They’re looking forward to the day they can work together.
In the meantime, Jinay Reitze is currently in Germany on a European tour as production and stage manager for a production of the musical “West Side Story.” She will be in Paris for Christmas.
“My life’s really hard,” she admits with a smile and a shrug.
Alex Reitze, on the other hand, is remaining stateside — for now. He’s on his way to Fort Collins, Colo., where he’ll appear in two shows, “Forever Plaid” and “Plaid Tidings,” for three months.
He was in a Gilbert and Sullivan show in Cohoes, outside of Albany, earlier this year, and just last month was back in Rochester for his first professional “gig” for adult audiences last month. He appeared in “Pick Love,” one of the shows in the Fringe Fest, Sept. 20 and 22 at RAPA.
Last month also happened to be a rare, at least in recent years, time when both Reitzes were “home,” in Irondequoit, at the same time.
Jinay, now back in Europe, was in the midst of a six-week break from her tour and took time out to head home and see her parents — and her brother’s show.
She left on her tour, which started in Berlin, in May and, since her tour had bookings into April 2014, decided to give up her apartment in New York City. She and her significant other, Scott, who is also on tour (a different one) are looking for a house in Las Vegas.
She credits her mother, Char Reitze of Irondequoit, for “pushing the button” that led to an interest in theater.
She appeared on-stage in shows at IHS and was taking an acting class at NYU when her teacher asked for volunteers to be assistant stage managers.
She volunteered.
“And I liked it,” Jinay recalls. “So I started to think about it as a career.”
She spent a couple of years in college “absorbing everything I could about theater,” and seeing “a ton of shows,” she said, then met producer Neil Berg at an after-party for the musical “Jekyll and Hyde,” which had become a favorite.
She ended up doing some freelance — all volunteer — work for him, saying it was an opportunity to make connections.
Then in 2002, she ran into him in the Colony Music store in Times Square. She calls it her “big break.”
Berg’s “Prince and the Pauper” show was being produced off-Broadway, and she was hired as an “unpaid” intern — for a “free” Metro card.
They’re looking forward to the day they can work together.
In the meantime, Jinay Reitze is currently in Germany on a European tour as production and stage manager for a production of the musical “West Side Story.” She will be in Paris for Christmas.
“My life’s really hard,” she admits with a smile and a shrug.
Alex Reitze, on the other hand, is remaining stateside — for now. He’s on his way to Fort Collins, Colo., where he’ll appear in two shows, “Forever Plaid” and “Plaid Tidings,” for three months.
He was in a Gilbert and Sullivan show in Cohoes, outside of Albany, earlier this year, and just last month was back in Rochester for his first professional “gig” for adult audiences last month. He appeared in “Pick Love,” one of the shows in the Fringe Fest, Sept. 20 and 22 at RAPA.
Last month also happened to be a rare, at least in recent years, time when both Reitzes were “home,” in Irondequoit, at the same time.
Jinay, now back in Europe, was in the midst of a six-week break from her tour and took time out to head home and see her parents — and her brother’s show.
She left on her tour, which started in Berlin, in May and, since her tour had bookings into April 2014, decided to give up her apartment in New York City. She and her significant other, Scott, who is also on tour (a different one) are looking for a house in Las Vegas.
She credits her mother, Char Reitze of Irondequoit, for “pushing the button” that led to an interest in theater.
She appeared on-stage in shows at IHS and was taking an acting class at NYU when her teacher asked for volunteers to be assistant stage managers.
She volunteered.
“And I liked it,” Jinay recalls. “So I started to think about it as a career.”
She spent a couple of years in college “absorbing everything I could about theater,” and seeing “a ton of shows,” she said, then met producer Neil Berg at an after-party for the musical “Jekyll and Hyde,” which had become a favorite.
She ended up doing some freelance — all volunteer — work for him, saying it was an opportunity to make connections.
Then in 2002, she ran into him in the Colony Music store in Times Square. She calls it her “big break.”
Berg’s “Prince and the Pauper” show was being produced off-Broadway, and she was hired as an “unpaid” intern — for a “free” Metro card.
“It was a great group of people to start my career in the business with,” Jinay recalled, noting that it was the production stage manager, Thom Schilling, on that show who became her mentor.
“If I hadn’t met him on that show, I wouldn’t have a career,” she said.
She was finally recommended for a paid job, as a production assistant, on an off-Broadway show called “Debbie Does Dallas,” applied for and got an apprenticeship at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, where she learned more aspects of the business; then was hired for a tour on which Schilling was the stage manager.
“I was under-qualified and had no touring experience, but he taught me on the job,” Jinay said. “It changed my whole life.”
Each job after that, including a benefit at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, where she met the likes of actor Robert DeNiro and dozens of other stars, her daughter just continued to rise up the ladder, mom Char Reitze said. “I commend her ... and am so proud of her.”
Jinay spent the summers of 2010 and 2011 working as the resident stage manager at the Ogunquit Playhouse on the seacoast of Maine, and says it’s one of the best experiences she has had.
Her parents have seen just about every show on which Jinay has worked and in which Alex has appeared.
“We go wherever they are,” said Char Reitze, who volunteers with the Irondequoit Theatre Guild locally. Dad Frank Reitze is an on-stage veteran of local community theater productions.
“Some of our friends have even gotten on the Alex and Jinay bandwagon,” Char said with a laugh.
Jinay likens her role in a show to “like the air traffic controller ... a production manager is sort of like the glue that holds the production together ... Any time the scenery or lights move, it’s because I’ve told them to.”
She’s also the timekeeper, mediator, scheduler, housing coordinator and communications hub of a production, Jinay said, explaining that, yes, it does take a lot of organization and paperwork.
“But, it’s also creative, too, which I like,” she said.
Char recalls the first time she saw her daughter in action was at a show in Utica, when she was juggling a clipboard, pager and cell phone all the while she was working.
Where his sister works largely behind the scenes, Alex Reitze chose to pursue a career on the stage.
Two weeks after graduating from college, he landed a part in the ensemble for a touring production of a show called “Curious George Live,” and since then his career has taken him to New Orleans, Texas, Minneapolis, Elmira, Missouri and beyond.
“I’ll go to whatever state will employ me,” he quips.
He just loves “the give and take and the energy of the audience” when he’s on stage, Alex said, but adds that he’s not opposed to exploring other avenues as well. For instance, a short-term goal is to get some voice-over work.
Sure, he works as a waiter (as so many others have and do) to pay the bills, but he’s continually going to auditions, too, Alex said.
“You learn to keep a thick skin and keep going back (to audition) ... You learn not to take it (rejection) personally,” he said.
The tricky part for him, he said with a grin, is that “I look 18 and sound 40.” A baritone, he sings very low.
“But, I can bring something to the table that only so many people have,” he added with good nature.
“You definitely need a certain level of mental instability, or to be off-center” (to pursue an acting career)!
The difference in their jobs is also that “he gets go to into a room and show people his talent,” Jinay said, while she has to rely on recommendations and her resume. On the other hand, however, her competition comes from a smaller pool.
Alex says he likes something he heard once, that “Acting is the only profession in the world where you constantly have to prove you haven’t forgotten how to do it.”
He’s still thrilled that he’ll be back from Colorado “in time for another hot audition season.”
While he will continue to work toward joining the Actors Equity union in the next couple of years, his sister already has her card.
And their parents are already planning a trip late this year to Colorado.
“We’re all discovering new places,” Char said.
