Hometown: I was born in Princeton, NJ but I grew up in Austin, TX. I still go there for Christmas. It’s usually 70 degrees.
Education: I got a BA in Speech and Theater from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. I got an MFA from the Classical Theater Training Program at the University of Delaware. So it was mostly plays until I got out into the real world and realized that musicals were a big part of the professional theater. I’m lucky I get to do both.
Select Credits: Broadway plays: The Velocity Of Autumn, Irena’s Vow. Off-Bway includes One Arm, directed by Moises Kaufman for the New Group. I toured Europe with Ken Hill’s The Phantom Of The Opera.
Why theater?: I was drawn to theater as a teenager because I could express things onstage that I couldn't in real life. I decided to be a professional actor after a friend and I put on Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story by ourselves in our senior year of high school. The audience was stunned into silence at the end. I wanted to have that kind of emotional power over people.
Who do you play in 210 Amlent Avenue?: I play Murphy, a real estate developer in the Hamptons. Murphy is madly in love with his wife, Claire, and the two of them enjoy life to the hilt. Very different from the other tortured characters in the show.
Tell us about 210 Amlent Avenue?: Family intrigue, naked ambition, and, yes, love among the moneyed class (and their hangers-on) in the Hamptons.
What is it like being a part of 210 Amlent Avenue?: I love the cast and creative team. Unlike most of the people in the show, we actually get along really well.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: Make me laugh and I will adore you. Make me cry and I’m yours for life. Maggie Smith in Lettice And Lovage (20 years ago) was sublime and indelible. Tyne Daly in Mothers And Sons (last season) tore me to shreds.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: I’m just about ready to tackle George in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, with a force-of-nature Martha and a brilliant director. Accepting offers…
What’s your favorite showtune?: Right now I'm obsessed with “When There’s No One” from Carrie. There's a clip of Betty Buckley doing it on youtube. It's the most utterly devastating despair I have ever witnessed anywhere. Like I said, make me cry…
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Diane Paulus directing me, Judy Davis, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emma Stone in a musical version of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called: Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Quiet Tiger”.
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?:
The original Follies. Dreamgirls. Charles Ludlam. The Lunts, especially with Noel Coward in Design For Living.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: The Twentieth Century Way at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: I’ve been doing some TV binge-watching recently, but who can feel guilty about watching all these amazing show like “Breaking Bad”, “House Of Cards”, “Luther” and so many more?
What’s up next?: I'd love to say a vacation, but probably just more auditions.
For more on 210 Amlent Avenue, visit 210amlentavenue.com or nymf.org
