Atlanta activist, 7, succeeds brother as Tiny Tim
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
It’s the Saturday morning of a four-show weekend, so the actor has no time to hit the golf course. Instead, he sets up a putting green in his backyard and takes a few practice swings.
A vegetarian and political activist, he also squeezes in a newspaper interview — posing for photos like a high-fashion model — then takes a couple of bites of kale salad before heading to the Alliance Theatre.
LOUIE FAVORITE/lfavorite@ajc.com
Acting runs in the family for Royce Carter Mann (left), 7, his father, Barry Stewart Mann, and his 10-year-old brother, Tendal Mann.
LOUIE FAVORITE/lfavorite@ajc.com
Even with a busy schedule of playing Tiny Tim in the Alliance Theatre’s production of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Royce Carter Mann, 7, has time to be a kid playing at a tree house at home in Lake Claire. His brother, Tendal, 10, had the role previously. The brothers are home schooled.
Never mind that the guy with the tousled rock-star hair is just 7 years old. That he rides to the theater in a gray Toyota van driven by his mother. That he eats EnviroKidz Organic Gorilla Munch cereal and grilled cheese sandwiches and can’t resist climbing trees. This particular show can’t go on without him.
Like his brother before him, Royce Carter Mann plays Tiny Tim in the Alliance’s holiday production of “A Christmas Carol.”
Royce and 10-year-old brother Tendal are already critically acclaimed professionals with a growing list of stage and film credits. (After three years playing Tiny Tim, Tendal moved up to the role of older brother Richard Cratchit this year, and has a major part in the forthcoming independent feature film “Who Do You Love,” about the family that founded Chess Records.)
The two have been carefully groomed, educated and trained for a life in the arts by their parents, actors Sheri Mann Stewart and Barry Stewart Mann. Home schooled in the “unschooling philosophy,” they live in a Lake Claire co-housing community with a garden shaped like a peace sign, often taking meals with their neighbors in a communal-style kitchen.
“It’s not like we wake up at 8 and do a half-hour of math and a half-hour of social studies,” says dad Barry. “It’s not like that at all. We don’t really have a curriculum. Our curriculum is kind of dictated by what’s going on in our lives and what their interests are.”
Accustomed to field trips to places such as the High Museum of Art and Fernbank Science Center, the boys perk up when they hear they’ll soon visit a chocolate factory and a police station. But those will have to wait until after the coolest field trip of all.
“We’re going to the inauguration!” Sheri says excitedly.
Like art, politics have been a way of life for this family. Sheri’s mother, Connie Ward Stewart, was an education policy expert in the Jimmy Carter administration in Washington. Royce’s middle name is a tribute to the former president.
The two boys give money to various causes: Hosea Feed the Hungry, CARE, Save the Manatees and Doctors Without Borders, to name a few. Two years ago, Royce gave part of his $100 earnings on a film to Doctors Without Borders, and the film’s producer was so impressed that he gave the 5-year-old a humanitarian award.
For their trip to Washington next month, Sheri found the family a guest room in a co-housing community for $25 a night, and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) will give them a tour of the Capitol.
“We’ll spend our money on the inauguration and then do all our shopping on half-price day at the thrift store,” Sheri jokes.
All about acting
Both Sheri and Barry teach acting. He was named National Storyteller of the Year in 1999; she has appeared in numerous films, most notably as the “wacky rental car agent” in “My Fellow Americans,” a presidential comedy starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner.
Their acting sons, Sheri says, have quite different styles. Tendal always wants to look cool, in jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. Royce, on the other hand, is like a mini-Elton John.
On this Saturday morning, he’s wearing a coat and tie, cowboy boots and a long, military-style white coat as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. “I’m the king of fashion!” Royce quips, clearly quite pleased with himself. Royce likes gymnastics, rock climbing, songwriting and poetry. Tendal favors tennis, swimming, guitar and making his own movies.
“A lot of times, I’ll just take out the video camera and just make a random movie,” the 10-year-old says. “Sometimes it will be stop-motion. Sometimes I’ll make a cartoon movie, but those don’t end up very well. Sometimes I’ll make a movie with real people in it.”
After their evening shows at the Alliance, “We usually stay up to watch ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘The Colbert Report,’ ” Tendal says. “But they are on holiday break so we can’t watch them right now.”
“I can’t really understand it,” Royce admits.
Keeping a balance
Recently the family went to the Toronto International Film Festival for the screening of Tendal’s new movie, “Who Do You Love.” In the film, directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, Tendal plays Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. The film is slated to open in 2009, though the recent release of another film about the Chess family, “Cadillac Records,” could affect the timing.
As the boys’ lives become more public, the family realizes it may have to struggle to find balance. “We know the danger of becoming stage parents,” Barry says, “and we have really tried to give [performing] to them as an option.”
When it comes to choosing between the glamour of film or the rush of theater, one 7-year-old hot shot doesn’t seem close to going Hollywood.
“I think I like the stage more,” Royce says. “You get to be there all the time, and you get to perform live, and I like performing live.”
