Hometown: Brooklyn
Education: Brooklyn College, MFA Performance and Interactive Media Arts, University of The Arts, BFA Theatre Arts
Favorite Credits: Director and Production Designer for Adhesive Theater Project's NOIR, Spring Awakening, and Chantecler.
Why theater?: I have many different interests and like to try my hand in different mediums. Theater allows me to explore all of these interests, whether it is video design, stage design, interactive technology, choreography, music, or performance.
Tell us about The Service Road?: The story is about a Brooklyn nature guide who is trying to do penance for a very bad thing she had done when she was out of her mind. A violent storm of mythic proportions hits Prospect Park. The once peaceful service road turns strange as the nature guide attempts to find a lost child. On her quest she meets the denizens of one of the few natural places left in a large city. The nature guide is a modern day Hercules. The play examines what it means to be of service and the true nature of forgiveness.
What inspired you to create The Service Road?: My wife and I have always loved Erin Courtney's work. We've known Erin as a friend and mentor, and approached her to write a piece for us that would use her knowledge of us as artists and individuals. This is a very personal project, even the character of the “big headed toddler” was inspired by our boy Emmett.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I enjoy theater that involves all the senses and that uses theatrical spectacle to serve the story telling. I'm a sucker for metaphor and allegory. I love using paintings to inspire my stage pictures. I often return to the work of de Chirico, Anselm Keefer, Duchamp, and Marc Chagall.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Since I run a theater company that is dedicated to working with professionals and artists who have never before worked in the theater there are a plethora of people I'd love to work with. I'd love to develop a science fiction piece with writer Neal Stephenson. How about a set designed by sculptor Richard Serra? I'd also love to work on a video tracking system for the theatre with Johnny Chung Lee who helped develop the Microsoft Kinect sensor.
What shows have you recommended to your friends?: Any piece by The Debate Society or Big Dance Theater. Erin's last play “The Map of Virtue.”
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Peter Dinklage, “No sleep til Brooklyn”.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Tickling my son until he screams.
If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: In a Research and Development department working with magnets and optics.
What’s up next?: European Tour?
For more, visit http://www.adhesivetheater.com/
