I attended a Horrorhound convention in September of 2012 and was able to meet a pretty hefty portion of the cast of the horror classic Aliens. I thought that for the most part I was done with meeting people from this film. There was really no realistic hope of meeting the film’s star Sigourney Weaver, although I did hear that she made at least one convention appearance…and was charging something incredible like $500 for an photo op. But when I found out that she was appearing in one of the Broadway shows that my friend Bob and I may or may not have been seeing in New York, I took a chance and brought along my Aliens photo that I had already had signed by Carrie Henn, who had played Newt.
The Alien franchise was far from the only films of interest on which Sigourney Weaver had worked. Let’s not forget her role as Dana Barrett in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, plus entertaining pictures like Annie Hall, Copycat, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, Avatar, and WALL-E. Yep, I’d say we have an A-lister here.
The Broadway show in question was a comedy farce called Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which just so happened to win the Tony Award for Best Play of 2013. The play was quite good, and Ms. Weaver was quite outstanding in it, as were her co-stars (which included David Hyde Pierce). I had heard that the cast comes out to greet the audience, so I made haste to claim my spot at the spot where the cast exited when Bob and I saw the play on Thursday, May 30, 2013.
Sure enough, I found out that the rumors were blissfully true. I was able to meet every single member of the cast and have them sign my program. I was the first one on the right side by the door when the cast came out. It so happens that most of the cast started signing for the other side, but sure enough they came back to the start of my line once they had finished.
Sigourney Weaver was very pleasant and down-to-earth. I somehow felt like I had known her for years, like a former teacher or something. I commented how I had had ‘Newt’ sign the photo and she acknowledged that she was currently an elementary school teacher in Atwater, California.
She signed both my photo and my program without any reluctance and took the time to pose for a nice photo with me. I couldn’t have asked for the encounter to have gone any smoother. What a class act she was! I might have felt different however if I had been one of the unlucky ones who had to shell out $500 or more for the pleasure…
This concludes the celebrity encounters from my New York City trip. Return to the beginning of the trip here…
Return to Thursday in New York City here…
That is a marvelous success with a truly talented actress!
Dave Chasteen
May 2nd, 2014