I’ve been acting professionally for three years, and have been prancing around on various stages for about twelve years.

Take a look at my professional resume for a more formal presentation of my acting history, or follow me through the page below on an illustrated journey.

Photography by Monika O’Clair

Path to Theatre

Photography by Janelle Mills

Most children are natural actors. They do without thinking what most adults who want to pursue this profession have to spend years relearning: they enter a world of make believe wholeheartedly and without self-consciousness.

Certainly this was my experience, and as a child my constant joy was costumery and imaginative play. On any given day I might be Robin Hood, Peter Pan, a pirate, a Jedi Knight, a cowboy, an astronaut, a wizard, etc, etc.

I was introduced to more formal stage theatre around the age of 13 or 14, when I worked on storytelling, theatrical production, and acting under the guidance of storyteller Roberta Woolfson.

In college I earned a degree in theatre arts from Plymouth State University, and then went on to pursue a career as a professional theatre practitioner.

Advice To The Players

Photography by Monika O’Clair

My professional work began with the NH Lakes Region Shakespeare company Advice to the Players. This company produces professional shows with mixed casts of professionals and youth apprentices (including children and community members as well as union actors).

Photography by Monika O’Clair

ATTP’s commitment to mentoring youth in theatre coincides with my thoughts on theatre training. As a self-educated person, I find that the best way to learn is to actively perform the skill to be learned in the presence and under the guidance of more experienced souls.

ATTP holds to a performance style that recognizes the theatrical nature of each performance event. Instead of trying to make the audience forget the theatrical nature of what they are seeing, we embrace it, and can accomplish our art in ways that other media, such as film, cannot. For more on this idea, see ATTP Artistic Director Mark Woollett’s statement on the matter (PDF).

Roles with ATTP include: Pistol in Henry V, Florizel in The Winter’s Tale, Antipholus of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors and Hamlet.

Photography by Monika O’Clair

Photography by Monika O’Clair

Other Companies

New Art Theatre produces innovative productions of classics new and old, including Shakespeare. Roles include: Horatio in Hamlet (2009) and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (2008).

Photography by Bradley Ball

The Barnstormers is the nation’s oldest professional summer theatre, located in Tamworth, NH. Roles: Leo Davis in Room Service (2010) and Jeff Douglas in Brigadoon (2009).

Recently I have begun moving south, performing small roles for companies such as NorthEast Shakespeare Ensemble in New Hampshire’s Upper Valley and Publick Theatre Boston, and Stoneham Theatre in the Boston area.

More

For a more detailed, formal account of my theatre activities, visit my professional resume. For news on current and upcoming shows, visit my acting news page.

Photography by Monika O’Clair