceramics class. They had decided to go to dance class. They had decided to go to the LA County High School of the Arts to study voice. They were serious about what they did, and they knew this was well-intentioned.
Q: What did you think of the experience?
LITHGOW: It was incredible fun. It was very hard work because these were rigorous things. It's not easy showing up to do a documentary every morning for two months, but it's fun. It's a very good thing that we captured my own insecurity. I knew it was important for me to look like the fool and for the kids to look like the experts and…watch me fail and fail until I had a tiny measure of success — and to try to capture that joy. Because joy is what it was all about.
Alicia Rancilio is an AP writer
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More