Name: Matthew Dudley

Hometown: New York City is my home.

Education: I’ve trained all over with many different people.

Tell us about Stripped: Stripped is about a man who’s wife has just died and he is struggling to hold on to people he loves as they struggle with the challenges of finding their way in the world.

Describe Stripped in 3 words: Charming, funny, earnest

Who do you play in Stripped?: Joseph Munson

Describe your character in 3 words: Fragile, paternal, hopeful

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: I’m a baseball fan and I throw with my high school son, who is a pitcher.

What’s your favorite MLB team?: I root for The Yankees

Which company member is most athletic?: Without question, I’m the most athletic but its pretty evident that most of our cast is fairly committed to working out at the gym.

Most competitive?: Its got to be either playwright Tyler Grimes or actor Ben Diserens, as they both often show up at rehearsal wearing  jersey’s from some California baseball team. I forget which one. Dodgers? I know its one that started in New York.

Most likely to work at a strip club?: Well, many of the cast members could meet the aesthetic requirements for a job in a strip club but I’d be shocked if any of them would be willing to give up the sort of money they’re making in the theater.

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: Out of deference to my son who works very hard at his baseball skills as high school player, I don’t think we’ve got anybody in this cast who will be drafted. But then again, look what the Giants did with that lot.

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: I’ve only just met all of them but I’m going to be surprised if the entire cast doesn’t say Ben Diserens. Just looking at the guy, you know a walk to the train could lead to trouble.

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: sunflower seeds.

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: Watching the boys bounce off of each other both physically and through their humor is pretty funny.

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: It’s not a single moment, but watching Sarah soften to Hobbes relentless petitions for affection is a process I’m enjoying.

Why should we come see Stripped?: I think the cast of characters is very charming. Tyler Grimes has written a funny compelling script and these actors are filling it out well with their humor and sensitivity.

Whoever said life is easy was a complete liar. There’s no easy button for the characters of Tyler Grimes’ Stripped. In Distilled Theatre Company’s production, a former baseball star turned PTSD military defunct comes home and attempts to reconnect to the life he once knew while battling the demons inside.
Stripped follows twenty-something Chester on his reconciliation tour alongside his buddies Calvin and Hobbes as a night at the strip club turns into a life-altering domino affect of drama. Their night of debauchery results in the reunion of Chester and his former pal Diana, who happens to work as a stripper. The chance meeting offers a whirlwind of old wounds and bad habits for Chester that ultimately leads to suffering for those around him. Tyler Grimes offers a poetically conversational script with characters that have a wide array of pain and ability to handle emotion. The characters each contain something that can be relatable to an audience yet they still have their own identity. The plot is all too familiar yet breathes new life into the surrounding situation. While the play is set up as Chester’s story, Grimes and the ensemble developed characters that happened to be much more interesting than Chester. In fact, the most interesting dynamic of the play happened to be between Hobbes and Sarah, Diana’s friend. Their dialogue felt the most honest as their characters seemed to be the most fleshed out on page and stage. But unfortunately, this wasn’t their tale entirely. The focal character, the link of the world was Chester. His journey and arc is the catalyst and serves as the primary focus of Act I. In Act II, he is predominantly missing from the party scene as attention is given to the buddies and their new lady friends. While this allowed the other characters to develop their own personal stories, this play isn't about them. This shift allowed the audience to care about these people and potentially hate Chester more. Whether intentional or not, Chester is a self-destructive monster with no redeemable qualities despite the demon that follows. Yet you hope he succeeds not for his own himself but because of his brother Stevie. The relationship between Chester and Stevie is one that wanted to be explored further. The love and bond of the siblings was something stunning to watch, especially in the video game scene.
While the supporting characters of Stripped may have been stronger overall, Chester could have been a more pivotal character had there been a deeper performance from Alexander McCarty. McCarty’s lackluster performance brought little to the pained character except little true emotional connection and much monotony. Chloe Malaise was a bit flat as Diana who brought a different type of pain to the stage. There were some extraordinarily strong performances that brought great life to the stage. Claire Rothrock delivers an exquisite performance as Sarah. Rothrock brought a natural ease and humor that balanced the heavy material nicely. Rothrock and Jordan McGill as Hobbes had wonderful chemistry, allowing McGill to offer a complete performance. Christian Daly as baseball prospect Calvin brought heartthrob to the trio though when he breaks away with Diana he seemed to struggle.
Director Victoria Flores had difficulty keeping the momentum going. The overall pacing was extremely slow. The flow was not aided by the muddy as hell transitions with a clunky set by John Lavigne and a lag of music fading in by sound designer Lisha Brown. Flores’ navigation of her primary ensemble was fine but some of the most unfortunate staging snafus came quite often throughout the party scene. The script calls for multi-locations to be present on stage and show the various parts of the shindig. However, despite freezing moments for the couples, the living room was always active even when the other moments were occurring. There were so many moments of action or crossing in front of the couples that their important dialogue was missed due to distracting extras. The use of extras may have secured the fact that Stripped may be better served on film if time and care in pacing was the ultimate goal.
Stripped is a play with great potential. In baseball terms, some of the players just weren’t making contact with the ball. With a stronger team, Stripped could be a contender for something great.

Name: Claire Rothrock

Hometown: Seattle, WA

Education: BFA from NYU, MA from the Central School of Speech and Drama

Tell us about Stripped: Stripped is about how people cope with and battle their deamons. We follow Diana, a stripper and Chester, an ex Marine, as they are both trying to move forward in their lives after living through terrible tragedies but their past keeps getting in the way and interfering.

Who do you play in Stripped?: I play Sarah, your friendly, neighborhood stripper.

Describe your character in 3 words: Sassy, brash, protective

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: I suppose a fan, although being a Mariners fan has it's own set of unique challenges.

What’s your favorite MLB team?: The Mariners, I have to say the Mariners.

Which company member is most athletic?: I have a feeling Chole could take us all.

Most competitive?: oh me, I win. I win right?

Most likely to work at a strip club?: Obviously Tyler Grimes, he doesn't even have to change his name!

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: I'm pretty sure Lisha could manage a ball team, that count? the rest of us would all be terrible.

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: I'd be surprised if it wasn't Jordan.

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: It use to be dippin' dots, remember dippin' dots? but I like a good old fashioned hot dog usually. Or at Yankee Stadium I gotta get those garlic fries.

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: The snacks at rehearsal! and also the funny weirdo doing the show with me, they're pretty great.

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: There's a wiffle ball scene that's very funny and all the guys are shirtless and I don't mind that.

Why should we come see Stripped?: This is an exciting new play with great actors in it, why wouldn't you come?

Name: Christian Daly

Hometown: San Diego

Education: UNCSA

Tell us about Stripped: A wonderful play about the trials and tribulations of growing up in a small town. Loving the people you went to high school with and learning about the world through the eyes of your friends.

Describe Stripped in 3 words: All American problems

Who do you play in Stripped?: Calvin

Describe your character in 3 words: Strong, rambunctious, romantic

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: Nah

What’s your favorite MLB team?: The Giants

Which company member is most athletic?: Alexander

Most competitive?: Jordan

Most likely to work at a strip club?: Myself

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: Jordan

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: Jordan

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: Beer

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: Being in a company of young and upend coming actors who are brave enough to take on the challenge of crafting a completely new play.

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: Steve’s entrance when Chester is playing xbox

Why should we come see Stripped?: Because Tyler Grimes is one of the great new American playwrights and through a balls out bats up story line is able in encompass how normal Americans handle war, fame, success, poverty, and sex in that awkward gap between childhood and adult hood.

Name: Chloé Malaisé

Hometown: This one’s always tricky…. I was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, but I’ll say Weston, Florida because that’s where I grew up for 10 years before moving to NYC.

Education: Musical Theatre at AMDA – American Musical & Dramatic Academy. 2013 grad

Tell us about Stripped: Stripped follows the story of a young man, Chester, along with his friends and family, as he returns home after being kicked out of the Marines. Stripped is about just that, being stripped down whether involuntarily or willingly, literally and metaphorically, physically and mentally. All characters travel an extensive road of emotions in the couple of days in which this story takes place, and the end is as executive-producer Liz Regan said, “an ending that'll feel like you're getting hit with a baseball bat” !

Describe Stripped in 3 words: Raw, vulnerability, acceptance.

Who do you play in Stripped?: Diana aka Coventry Cove, stripper, or as I’d prefer to call it, dancer. I am Chester’s ex-neighbor and childhood sweetheart.

Describe your character in 3 words: Stubborn, strong, Luisa.

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: I was not ever too big of a baseball fan until I started working on Stripped. The excitement of Tyler, the playwright, and Ben, playing Hawkes, about the Giants radiated at every rehearsal. I had no choice.

What’s your favorite MLB team?: I think by default I am now a Giants fan. The night of the last game of the world series, we all ran to a Giants bar after rehearsal and got there right before the bottom of the ninth inning. I learned a lot about baseball in those last 20 minutes, and I experienced them winning the World Series. Giants it is.

Which company member is most athletic?: I would have to say Alex, which suits him because he’s playing Mr. Military man aka Chester.

Most competitive?: Christian! Playing Calvin. Never in a bad way, always in a constructive and fun way.

Most likely to work at a strip club?: JORDAN. He’s playing Hobbes. I would not put it past him.

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: Tyler Grimes, playwright. Whether he can actually play well or not at all is irrelevant. He’s got the motivation and the drive to get him there.

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: Liz Regan. Executive Producer. This little mischievous lady always gets me to say okay to everything and it’s for good reason as there is never a dull moment. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I wake up in a jail and Liz is seating next to me with an “oopsies” look on her face.

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: POP.CORN. It never gets old. Anywhere.

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: Being part of this show has brought on some very new experiences as an actor and a person. I’ve had to break some barriers and go as vulnerable as I’ve ever been. I have met some absolutely incredible people in the process and I feel so lucky to get the chance to share the stage with them.

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: The moment Chester and Diana see each other for the first time after many many years.

Why should we come see Stripped?: Stripped is filled with so many emotions that anyone can relate to. We hope to make the audience both laugh and cry, maybe at the same time, maybe not. Who knows, but what we do know is that we’re working hard and playing harder to make this a memorable theatre experience for everyone that attends!

Name: Ben Diserens

Hometown: Burlingame, California

Education: Yes

Tell us about Stripped: It's got a little bit of something for everybody.

Describe Stripped in 3 words: Funny. Surprising. Anarchy.

Who do you play in Stripped?: Hawkes

Describe your character in 3 words: Shake. And. Bake.

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: I wasn't big on baseball growing up. I was more of a football fan (Go 9ers). But since I've moved away from San Francisco to New York, I feel like watching the Giants is a way for me to be connected to my home.

What’s your favorite MLB team?: The current world champions, the San Francisco Giants.

Which company member is more athletic?: Alexander

Most competitive?: Alexander

Most likely to work at a strip club?: Alexander

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: Alexander

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: Alexander

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: Garlic fries. SF Giants fans know that there is no other option.

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: Everyone involved in this play is going all in. Actors, director, playwright. No one is holding back and really putting a lot of heart into this show.

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: Too many to chose from. But there is an unseen Burt Reynolds in the show. So anytime he is referenced in the play there's a smile on my face.

Why should we come see Stripped?: Pretty much everyone but me takes their shirt off at some point. Ya welcome.

Name: Jordan Theodore McGill

Hometown: Seattle, WA

Education: BA in Theatre & Drama, University of Washington, 2010

Tell us about Stripped: Stripped in a nutshell; PTSD + Baseball = Best friends.

Describe Stripped in 3 words: Riotous, gregarious, nouveau.

Who do you play in Stripped?: Hobbes Westlund.

Describe your character in 3 words: Mouthful of loud.

Are you a baseball fan or a baseball player?: Both.

What’s your favorite MLB team?: The Yankees.

Which company member is more athletic?: Alexander.

Most competitive?: Christian.

Most likely to work at a strip club?: Clare.

Most likely to be a pro baseball player?: Christian.

Most likely to wake up next to you in a jail cell?: Alexander.

What’s your favorite ballgame snack?: Popcorn, hotdogs, cheeseburgers, beer.

What is the best part about being a part of Stripped?: The cast. (And the writing.)

What’s your favorite moment in Stripped?: At the end, when the brothers hug (spoiler.)

Why should we come see Stripped?: Up & coming playwright Tyler Grimes has written God of Carnage for a younger generation. Instead of couples' therapy, Stripped is a show documenting the ever-changing relationships between a group of 20's-something friends whose lives are altered forever when one of their own returns home from Afghanistan stricken with PTSD.