Left to right: Alan Needleman, Jay Wilkinson, Shanelle Workman, Ilene Kristen

Daytime Encounter Revisited

by Lucy (aka Soap Gal)

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to attend a Daytime Encounter, you’ve probably heard of it through several of the veteran daytime encounter participants who tell you that it is such fun, you must make the time to go when it is offered again.  There is only so much I can say about this wonderful event, but suffice it to say, I had so much fun at the first one, I gave up my front row/aisle seat to a “CATS” performance in Boston, MA in order to attend a second time – and I have no regrets!

What is Daytime Encounter anyway?

Daytime Encounter is a unique event where you can be a Soap Star for a day and act in a fully produced show.  The perfect combination of learning the fine art of acting and laughs, Daytime Encounter leaves you with a wealth of information about what goes on behind the scenes of a real soap opera, and wonderful memories of 8 hours well spent.  (Left to right: Shanelle [standing], Ilene & Jay [seated] & Needles [center] rehearsing with participants)

This year’s event was held in a Manhattan studio that is an actual acting school/workshop.  Getting from our hotel to the studio, which was located just outside of Times Square, was no problem since New York is known as the yellow sea of taxi cabs and it took us less than a minute to hail one.

I attended this year’s event with my sister and brother-in-law, and upon our arrival to the studio, we found that a great part of our enjoyment was reuniting with several participants whom we had met at last year’s event.  It really felt like “Old Home Week!”

OLTL stage manager, Alan Needleman (or “Needles” as he likes to be called), once again played a critical role as stage manager/director in this 2^nd production of Daytime Encounter, which seems to be heading towards an annual event.  The first event took place August 10, 2002.  This year, the Fine Living Network (www.fineliving.com) was there to portray Daytime Encounter as one of the features on their program, "Fantasy Camps."  They selected three participants to profile, and followed them through the Daytime Encounter experience. The show is scheduled to air sometime in August on the Fine Living Network, so be sure to check your local listings if you want to catch it. (Photo: Needleman)

One of the unique details about Daytime Encounter is that you learn about acting in a setting similar to that of a soap opera studio.  And while Daytime Encounter is unique, the daytime stars and cast are equally so.  From their initial greeting you know you’re in for a fun time.

I have a great appreciation and fondness for Ilene Kristen (Roxy), who graciously gave her all at this year’s event as she did last year, and I also want to praise OLTL newcomers Shanelle Workman (Flash), and Jay Wilkinson (Riley) for donating their down time from the studio for the OLTL fans.  Jessica Morris (Jen) was also scheduled to appear at the event, but failed to show up without notice or explanation.  When last minute efforts failed to replace Morris with another daytime actor, our gifted writer, Jamie, took out her trusty pen, did some fast editing and cast changes, and we had a great time regardless.  As they say in show biz, “The show must go on...”  (Pictured above: Shanelle, Ilene, Jay)

The actors were full of interesting facts during the question and answer segment … explaining a little about the auditioning and casting process, and also including some of their own personal experiences.  For instance, Shanelle admitted that the role of Flash nearly went to a blonde girl who also auditioned for the same part.  Shanelle walked out thinking that she didn't get the job, and was very surprised when OLTL decided to give her a shot.  And, did you know that although she didn’t write them, the songs that Shanelle has performed on OLTL are originals? Or, do you know which OLTL actor has to be reminded to speak louder in many scenes? (I’ll keep you guessing at that one.)  Ilene Kristen admitted that she asked for a few changes when she first aired on OLTL regarding her hair, etc., but when she noticed Roxy’s set looked a little too neat, she didn’t want to make waves by suggesting yet another change.  Luckily, it turned out that she didn’t have to.  When Erika Slezak (Viki) saw the set, she didn’t think it was messy enough either, so she made the suggestion.  The change was made – and the rest is history. (Pictured on right: Jay being interviewed)

After the meet and greet segment, auditions were held.  The amount of lines written for each character ranged from 1 to 18 in this particular Daytime Encounter.  One of the first things participants are taught is to have a good time – just relax and be yourself.  Auditions are an important part of the process, as they give the writer/casting director some insight into the participant’s talents as well as the roles they’d like to play.  

(Pictured above: Needles directing participants, Ilene Kristen center on floor)

After the auditions, there was a whirlwind of activity – ranging from having professional photos taken with the star of your choice, eating lunch, getting hair and makeup done, and changing our outfits for the afternoon’s taping.

The scene was an engagement party. Ilene was the mother of the bride, and a powerful woman who runs the town's newspaper; Jay was the groom to be, a rich playboy who has slept with nearly the entire town, and Shanelle played one of Jay's many ex-girlfriends.  Other roles included the father of the bride, bridesmaids, ex-lovers of the engaged couple, and wait staff. (Pictured on right: Jay taking "five")

The production was done a little differently this time, no doubt to keep things a little simpler and less lengthy.  We skipped the dry blocking process in which the director, crew and actors determine how to enter the scene, move around the set, etc., and went straight into rehearsal.  And, instead of doing several individual scenes, all of the participants came together in just one scene, and we were free to move around the set and mingle, as we would at a “real” party.  During the times we didn’t have speaking lines, we were instructed to pretend we were chatting and laughing with others in the background but we couldn’t utter a sound.  Believe me, it’s a lot harder to do than it looks, and I plan on paying more attention to those noteworthy background players in the future.  After running though our lines, we were ready to roll tape.

We did two takes, which weren’t too bad, except for a few missing lines here and there.  But, Needles knew we could do better and asked us to do it just one more time.  Just before the final taping, Needles crouched down with all the participants encircled around him, and gave us a little pep talk and motivated us into giving a performance we could be proud of.  The third take was a charm – all that needed to be done were a few cutaways (close-up shots) of a few of the participants who couldn’t be seen on tape because they were in the background.  Those will be edited in later.  After wrapping up the taping we all sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor by watching the unedited version of our Daytime Encounter performance on a TV on the set. (Pictured above: Shanelle and participants)

I want to thank everyone involved for giving us such a wonderful experience!!! Maybe what struck me most was the professionalism of the staff behind the scenes.  Besides the people whose names I mentioned earlier in this article, there is Kathleen, who is responsible for recruiting, managing, and helping to pull together this entire production, and her special assistant Lori, who I have no doubt is her “Super Gal Friday.”  I also want to give special recognition to Claire who devotes so much of her time at these events to getting everything on “Video Tape.”  I also want to give a special thanks to the camera crew, and the hairdresser and makeup artists who gave their time to make us all look “beautiful.” Kudos to ALL!!!