“Is She the Tutor?” Or Throwback Thursday to American Buffalo Stage Door

Prologue

Hey all, Damianista here!

My husband Lewisto wrote this very post back in 2015. While it is an extremely funny story centered around Damian, it is quite personal and says as much about the two of us as about Damian. That is why I am sharing it again this week marking Lewisto’s birthday! Since it is Lewisto’s story I do not intend to give any spoilers but I cannot help say if you think of Carrie and Brody as the best cat and mouse you have ever seen… you ain’t seen nothing yet 😀

ENJOY!

Folks, I have a fun story to tell.

First, let me put the record straight: We are a lucky generation. Our life time has given us geniuses of all sorts, from Maradona to Michael Jackson, to Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Banksy, Steve Jobs, Mandela, Philip Glass, Haruki Murakami, Serena Williams…. and our very own Damian Lewis.

We are so very lucky to be indulging ourselves in one of the finest forms of acting from Damian Lewis in our life time. Well, we are also lucky to have this fan blog, too. It is an awesome blog and there is nothing like it. The level of fun, creativity, imagination and sophistication it offers cannot be matched by any other fan page or blog for any artist. And frankly, this is probably the most appropriate way of talking about such a genius and his art. Thanks ladies, I am a huge fan of yours, too!!!

Long story short, I have been addicted to Damian’s work since I met Brody in Homeland. But something else made me a true fan of Damian Lewis, the man himself.

Here is the story:

Your humble servant, that is me to be precise, is a close companion to Damianista, who happens to teach at some university during her seriously serious daily life.

Fact number one: They refer to her likes as “tutor” in Britain.

Fact number two: Damian is a pretty pretty good looking guy, even for a straight guy like me, but let us defer that discussion.

Now, it turns out that Damianista gets a chance to travel to London and see American Buffalo on stage.

Fact number three: I follow Damianista wherever she goes. Yeah, this is a lesser known fact, but it is a fact anyway.

So we book our flight, buy our theater tickets, and off we go to London.

Fact number four: I am a pretty smart and rational guy. Yeah, the “smart” part is up for debate, but really folks, anybody who creates such great content should try to meet with the dude who inspires them. That is rational, no? So I convince Damianista to try and meet with him in person.

The day of the play. You know, signing/selfieing with fans after performance is not a sure thing and besides, one needs to share the actor with fifty other fans at the stage door. So we decide to try and see him before the play.

We go to Wyndham’s Theater a little early that day. It is a standalone building in the middle of Leicester square with doors on all four sides. How do you know which door he would use? Damianista decides to place herself by the stage door at the back of the theater, where actors do their signing with fans after the show. I am located by the main entrance in front of the building. Citing one of Teach’s best lines from American Buffalo:, “this is preparation!”

So I am waiting… Suddenly a seventies-porn-star handsome guy walks towards the front door of the theater. Have I already told you how good looking he is? Yeah, that is fact number two, man, he looks good in those sideburns and mustache!

I quickly approach him. When I say quickly, what I mean is what you see in our “preparation chart” above. “Mr. Lewis, Mr. Lewis!” I shout, “I am with the woman from fanfunwithdamianlewis.com”

He turns to me:

“Is she the tutor?”

I know they met before but I am surprised he is remembering details about her.

Me: “Yes!”

Damian: “Where is she?”

Me: “Stage door at the back.”

He immediately cuts me off from the conversation (I mean, really dude, that was not nice at all), he gets out, walks to the stage door, murmuring his lines all the way, a few bystanders join our walk trying to talk with him to no avail, because he goes to Damianista and says “I have come to talk to you, how are you?” The next picture captures the moment with high precision indeed!

He is obviously very busy rehearsing his lines one last time. We find out later he and the family are quite busy with moving, too, that week. I told y’all, I am a rational guy, if I were him, I would say, “Really? How sweet! Say hi to her and give her a big hug, OK?”  Nope. He chooses to walk to Damianista in person and have a long conversation with her.

Now… This kind of generosity is enough to make me a true fan of the man himself! Oh, have I also said how great an actor he is? Well I’ve tried a bit at the beginning, but in truth, I cannot put it as well as those ladies do…

Until next time, hugs to y’all.

Epilogue

Damianista is back for the last word! Hehe no wonder Damian asks after Lewisto every time I meet him 😀

Anyhow… to complete the story… I am standing across from the stage door for more than an hour now… Tom Sturridge is the first to arrive… John Goodman follows soon after, and he does not only give me an autograph but also chats a bit with me about Treme in which I adored him!

So, I wait a little more… And, all of a sudden, and exactly like Lewisto has it on his “Holy Trail” chart, four guys turn the corner at the same time… It feels exactly like the famous OK Corral scene except that the guys look a bit different! 😀

On the left, Lewisto, jumping up and down, and waving the two hotel umbrellas he has in his hand (it was a rainy day in London!)… Then, in the middle, two guys that I have no idea about, cameras in hand and trying to make conversation with the guy on the right who seems to have zero interest in them and is murmuring to himself… And that guy is… Damian! And, hey, he is not going to the stage door… He is walking crosswise… to me:

“I have come to talk to you… How are you?”

Some dreams come true, don’t they?

Anyhow… I do my best not to take a lot of his time because Damian will be on stage in less than an hour and we will be in our seats to see him in American Buffalo. But I, at least, say:

“Look, Damian. I would love to kidnap you for a day just to have you sit down and read our blog. But I cannot do that. So I will do the second best. Here is a selection of our blog posts that you may like!”

And I give him a fat dossier 😀 He laughs and we chat a little. He says I always have my cameraman ready for taking pictures – oh yes I do! And just after we say our good-byes, an older lady comes to me and says:

“You know how lucky you are, don’t you? You had your moment with him.”

Yes. Yes, I know how lucky I am. I am over the moon. But not just because I had the chance to meet Damian. It’s also because I have the BEST guy in the world that always plays ball with me, even in my craziest endeavors like this fan blog, making everything in life better, funnier and happier! I have spent more than half of my life married to him and I want 500 more years with him! Cheers <3

Epilogue

Reading this story and reliving that stage door moment put a huge smile on my face and make me think about how far I have come… from being Damian’s “most overqualified stalker” to “family” 🙂 It’s been such a ride, folks.

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history! View all posts by Damianista