Hometown: Brooklyn based; Minneapolis born.
Education: BFA@NYU
Select Credits: Wrote and performed in Alligator Summer at the Dorothy Streslin Theater in NYC. Also done stuff at Montreal Zoofest and the Edinburgh Fringe. Worked for Warner Brothers Television as part of its Creative Lab. Recipient of Chair's Award of Excellence in Dramatic Writing at NYU.
Why theater?: Despite the runaround, it really is the most legal fun available. I say that like I'm a drug addict or a criminal. I am neither. So, maybe 'why theater' because I like feeling cooler than I am.
Who do you play in Flamingo?: I play Andrew, a young man who is unfortunately recognizable. So many unique, exciting qualities in a guy who doesn't seem to want to put it all together and be a human being. I care about him but he makes me so mad sometimes.
Tell us about Flamingo: Flamingo is the story of Caroline, who meets Andrew while conducting a study on pornography. Andrew is frank and open, if not polite: a jarring foil to Caroline's amiable lab partner, Finn. Caroline learns from each, cares for both, and must figure out if it's possible to be happy with either, or at all. This play is positioned at the current standstill in male/female dynamics, with each side either unwilling or too willing to acquiesce in order to make togetherness work.
What is it like being a part of Flamingo?: Rehearsal feels like you're swimming in a shark-tank of Mensas. Real-live, hyper-intelligent sharks, and you've got a cut on your leg and you're naked and the ladder if there ever was one is now gone. So you just have to keep finding ways for these sharks not to eat you alive, and at the end of the day you're exhausted, and sometimes proud, and you can't wait to go swimming again.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I am inspired by people who are able show their warts. It's terribly difficult to be honest, and I'm deeply in awe of those who have made it their vocations to be so. I think the next steps towards progress, for many troubling topics in the newspaper, are unbridled honesty and a collective attempt to understand. Which thankfully have always been two major pillars of the theater.
Any roles you’re dying to play?: Whatever's next. I love new work and I love great writing. Characters that actors want to play. So yeah, something like Flamingo 2 would be nice.
What’s your favorite showtune?: Yes.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: Mark Rylance or Tilda Swinton. I don't know why I said "or"; they could be together. Wait can you even imagine how good that would be?
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?: The celebrity doppelganger I get most frequently is the porn star James Deen, so that's obviously my first choice depending on his availability. I've also been kicking around the title "Penis Equals Drama" for something. This feels right.
What show have you recommended to your friends?: TV? “Breaking Bad” forever. Theater? Clown Bar at the Box, except all of my friends are in it and out of their minds so I didn't really recommend it to them because that would be weird.
What’s the most played song on your iTunes?: "Luckiest Man", The Wood Brothers. Followed by Kanye West, Hanson, Fred Eaglesmith and Billie Holiday. Try to contain me.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?: Scratch-off tickets; I still think I've got the magic despite my lifetime batting average. Meeting people with a screw loose and becoming close with them. My Ricky Rubio jersey. Attempting to free-style. I relish in guilty pleasures because they're inherently unpredictable.
What’s up next?: I co-wrote and performed in a pilot called "Carmen", which will screen at ITVFest in September. Workshopping a play of mine with Squeaky Bicycle Productions in October. Thanksgiving in November. Who's hosting? I like yams.
