Conservatory of Acting in Manhattan. It was a two- year intensive program intended for those certain of their
career choice, and offered no degree or certificate. When I left, I left with a head full of inspiration, a
heart full of fear and body full of training. It was wonderful and I'm still haunted by the voices of my
instructors while I am rehearsing plays now in Toronto.
various short stories. Of the plays (Feeding the Roaches, The Flood, Reaching Utopia, Stranger Family
and The Domino Heart), Feeding the Roaches, a play about youth and gang related violence, was given a
production at CHS, because I was assigned to direct something and I could not, for the life of me, find an
appropriate play for teenagers that teenagers could act (without having to play 50 -year olds). The result was
that play, and it won the N.A.C. Young Playwrights award. So did The Flood.
The Flood was heavily influenced by David Mamet's Oleanna because I was performing in that play at the time.
The Flood was workshopped by the N.A.C.Y.P.P., directed by Jan Irwin and it starred John Koensgen. Reaching Utopia is a flawed play, but led to the creation of Stranger Family, which is a less- flawed play, but has too many characters and 3 children. A real no-no, I learnt from producers, for obvious financial reasons. They told me they liked the writing but I should make something they could put on. The result was The Domino Heart.
A play with three adults, soon to be presented in Toronto. (late '00, early '01).
The teleplays (The Up & Comers, and
Playhouse)
were co-written with my friend and working partner Martin Gero.
translation of Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, by Eric Bentley. Bentley worked with us and
offered a ton of great stories about Brecht himself, since Eric was a friend and the first translator of
Brecht’s plays into English.
I played Alceste in Stella Adler's graduate production of The Misanthrope. From there, I was cast as
Bassanio in the Merchant of Venice, and as a company member of a collective about the Bosnian war entitled
Where Ravens Rule. Both shows were performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland and the latter
won the "Fringe 1st Award".
Upon returning home to Toronto, Canada, I landed a leading role opposite one of my childhood screen faves,
Gene Wilder, in his movie Murder in a Small Town. I also had the opportunity to work with another childhood
fave of mine, Meagan Follows, in Anne of Green Gables: the Continuing Story. Since then, I have been appearing
mainly on stage as: Ray Dooley in The Beauty Queen of Leenane for Canadian Stage Company and Manitoba
Theatre Centre, and Horace in Moliere's The School For Wives for the Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto, and the National Arts Centre.
Coming up:
Peter in Midnight Sun for Tarragon Theatre
and the National Arts Centre; Richard in The
Man
Who Came To Dinner and Bobby in Fanny's First
Play, both for the Shaw Festival, 2001
season. Also, the role
of Quince in Garry Oldman's new film Interstate 60.
But it was a lot of work and I loved it, and am looking for the right play and opportunity to do it
again.
day after a long rehearsal and reminding us that we were to partake in some kind of instructional/exercise/"tips on
Improv" for I can't remember what team - and Jane mentions that we are to be helpful but not "Too helpful." Which meant "Don't give away the gold." Which translates roughly to, "Don't show or tell them any of our secrets."
Which basically left us with nothing.
So Jane, being totally stoned on some form of "medication" decided to help by yelling suggestions like "Alright, now, move about the space conveying the colour purple." Shortly thereafter she was heard hollering, "I smell grape! Does anybody smell grape?" Just one of many, many bizarre and surreal experiences I had during my tenure on The BOFA
Improv team.
on my line which should have been:
My father, just this minute chanced
to appear
Alighting from his coach not far from here
And what has brought him into town this morning
Is a dire errand, of which I'd had no warning:
He's made a match for me!
As you can see, it rhymes. I blanked and thought to
myself, "Oh God, now I've got to come up with a
sixteenth century rhyme in iambic pentameter on the
spot. “I abbreviated it quickly to:
My father arrived, just this minute, by carriage
Can you believe it? He wants us to have a marriage.
And instantly, from the corner of my eyes, I could see older patrons
with their own personal copies of the play
flipping around furiously to try and find where the play had jumped to.
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