Hometown: Manchester CT
Education: Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts
Select Credits: Film: Sam “Neighbors”, Vin “Geeble”, Evan “Live”, Sam “your invited”
Theater: Monkey “Journey to the West”, Benedick “Much Ado About Nothing”, A-RAB “West Side Story”. Select Television: Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, Fosse/Verdon, Law and Order SVU, Instinct
Why theater?: I love all forms of acting, in all different kinds of projects, but theater definitely holds a special place in my heart. Something about being in the room with your audience, it allows you to reach them, play off of them, communicate with them in a way thats only possible when doing live theater. Which I love because I feel like I can really effectively share my characters story.
Who do you play in Ms. Delight?: I play Roy Young JR in Ms. Delight
Tell us about Ms. Delight?: Ms. Delight is a play about the fictitious famous NYC drag queen, Ms. Stella Delight, coming back in contact with her son, Roy JR, after more than a decade of being estranged. Roy unexpectedly breaks into Stellas dressing room one night, and the two are left to try and resolve years worth of abandonment, regret, anger, fear, persecution, and see if the two can infect have a relationship.
What is it like being a part of Ms. Delight?: Being part of Ms. Delight has honestly been a blast. The cast and creative team are all some really rad individuals. I have really enjoyed working with Cammerron Baits as our director, he really has given the actors space to breathe and discover our characters and play with new thoughts and ideas every single rehearsal. Additionally sharing the stage with Witti (Repartee) and Rebekah (Wilson) is such a gift in its self, they are both so much fun to work with and because of their fantastic talents I have really been able to develop my character so much further.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I love really intimate, raw, unapologetic, original pieces of theater. When I am an audience member, I never want to leave the theater happy. I don’t like where there is a crystal clear resolution, or a “villain” and a “hero”. I don’t think that that is reflective of how life really is. We all have a story. We are all doing our best with the light we have at the time. We are all multifaceted and complex and beautiful and I think having characters and plots like that is important, and thats the kind of work I’m interested in doing. As for who/what inspires me thats a very loaded question because I’m inspired by something/someone new every day. I will say the three performances that I have seen that really have stayed with me as an actor, and that I think about constantly are Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter in Angels in America on Broadway, Alex Sharp as Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway and Christiane Noll as Diana in Next To Normal at TheaterWorks in Hartford CT.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: All of them.
What’s your favorite showtune?: None of them.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Marianne Elliott
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: Cameron Monaghan and it would be called “Sleeping On Subways, a series of questionable choices leading to one hell of a story, the life and times of Brandon Raines. Part One.”
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: Not that far back but I would go see the 2009 Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher
What show have you recommended to your friends?: Once on this Island at the Circle in the Square
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Sitting in my living room and watching horror movies and eating a whole sleeve of Oreos at 11am on a Tuesday.
What’s up next?: Not a clue, I am in the process of auditioning for some really exciting stuff so hopefully one of those!!
