Bryan On his rich acting career and New Orleans’ postpandemic arts scene
www.nolaboomers.com
| may/june 2021
No doubt about it: local actor Bryan Batt was destined for the stage and screen. Encouraged by his arts loving mom, Gayle, at the tender age of 10 he took to the boards of the old NORD theater in the basement of Gallier Hall and has been acting since.
14
New Orleanians know this native son by many hats, starting with the Batt Family’s ownership of beloved Pontchartrain Beach and star turns on multiple local stages (Tulane and Le Petit Theatre, to name two). He’s a Tulane Greenie who, in 2014, sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the university’s first home football game in the new Yulman Stadium. And while he’s been beamed into our living rooms as Salvatore Romano on Bravo-TV’s awardwinning “Mad Men,” not all realize the scope of Bryan’s big and little screen and theater work.
Batt
At last count, this busy actor has 49 film and television credits to his name, most recent being the locally-shot short film “Garden District,” for which he won Best Lead Actor at the March 2021 London International Film Festival. And this isn’t to mention his many off- and on-Broadway roles, ranging from his first 1980s performances in “Forbidden Broadway” through starring roles in multiple musicals, including “Cats.” Among Batt’s other hats: co-proprietor with his husband Tom Cianfici of the beautifully curated Hazelnut gift and homewares shop on Magazine Street, Emeritus Governor and former board member of Le Petit Theatre, and author of three books (“She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother: A Memoir,” “New Orleans Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In,” and “Pontchartrain Beach: A Family Affair”).
WOW!
And even more wow? He’s simply the nicest fella you’d ever want to meet, easy with a big smile and hello for people waving to him on the street and happy conversations at the drop of a hat for friends. It’s no wonder that young, wanna-be actors gravitate toward Batt, seeking advice and asking how he “did it.” He laughs when he explains: “I just moved to New York blindly (after graduating from Tulane) and had no idea what I was getting into. It’s a bizarre business and you do sacrifice for it, at least in the beginning. Back then, the job ruled your life decisions; you performed no matter what, even when an immediate family member was dying or getting married, or you were deathly ill. Although now it’s more lenient and if it can be worked out, they’ll do it for your benefit.”
