Hometown: Boca Raton, Fl
Education: NYU Tisch Acting Department
Select Credits: F#%king Up Everything (Off-Bway), North Coast (PIT), The Dead Dad's Club (UCB)
Why theater?: The connection with the audience. I keep coming back to the theater because you can feel the words land on an audience immediately. No matter how long you've been doing a certain show, if you keep it fresh, the audience will have an experience and reward you with their energy, attentiveness, and reactions.
Who do you play in Blank! The Musical?: Myself! Every show is different, so there are no set roles, and we usually play multiple characters. Whatever aids in the telling of that night's story, is the amount of characters that we get to play. The only text we are a slave to is what our unconscious minds feed us.
Tell us about Blank! The Musical: Blank! The Musical is an improvised musical from the Overture to the Closing Number. The thing that differentiates it is the audience gets to craft the show themselves using an app designed specifically for the show. The audiences pick the name of the show, the notes of the main theme, and even the title of songs.
What is it like being a part of Blank! The Musical?: The rehearsals have been a master class in composition while simultaneously creating strong group mind with a group of people who largely haven't played together before. The show represents three cities (Chicago, Boston, NYC)! Our director, TJ Shanoff, is one of the silliest and funniest people I've ever met, while our MD Mike Descoteaux blows my mind about every 5 minutes with his breadth of Musical Theater knowledge. Mike is a walking Musical Theater Almanac.
What kind of theater speaks to you? Who or what inspires you as an artist?: I love modern musical theater like 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and rockier shows like Spring Awakening. The shows that Trey Parker and Matt Stone write are my favorite of all time because of their combined homages to classics while hitting social commentary. If you can make people think and laugh at the same time, that's pretty impressive.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: Elder Cunningham or McKinley in Book Of Mormon and Freddy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Oh, and Mama Rose in Gypsy.
What’s your favorite show tune?: Probably "Turn it Off" from Book of Mormon. It compresses a century of musical comedy and sexual oppression into 3 minutes.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Amy Poehler or Steve Martin.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: I would play the hot dog vendor who my character is stressing out because he's late to rehearsal but 'needs some protein' on the way. The vendor would say some perfectly timed hot dog pun as my character ran off. The movie would be called, "A Heartshare in the Pokonos."
What show have you recommended to your friends?: This is becoming redundant but Book of Mormon and Sleep No More.
What’s the most played song on your iTunes?: "Kiss" by Prince.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Italian food. zero self control in that domain.
What’s up next?: Well after Blank! goes to Broadway for 80+ years I'll probably continue making shows and videos with my sketch group Pop Roulette and performing hip-hop improv with North Coast. Oh, and movies...action movies.
