Actors find ways to hide tattoos when needed

Andi Watson admits she was “in a defiant period” when she got her first tattoo in 1998. Marriage, she says, forced the longtime Valley actress to take a seven-year hiatus from the stage.

So after her divorce, anticipating once again taking to the boards, she got a tattoo of comedy and tragedy masks — the symbol of theater — on her right shoulder blade.

It’s ironic, then, that Watson, who performs regularly with Mesa’s Southwest Shakespeare Company, often has to cover that inky dramatic ode if she wants to work.

As tattoos have gained popular acceptance — gracing the flesh of everyone from college kids to soccer moms — they’ve also, naturally, found their way onto the theatrical stage.

Much to the chagrin of directors and makeup designers.

“Everybody’s got tattoos. Even the older people are coming in with them,” says Patsy Johnson, a makeup designer for Fountain Hills Community Theater and Southwest Shakespeare. “Sometimes you don’t know what you’re getting until they get to (costume) fitting, and then you go, ‘Oh my God.’ ”

THE COVER-UP

Tattoos may be apropos for more modern shows like Eric Bogosian’s slacker drama “subUrbia” or the rock musical “Rent,” but when it comes to classical period pieces — like a traditional staging of “Hamlet” or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” — the ink’s gotta go.

Sometimes, costuming will cover the offending tat. Otherwise, it’s a trip to the makeup chair. Every actor has his or her own recipe for hiding marked skin. Some, like Watson and Tempe’s Nicole Lang (who has a barbed wire band on her right arm and a rose on the other shoulder), swear by liquid latex. Others cake on Dermablend and foundation powder, hoping sweat doesn’t wash it away under the stage lights.

“They’re a pain in the butt,” says Jenn Banda, 37, a professional Valley actress who has four Egyptian tattoos on her back. “I do so much classical theater, and because they’re all black, makeup doesn’t cover them up.”

Like most actors, Banda doesn’t tell directors about her tattoos when she auditions, and she makes sure to wear clothing that conceals them. Why hinder your chances, she reasons, from the start?

“It shouldn’t be about my tattoos,” she says. “It should be about my talent.”

A TATTOOED GENDER LINE

Tattoos seem to be a bigger issue for actresses than their male counterparts.

Credit that partly to the relaxing of the tattoo taboo for women in recent years. The theatrical stage, which dips so often into the past, hasn’t quite caught up.

There’s also the fact that actresses are more often asked to show a little skin onstage. Or, as actor Jason Barth, Watson’s longtime boyfriend, puts it: “I think girls have to be a little more versatile.”

Barth, 32, says his five tattoos — including the logo from the musical “Miss Saigon” on his left biceps and a large phoenix that spans his upper back — haven’t been a problem when it comes to acting.

In fact, says the former Marine, they’ve sometimes helped.

“I have to be honest,” Barth says, “I’ve only had to cover up for one show in the dozens I’ve done. I’ve been fortunate. A lot of parts I audition for and get cast in, if my tattoos are showing they can be incorporated.”

Take, for example, the “Henry V” he performed with Southwest Shakespeare last season. The tragedy was wrapped around a modern military setting, and showcasing his tattoos added authenticity.

“I’ve sort of changed my mind about getting tattoos where I get them,” Barth says. “I don’t really worry about letting theater get in the way. I just get what I want where I want, and let things go how they happen.”

MARKED CONCLUSIONS

Watson, meanwhile, is content with keeping her tattoo count low. At least as long as acting takes a priority in her life.

“I’ve had so much trouble with feeling bad about this one (tattoo), and having to ask directors if it’s OK,” she says, “so it’s prevented me from getting any more.”

For Banda, at least, there’s a strange struggle between personal expression and being true to the craft of acting.

“In some ways, I think it’s inappropriate if you’re an actor; if you’re going to have huge tattoos on your arm and places they’re going to be seen, it might be a detriment to your career,” she says.

“But that’s our prerogative as human beings, to mark our bodies. It’s human nature versus artistic nature.”