Past Projects

 

Summer 2008

• Acting:  Chris toured college campuses around the Midwest and Great Lakes states with GTC Dramatic Dialogues.  He was the Moderator for a number of interactive plays produced for College orientation and leadership programs.  My touring group included Clarence Wethern, Jen Rand, and Damian Robinson.
• Column: My regular column covering the MN Fringe Festival was moved to a new home at City Pages Online.  I returned to the job of reviewing shows for a fifth year.
• Directing:  I was invited to direct a one-act play called Somewhere Between the Sky and the Sea by Alex Broun as part of Theatre Limina's "Summer Shorts: Bermuda Shorts" program.  The play starred Shannon Jankowski, Mariah Christensen, and David Schlosser.

Spring 2008

• Acting:  I portrayed a witness in a mock trial hosted at the Hennepin County Courts by the law firm Faegre & Benson, LLP.  This was my first time doing Role-Play for a CLE (Continuing Legal Education) event.
• Playwriting/Directing:  I co-wrote a play entitled Julie's Unfortunate Arrangement with Matthew A. Everett and Sasha Walloch.  It was based on the fourth act of Romeo and Juliet.  We took the act and interpreted it as if it was an instructional film from the 1950's on the topic of how to avoid an arranged marriage.  I also directed it for the Minnesota Fringe Festival's Five-Fifths of Romeo & Juliet fundraiser on May 5, 2008.
• Playwriting/Directing: I participated in Pillsbury House Theater's Chicago Avenue Project again.  This time the theme was "All or Nothing," and I was both a playwright and a director.  The show I worked on was entitled Fine Plum Rules.  I wrote it for a kid named Quanye who was quite a star!  Kiseung Rhee also appeared in the play.
• Acting: As part of a series of presentations put on by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library called "Untold Stories: Labor History Series", I was part of a reading of Jeannine Coloumbe's play Beakers.  I played "Case Daniels" a rather backwoods-type from near the Canadian border.
• Teaching:  The Guthrie Theater introduced monthly writing workshops on Wednesday nights, and signed me on to teach "More Than Words: Writing Poetry for Theater" the second Wednesday night of each month.  I also was brought in to teach an Intro to Shakespeare class as a substitute.

Winter 2007/2008

• Directing: In The Basement Productions' Artistic Director, Kristin Richardson, tapped me to direct the world debut of A.M. Scott's short play A Pirate Casts Aspersions as part of the annual fundraising event "Love Bites".  It was my first time working with all the actors in the show, and it was a joy.  The cast included Michael Bruckmueller, Shawn Ashley, and Laurel Orman.
• Acting:  I participated in a reading of A.M. Scott's new play Fishkiller.  I played the part of Monroe Reynolds, Sr., a man far older than I really am.  I just feel it's necessary to point out that I'm not really old enough to have an adult son.
• Playwriting:  I graduated from the University of New Orleans in December, and now have my MFA in Playwriting! 
• Playwriting:  Through a series of workshops, I collaborated with Sasha Walloch to create a new piece called Your Neighbor's Apples.  The play has yet to have a reading, and will be workshopped further in the Fall of 2008.  After the first round of workshops the script was clocking in well over 3.5 hours in length.
• Playwriting/Acting:  I was one of four people who took on the task of translating A Christmas Carol into the Klingon language from the Star Trek television series and movies.  The language is called tlhIngan Hol.  The show was called A Klingon Christmas Carol, and was produced by Commedia Beauregard at the Saint Paul Student Center of the University of Minnesota.  I also appeared in the show, which was directed by Sasha Walloch.  I played QachIt (Bob Crachit).

Fall 2007

• Playwriting/Directing:  I returned to the Sabes JCC in Saint Louis Park for the first time since I used to teach there through Stepping Stone Theater for Youth Development.  We created a play in which literary heroes encountered a giant and defeated it handily.
• Teaching:  I taught my first two classes at the Guthrie Theater.  They both had a poetry theme.  In September I taught a class on the use of poetry in plays throughout history, and in October I taught a class on Shakespeare's Sonnets and how to write in that style.
• Acting: I starred in my first film, A Fading Moment,  as Detective Don Cannon.  It debuted at the Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis.
• Playwriting/Directing:  My thesis was due the first day of the fall term, but I didn't defend it until early November.  So, what better to do than overhaul the whole thing and do a production of it, right?  Commedia Beauregard produced The Young Lady's Consent and I directed it in addition to leading revision workshops on it.  The resulting play was a real treat, though not terribly well attended at the Lowry Lab Theater in Saint Paul.

Summer 2007

• Acting: I appeared in a commercial created for Cox Business Systems, a cable/communication company.  It was entitled "Imagine", and featured me (as well as others) appearing out of thin air, and moving at superhuman speed.
• Playwriting:  For the first time while in grad school, I spent my summer in Minnesota.  The goal being to finish the rough draft of my thesis play, The Young Lady's Consent.
• Producing:  In order to help the company grow, I produced Commedia Beauregard's entry into the Minnesota Fringe Festival, I Hate Kenny G by Allegra Lingo.  The show was a huge success and we not only got the highly coveted "encore" slot at the end of the festival, but also were invited to remount the show in November at the Fringe Remounts in Hopkins, MN

Spring 2007

• Directing:  In The Basement Productions brought me back to direct Burning Bright by John Steinbeck.  It is a really cool play that has one continuous storyline that traverses three realities.  The stellar cast included Dave Gangler, Kristin Richardson, Alan Cloud and Bill Gorman.  The show was at the Lowry Lab Theater.
• Directing:  On relatively short notice I directed a 10-minute play as part of the Theatre Limina Summer Shorts program at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theatre.  The play starred Jen Rand and Allison True.
• Acting: I shot a commercial for Roundy's, the company that owns Rainbow Foods Grocery Stores.  It was for their convenience store/gas station division.  I do not believe that it will be shown in the Twin Cities area, and I'm not entirely sure where it will be shown.
• Directing: I directed two plays for Lex-Ham Community Theater.  Apparently every year they do a production  in conjunction with the Sokol Hall of Saint Paul, and another Czech organization.  So, I directed two plays for them.  Motomorphosis by Vaclav Havel and Fire in the Basement by Pavel Kohout.  The latter was Lex-Ham's entry into the MACT festival, a one-act festival in Wilmar, MN.

Winter 2006/2007

• Directing: I directed a production of The Jeweler's Shop by Pope John Paul II. The play was written in 1960, and is a meditation on marriage. It's remarkably insightful. The play was produced by Commedia Beauregard, and was performed at the Loading Dock Theater in Saint Paul, MN.
• Directing: I had the privilege to direct the first-ever reading of A.M. Scott's new play Momentum.  There was a good-sized audience for the reading that took place at the Loading Dock Theater in Saint Paul, MN.  The talk-back afterward was fun as well.
• Directing & Playwriting: I directed two of my one-act plays, The Threshold and Happy Again, as part of Love Bites, the annual Anti-Valentine's Day show for In The Basement Productions.
• Acting:  In February I appeared in a play called Bear Essentials by Steve Moulds. It was part of the Pillsbury House Theatre's Chicago Avenue Project. Steve wrote the play for Mary Juanita, one of the kids in the project, and I was honored to be a part of it. Suzy Messerole directed.
• Acting: I was lucky enough to be featured in a piece written by Greg Bonine-Giles at the Playwrights Center. It was just a reading, and it was a very solid play already .

Fall 2006

• Acting: I appeared in Machinal with Theatre Pro Rata. This was my second play under the direction of Carin Bratlie, and it was the second time that I played 5 characters in a play that Carin directed. I'm seeing a theme! In Machinal I was the Lawyer for the Defense, a Priest, a dirty old man in a bar, an Adding Clerk, and a Doctor.
• Acting:  In addition to being a stagehand for the Pillsbury House Theater's production of Bug, directed by Stephen DiMenna, I filled the role of Pizza Harris, a pizza delivery guy. It was a great experience with one of my favorite theatre companies.
• Acting: I was the fellah inside a costumed character suit on the website www.askindie.com for the Independence Party during the 2006 elections. It was a chance to use my physical acting skills.

Summer 2006

• Playwriting: The month of July took me to Spain for my annual trip to UNO's Madrid Campus. I was lucky enough to be in the Playwriting/Screenwriting seminar with my friend and mentor, Steve Bogart. It was a really good class, out of which a couple of plays ought to come.
• Column:  Another summer, another Fringe Festival. I became the most-read member of the MN Fringe Festival's blogging team. I saw over 30 shows in 11 days, and reviewed them all.
• Producing: While I couldn't be in a Fringe Show due to being overseas, I was able to produce a show for Commedia Beauregard. Screwed to the Sticking Place was the first production by CB since 2002. It felt good to be back doing it again.

Spring 2006

• Design:  I designed the lights for a production of The Women at In The Basement Productions.  The show was at the now defunct 4th Street Theatre in St. Paul.
• Acting:  I appeared in Northstar Opera's production of Iolanthe.  It was my debut with the group.  I played one of the peers.
• Playwriting:  A group of 35 actors and others gathered to help me read my plays at the Playwrights Center.  We tackled all the plays that I'd written in the past year.  I have a huge list of folks to thank for their help.  I'll have to put that here in the next day or two.
• Playwriting: I wrote a play for Cece Yarbrough, who was part of the Chicago Avenue Project at the Pillsbury House Theatre.  The play was entitled The Tumbler and the Tigress.  It also featured John Catron.  Seniz Yargici directed.

Winter 2005/2006

• Acting: During the weekday matinees, I played a Keystone Kop in Reeling at the Children's Theatre Company.  The play was a recreation of a silent movie from the Buster Keaton era of filmmaking.
• Playwriting, Acting & Directing: Two of my plays were featured as part of In The Basement Productions' Love Bites event.  It was a show in honor of Valentines Day and those who loathe it.  My shows that were included were Opus 3 and Dig.  I also acted in Dig, and directed Opus 3.
• Acting: I took part in Theatre Unbound's annual 24-hour playwriting festival.  Only this year, I wasn't one of the playwrights.  I was an actor in a play entitled Mixed Emotions by Betty Liedtke, Tammy Shanley, and Peg Flaherty.  I played "Ralph" a brow-beaten husband.  The show was directed by Cheryl Moore Brinkley.

Fall  2005:

• Playwriting: I wrote 3 one-act plays as part of my MFA studies at UNO.  Classes were held once the University was able to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
• Playwriting: My play "Cursed" was featured in the 4th series of Thirst Theater at Joe's Garage.  The production starred Charlie Bethel and Nathan Christopher.
• Acting: On short notice, I found myself as the understudy for the Thirst production, going on once in place of Mr. Bethel and another time for Mr. Christopher.  Quick study!

Summer 2005:

• Column: 11 days of my August were spent watching all sorts of plays at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.  Prior to the festival I featured the work of 6 productions in special articles, and once the festival opened I reviewed nearly 40 productions.
• Playwriting: I spent a month (July) in Madrid, Spain.  It was part of the Low-Residency MFA I'm pursuing in playwriting at the University of New Orleans.  Only two more years to go!

Spring 2005:

• Directing:  I lead a remarkable cast of 9 individuals through an extensive workshopping process along the way to a production of a new adaptation of Machiavelli's The Mandrake for In The Basement Productions.  The show was reviewed very favorably in the City Pages.

• Playwriting:  In addition to directing the show, I adapted the script for the production of The Mandrake.

Winter 2004/2005:

• Acting: I spent 3 months performing in a fun little farce at Oops! Interactive Dinner Theatre.  The play was called "I Take This Man."  I played the role of Dex, who is a suspicious, jealous, and manic kind of guy.
• Playwriting:  I hosted a reading in January of my four plays from the Fall term at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.  The plays were "Now, That's Nice", "The Small Hours", "August We", and "Dig".  Actors who helped out were: Jennifer Conway, Alia Mortenson, Renee Werbowski, Brandon Marilee Williams, Andre Samples, Ben Berlovitz-Debois, Chris Lowry, William T. Leaf and Sasha Yvonne Walloch

Fall 2004:

• Directing: I directed "The Father" by August Strindberg for The Cromulent Shakespeare Company.  The show was at the Walker Community Church, in Minneapolis.  The production was one that I am proud of, though not enough people saw the show.
• Writing: In addition to writing "Risks & Rewards" for SportsOutlaw.com, I took on a second weekly column entitled "Miscreants' Top 200"
• Playwriting: I wrote 4 new short plays as part of my MFA program at the University of New Orleans.  Most are still in rough form, but at least two of them will be sent out to contests and such in the near future.
• Playwriting:  My play "Opus 3: Variation of a Play" was performed in New York by a theatre company called Stormy Weather Players.  They are based out of Cornwall on Hudson, New York.  The play was done as part of the 2004 Pregnant Chad Festival in October.
• Directing: I was the assistant director for "Christmas of Swing" with the Great American History Theatre.  Ron Peluso directed.  The show starred Norah Long, Patty Nieman, and Ruthie Baker.  Also featured were Mark Rosenwinkel and Bill Scharpen.

Summer 2004:

• Acting:  After years of participating in the Minnesota Fringe Festival in other ways, I finally made my debut as an actor in Matthew A. Everett's "Dandelion Snow."  It was a terrific show that was well received by Audience Members and the Star-Tribune, alike.
• Acting/Singing:  Although I did not initially do the remount of "Carmen" at Theatre de la Jeune Lune (I thought I'd be in Spain in July), I rejoined the cast August 1st, and reprised my role from 2003.
• Writing: In addition to being in a show at the Fringe, I was one of 9 writers brought on staff to capture the Fringe experience and review shows throughout.
• Writing:  My column, "Risks & Rewards" relocated from Fantasy Sports Wire to SportsOutlaw.com
• Acting/Singing:  I performed as a chorus member and the 2nd Ghost in a concert version of "Ruddigore" with the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company.
• Acting: I don't know if this should really be called Acting or not.  Anyway... I was hired to be a costumed character in the Edina, MN 4th of July Parade.  I was dressed in a full body mascot-style character.  I was one of the Groovy Girls dolls.

Spring 2004:

• Playwriting:  I finished my Full Length play, "Princess Atalanta."  It had a reading at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, MN.  The room was packed and I got good, useful feedback that I'm using for rewriting.
• Acting:  I got to do a number of things I've always wanted to do in one production!  I got to work for Theatre Unbound, I got to work with director Carin Bratlie, and I got to put some focused work into learning accents (namely British and East Indian).  All that as part of "Bits and Pieces" at the Waring Jones Theatre.
• Directing:  I made my Pillsbury House Theatre directing debut as part of their "Chicago Avenue Project."  I directed a play by Paul Dios called "Wondrous."  The play revolved around a mother/daughter pair as they got ready for a costume party.
• Playwriting:  Ellen Fenster directed my play, "Mush!", in the Pillsbury House Theatre's "Chicago Avenue Project."  I wrote the play for a girl named Madeline who did a wonderful job with it.  May Mahala was great in it, too, and has now become one of my favorite actors in the Twin Cities.

Winter 2003/2004:

• Acting:  After years of not ballroom dancing due to back injuries, I took it back up as part of Theatre de la Jeune Lune's "The Ballroom."  This was an ensemble piece, and although it was not as well attended as some of the other things that TJL does, I have to believe that it was an important piece of theatre.  If nothing else, I grew as an artist.  Hopefully some of the audience grew as people, too.
• Acting:  I played the role of Chandebise, and his double (Poche), in Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear" at the Rosetown Playhouse.  Physical farce is just a riot to do.  I enjoyed it immensely, throwing myself around like a ragdoll, that is!

Fall 2003

• Acting/Singing:  I am now an Opera singer!  I have appeared in my first professional opera.  It was a small role, but that was absolutely wonderful.  It was also a small chorus.  Theatre de la Jeune Lune produced Bizet's "Carmen" in its original format.  That is to say, as an operetta, essentially.  There was dialogue between the songs, and the entire show was done in French.  I played a Soldier and a Smuggler.

 

More to come later, when I've more time....