Go West! (and other news)

Whew! The last month or so has been quite action-packed, so I figured an update was long overdue:

After wrapping up my BFA in Musical Theater at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, my friend and classmate Joe Moeller and I made the great pilgrimage, as most MT BFA holders do, to NYC. We showcased with the rest of the 2011 class on April 11th, and then real life suddenly started. Settling into the New York life, learning to navigate the subway system, hating on tourists, auditioning and meeting Lady Gaga in the street numbered among the activities of my first official week in NYC. I had waited so long for this life to began, and it finally has!

After a week or so of auditioning, I landed my first NYC gig.

I had the great fortune of being hired to work on a staged reading of a new musical called Go West! This brand-new musical follows the forming of the legendary disco group The Village People. (Yes, those Village People.) I played Henri Belolo, the Frenchman responsible for co-creating the iconic group. One of the most exciting aspects of the project was getting to meet, and work with, the real Henri (a producer on the project, pictured

on left.) With a score comprised of the Village People's greatest and lesser known hits, this workshop was some of the most fun I've had on stage. Go West! has so much heart and I cannot wait for everyone to have the chance to go on this disco-tastic journey.

What's next?

In just a few days I am set to start rehearsals for a production of Forever Plaid. Playing the role of Frankie, we will be performing weekends July 8th through the 23rd in lovely Sugar Loaf, NY at the Lycian Theater. I'm so excited to get started on this hilarious and poignant show.

So far, New York City has been nothing but a dream come true. I'm so excited to see what the next adventure will be! Stay tuned...

Experiments in Puppetry: Video Highlights

As previously posted, I recently had the opportunity to put together my own evening of original puppet works. Entitled "Experiments in Puppetry", the show used a variety of types of puppetry and a mix of song and spoken word. The "experiments" ranged from humorous to heart warming and I am very pleased to share some video highlights from the performance.

One of the pieces I am most proud of is my interpretation of some pieces from Daniel MacIvor'sHumans. This table top piece was inspired by work I saw at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2010 Puppetry Conference which I attended this past summer.

The performance featured a very special guest. One of my personal hero's and a veteren children's performer.

My homage to the early work of Jim Henson, another hero of mine.

I also took an existing musical theater tune that I love to perform and "puppetized" it.

The finale of the show, and one of my favorite "experiment" was this performance of In the Mood. Joining us on stage was tapper Leeds Hill.

Experiments in Puppetry: A Cabaret

Attending a Conservatory-Style University program comes with many perks, not the least of which is the incredible opportunity to create and workshop one's own work. I recently had the opportunity to fuse my musical theater training and puppetry work in a cabaret entitled "Experiments in Puppetry: A Cabaret".

Along with talented musical theater majors Leeds Hill, Matt Hill, Greg Kamp and Emily Schexnaydre, I created six pieces using varying types and styles of puppetry. From the humorous to the bizarre, this 30 min piece featured everything from table-top tapping, twisted show tunes and a child-eating bear. These experiments, I hope, will lead to new discoveries in the future.

"Experiments in Puppetry: A Cabaret" was Presented on November 22nd, 2010 at the College-Conservatory of Music and accompanied on piano by Anthony De Angelis. Stay tuned for video highlights.

Big River

I was recently fortunate enough to perform in a wonderful production of Big River at The Carnegie in Covington, KY. This really imaginative production was directed by Ed Cohen and Dee Anne Bryll and features some of my very talented friends and classmates. Playing the part of “Tom Sawyer”, and a host of other residents along the Mississippi river, was a whole lot of fun. Check of some pictures from the production and some promotional video of the cast!

Instalation Art Piece

I wanted to share some photo's from the first even installation art project I've ever worked on. My work in any kind of art medium has been almost entirely in puppet building, so I was very excited to try my hand at something a little different. I'm not sure exactly what to call this piece, but it was built to help promote literacy at a local school. I built three characters from popular kids books and posed them around a tree that already existed in the school lobby. Scaredy Squirrel, Chester the Cat and Flat Stanley were the three characters that were selected. The scene is basically the three characters having just finished decorating the tree to welcome the kids back to school.
Here is what the tree in the lobby looked like before I got my hands on it. An interesting looking tree and a good base upon which to build. It's mounted on a cork board in the main entrance to the school.

The first thing I did with the tree was add leaves. I figured that might help make it look more tree-like for starters and I wanted to create a summer/early fall scene...not so much the dead of winter look. The background was originally made of felt cut-outs, an elementary school classic - I wanted to try and freshen it up. Here is a shot with added leaves and the start of a background. I used foamcore stapled to the cork board and then filled the joints with regular dry-wall filler. You can also see the beginnings of background painting.



The characters I built to sit in/around the tree were not built like any puppets I'd made before. I was inspired largely by character sculptures I've seen in theme parks and in the Disney store. For example the Big Bad Wolf and Three Little Pigs in this picture. My assumption is that the sculptures found in Disney stores are mass-produced and cast from molds in fiberglass. The characters I built were built in a slightly different way.

I started with blocks of Styrofoam and sculpted the various body parts to the characters. Next, I covered each Styrofoam figure with Creative Paperclay. It's a really cool product to work with because it can we worked quite thin over the Stryofoam with water and dries very light. It can be layered quite effectively and you can then sand and paint it quite easily. Here are shots of the Squirrel, Cat and Stanley's head during this process.









Once the figures were sculpted and dry, I proceeded to add other details. A furry tail on the squirrel, fur onto Chester and a very flat set of clothes on a very flat body on Stanley. I then added props and air brush details to finish them off in the workshop before loading them into the school.





















Once all the parts were loaded into the school, I was very happy with how it turned out. I added some additional props (fence, ladder, flowers, airbrushing on the tree) during the load in and I feel that the details really brought the whole thing together. From all accounts the kids were very excited to see such a unique art piece in the school on the first day, and I understand that the staff at the school was also very happy. Here are some pictures of the finished piece.