About me...
I have been working as a professional performer for about twenty five years. I have worked as an actor, musician, director, composer, producer, voiceover artist, and educator. I am always looking for the next opportunity and will be forever curious about what lies over the horizon.
For a little history about me, scroll on...
Early Years
I was born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio. I began my life in the arts at Sandusky High School, where I was president of the A Cappella choir, second chair tuba player in the SHS symphonic band and dedicated member of the Drama club.
First play - a little know gem entitled The Butler Did It.
First Musical - The Pajama Game
I would eventually enroll at Kent State University where I earned my BFA in Acting in 1994.
First Professional Production - Much Ado About Nothing at Porthouse Theatre.
I also earned my MFA in Acting from Kent State in 2003.
Actor
Like most professional actors, my professional career has taken me in many directions. I have done everything from performing The Importance of Being Earnest for an audience that included Dame Judi Dench and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, to handing out flyers in a mall while dressed in a cow costume.
I have performed in well over a hundred stage productions over the years. Since 2003 I have worked extensively with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. I performed in over forty productions at the ASC, and have played characters such as Petruchio, Shylock, Polonius and Ebenezer Scrooge, among others. I have toured the country with the ASC, performing in Bar Harbour, ME, Islamorada, FL, Spearfish, SD, Dallas, TX, and everywhere in between.
I have also worked professionally at The Fulton Theatre, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Porthouse Theatre, The Halle Theatre, Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival, Downtown Theatre Classics, Stage First Cincinnati, Happy Few Theatre Co., The American Globe, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, and with the Disgruntled Bit Players, among others.
music
I've always thought of myself as "the guy who was friends with the real musicians", but since I've been getting "paid to play" since that first professional production of Much Ado About Nothing"back in 1993, I should probably just take some credit.
I've had a long and sordid music career. Besides singing and playing tuba in high school, I was also lead singer of the rock band "Phantasy", but quit due to personality conflicts before our first gig. I was quickly recruited to form a new band called "S.O.D". I was handed a bass guitar, which I had never played before, and we were competing with Phantasy at talent shows and almost burning down auditoriums with our pyrotechnics (not kidding). I got back with the Phantasy boys in college for an actual gigging band called "Freudian Slip". We were once described as "a train wreck", and we appreciated the compliment.
Since then I have become proficient on the six string, double bass, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and harmonica, and have even sat behind the drum kit when needed. I've played in numerous theatrical productions, music directed, played bass in two pit orchestras, composed, and for six years performed with the group "Rock a Baby", playing rock n roll for toddlers all over New York City.
Educator
Those who can, act. Those who can, also usually find themselves teaching in one capacity or another. I'm not sure what those who can't do to get by.
My career as a theatre educator ranges from teaching Acting and Theatre courses at Kent State University, to running Laban workshops at Grand Valley State University, to working as an acting coach for undergraduate and graduate acting students, and running workshops for high school, university and community students across the country while touring with the ASC. My instruction is influenced by Stanislavski, Shakespeare, Tadashi Suzuki, Linklater and Laban, among others.
I have also worked for a number of years as a historic tour guide. While working at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, I lead tours of the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid, the cold war submarine Growler, British Airways Concorde jet Alpha Delta, and NASA's space shuttle prototype Enterprise. I also worked in the observation deck of One World Trade, where I gave presentations on everything from the Brooklyn Bridge to NYC Pizza. In Virginia, I worked as an interpreter at James Madison's Montpelier, discussing the lives of not only James and Dolly Madison, but also of the over 100 members of the Montpelier enslaved community.
And as previously mentioned...rock n roll for toddlers.
meanwhile....
As I write this, I reside with my wife, the ever talented singer and actress Alisa Ledyard, in Charlottesville, VA where she just earned her MFA in Acting at the University of Virginia. We will be returning to NYC this fall.
Over the past three years, I was lucky enough to appear in my tenth and eleventh seasons at the American Shakespeare Center, appearing in Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and Peter and the Starcatcher, among others, I returned to Porthouse Theatre for the first time in twelve years, where I played Moonface Martin in Anything Goes and Andrew Carnes in Oklahoma!, and I appeared as “Da” in the Fulton / Virginia Rep co-production of Once.
This summer you can find me playing Mr. Bennet in Heritage Theatre Festival’s Pride and Prejudice, and as Dromio of Ephesus in the Elm Shakespeare Company’s Comedy of Errors.
I also recently shot three student films which you can find on this website. I hope to continue adding to my reel.
Thanks for visiting my site. Rock on.