Fired Actor Tells His Side of Story

In response to a recent New York Times story detailing actor Matt Mulhern’s firing from the Hartford Stage production of Horton Foote’s “The Orphans’ Home Cycle,” the actor has posted a YouTube video to share his side of the story.

Mulhern was allegedly fired from the Hartford, CT production after he “peeked at bits of dialogue that he had taped inside his character’s hat for a difficult scene” during the nine-hour series of three plays that comprise “The Orphans’ Home Cycle.” Hartford Stage reportedly has yet to give the actor or Actors’ Equity a formal reason for firing Mr. Mulhern.

Mulhern posted the video and the following statement as a comment on our earlier Blog Stage post about the NY Times story, and its assertion that long-time theater veterans such as Matthew Broderick have been known to use prompts and other tools to remember their lines from time to time. Mulhern wrote:

"Thanks for giving me a chance to respond. Equity doesn't seem capable of providing that service for this member, and I can't afford a… 20k a month publicist to ‘take care of this’ for me. So, here's my side of the story. Thanks, Matt Mulhern”

-Alexa Trummer