Hello Beautiful People,
Lance Rubin is fantastic. He’s a singer, songwriter, actor, director, author, Brown University Graduate, and part of the phenomenal group, Joe Iconis & Family. He’s quite accomplished, yet one of the kindest and most down to earth people I have had the pleasure of meeting. Lance and I sat down at Schmackary’s to discuss music, theater, arts education, collaboration, and what it’s like working in the arts in NYC. Ladies and Gents, meet Lance Rubin…
MM: Did you always want to be an actor and a singer? Can you pinpoint the moment when you realized that?
LR: Yes, from a young age. One of my earlier memories of wanting to do it was when I was in second grade. I loved the movie Back to the Future from a very young age, and I still do. I remember daydreaming, (Back to the Future Two hadn’t come out yet), about playing the son of Marty McFly in the sequel. I was constantly daydreaming, and I really wanted to be in movies. Theater was this huge outlet for me. In fourth grade I had my big debut – it was part of a summer community thing with elementary school kids and middle school kids and I sang the song, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch. I sang that as a solo, and I got really into it and it was a ton of fun. I felt that connection with an audience and really had a great response. I was in fourth grade when that happened, and it really was at that moment that I said, “I’m doing this.” I started taking acting classes outside of school, and a few years later I went to this performing arts summer camp called French Woods. A lot of people from French Woods are in the city now and I bump into them a lot – French Woods was a great place! So, the short answer to your question was in 2nd and 3rd grade I was really into movies, which led me to theater. The singing would come hand in hand because musical theater is the first real accessible thing to a kid.
MM: Did you study theater in college?
LR: I did, I went to Brown University. I loved Brown. Growing up, I always loved the theater, but I was really into doing well in school in my other academics. I had learned that Brown had a great theatre community and put on great shows, but it was also a Liberal Arts school and you were going to get a good education. I had a great experience there. I ended up co-writing a musical that I directed with a buddy of mine in senior year, and I was in a bunch of shows, so it was a very positive experience.
MM: Of all the roles you’ve played so far through the trajectory of your career, are there ones that are strongest as far as memory goes, either as a disaster or a positive experience?
LR: In recent years, for the past five years, I’ve loved doing Joe Iconis’ show, Bloodsong of Love, this “rock and roll spaghetti western”. I play the sidekick, Banana, and that’s definitely a role that’s near and dear to my heart. I’m hoping we get to do it again. It’s a sweet, goofy, and weird role. It’s where I excel. I also played Batboy in my senior year at college. That was cool. I felt I connected with the character and I could do a lot of cool stuff. That show is about a half-boy half-bat, who is found in a cave and gets refined, learns to be a civilized human being, kind of like My Fair Lady style. I’d say Batboy and Banana are my two favorite roles.
MM: Speaking of Joe Iconis…I’m asking people who are part of the family to comment on what it’s like to be part of the group; you’re all very obviously supportive and loving towards one another; it’s amazing to see such strong friendships in an industry that can be cutthroat and fake.
LR: It’s amazing and it’s not something we could have planned at all, it happened naturally and it’s just the way Joe likes to work. Once he finds an artistic relationship with people who have the same artistic sensibility as him, he likes to keep those people around. He’s someone that likes to do gigs a lot, and so we kept doing more and more random gigs and it became a thing – Joe Iconis & Family. There was never a time where we sat down and said, “what are we going to call ourselves?” It was more like recognizing the strength and ties of our relationships and what we were creating, and suddenly it was Joe Iconis and Family. It was great and amazing. There’s a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers, and he talks about the 10,000 Rule, where it takes ten thousand hours to master something, so mastering performing would be performing for 10,000 hours, like the Beatles. So, I’ve known Joe for eight years and I feel like we kind of have that thing with the group. We’ve done so many shows and I don’t know if we have those hours exactly, but there is a kind of mastery we have, but it’s mastering performing with each other, with a comfort level and an ease that, I think, the audience senses at this point. The Family is based off friendships that have been formed with similar sensibilities.
MM: When we walk into your apartment, what books would permanently be on your shelf?
LR: I’ve been reading this book, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra, it’s about the power of coincidences and synchronicity in life. I like the book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay-I think there’s a reason so many people in our generation are reading it, it’s become an iconic book. I also love the third Harry Potter, The Prisoner of Azkaban. The Invisible Bridge is a great WWII epic.
MM: If you were stranded on a desert island, what television shows and movies would you want to have with you?
LR: Back to the Future, Bottle Rocket, Swingers. Singin’ in the Rain. TV shows? The British version of The Office, The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Freaks and Geeks.
MM: When I was little I asked for a hoverboard for Christmas. I thought it was the coolest thing…
LR: You are not the only kid. There is a hoverboard online, but it doesn’t actually work. My wife and I almost put it on our wedding registry. I’d love to have that mounted on my wall.
MM: What advice would you give to students in high school who wish to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?
LR: I would say, and this is a big thing that I’m learning and I keep re-learning, try to keep doing your own stuff, so you’re not constantly waiting around. Get that mindset that you have the power to make things happen. If you’re not a writer, get together with a writer. Get together with people with similar sensibilities to find a way to collaborate. There’s a tendency to look to other people and say I hope they give me that part. But I think you’re going to be much happier if you have your own creative endeavors at the same time. It takes less pressure off the auditioning.
MM: In today’s economy arts programs in schools are being cut. What reasons would you give a politician for preserving the arts?
LR: Arts are so important. I just think that there are whole sections of kids’ brains that don’t get used if it’s not for the arts. You have to see it as more than teaching the arts. You have to see it as teaching a new way of thinking, using your creativity that could apply to any career, and I think you really shortchange so many kids and our world’s future, by not giving these kids access to what’s out there. There are lots of kids whose brains work differently than those that do well on tests, who are not book smart, but they can be these brilliant artists. It’s a shame to not have these opportunities. I hope your website can turn the tide.
MM: What’s next for Lance Rubin?
LR: Well, in the last year I’ve still been acting, but I’ve veered towards writing as well, so right now I’m writing a musical with Joe Iconis and Jason “Sweettooth” Williams, called Annie Golden: Bounty Hunter, Yo! It features Annie Golden playing the character Annie Golden, who is a veteran musical theatre actress, who ends up finding herself in the world of bounty hunting. I just directed a web series, called Yoga Partners. My wife Katie Schorr and our friend Leah Henoch co-wrote and co-star in it. It’s a yoga class, and Katie plays an incompetent yoga teacher, and Leah plays a new student. You can find the episodes at www.yogapartnerwebseries.com. I also have been writing a young adult novel that I’m trying to sell.
MM: What’s it about?
LR: Well, I’m tight –lipped about it, but it’s about a 17-year old protagonist in an alternate reality kind of like ours. It’s a comedic adventure. I’m feeling optimistic.
MM: What sound do you love, and what sound do you hate?
LR: I hate the buzzer in our apartment. It scares me. It’s the most annoying sound right now. My favorite sound is the sound of rain on a windowpane. It’s a classic. It’s very calming, assuming I’m on the inside.
MM: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
LR: My favorite teacher. One of my favorite teachers was Nadine Greenspan. She not only was my music teacher, but she also was the woman who gave me the opportunity to sing that song Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, she was very encouraging, down-to earth. But I’ve had so many amazing teachers. Margo Crupi, she was a Spanish teacher but directed all of the musicals. She taught me about stealing focus, or what it means because I was doing it. And also French Woods, there were a lot of good teachers there, great role models like Jeff Maynard and Jon Gellert.
Thank you, Lance!
Live, Love, Learn,