Have I expressed how much I absolutely love working with collaborators? Directors and writers who invite actors to the table with mutual respect for the other's craft, skill and point of view. Collaborators who aren't threatened by but welcome a dialogue, at times robust, but never brusque, and always enlightening in a mutual discovery of new material? It takes a very special and confident director and playwright to welcome others to the table and I believe it makes for a richer, deeper and more expansive, meaningful end result.  

Today our director GT, writer Jen Silverman, dramaturg Sarah Lunnie, fellow actor Michael Braun and I sat around the table and dug into the meat of the play. As I've exposited before, the play is about the struggle of two brothers in the fringes of society who are caught in a tussle between the past and the future, of power dynamics, entitlement culture and the role of the minority. At one point, in trying to articulate a particularly confounding moment in the play, GT shared a 

What an amazing day of creative energy. A brown bag discussion of the plays being featured this week saw artists begin to share with us their backgrounds, inspiration, points of view and how they arrived where they did to create the works they are about to present. What struck me most about the panel of accomplished artists (from L, Aaron Malkin, literary assoc NYTW, Dael Orlandersmith, Neel Keller, GT Upchurch, Jen Silverman, Lola Pashalinski, David Zurak) was how everyone had come to the theatre perhaps purely by chance or happenstance, how everyone brought their own personal unique points of view to their craft, to mine and get at some truth about their lives, their journeys. At one point, the artists were asked to describe their journeys to their material. I don't know about you all, but I personally find it hard to talk about myself. It always seems somewhat narcissistic without the proper context, but even more so, it seems like a near impossible task. Lives are messy and complex and hard to name; to try to tell people who you are or how you arrived at where you are today is, without being too precious about it, ultimately reductive.  It can paradoxically, also be very ...

I've certainly been on studio sets, and indoor sets and even location sets. While on Delocated, we shot in an abandoned garage out at Red Hook, and on a particularly chilly day, even on a pier overlooking the Statue of Liberty. But I have to say I have never shot in a high security location like, oh, JFK for instance, and at a Terminal that, for all intents and purposes was still being used actively as, well, a place where international travelers DID board planes. So it was I found myself driven to a dirt road parking lot right behind said Terminal, temporarily housed in my honeywagon and costume fitted  before being ushered, passport in hand, to security where I was issued an actual Boarding Pass. Then it was getting in line at security checkpoints like the rest of the passengers, wands, metal detectors and all, and a good hour later before we finally made it past the duty free stores to our "set" - the Gate to our fictional flight to 

Beijing. Here, we were to enact a scene in which a mainland Chinese student refuses to board the plane back home while the teacher (yours truly) chides her for causing a commotion. Well, since a commotion happens, we find ourselves, over the next four hours, literally creating a scene at the airport. Besides the twenty something extras (some of whom, I have to admit, were characters themselves. One seemed to spend the larger part of the shoot being confused about why he wasn't being asked to speak while another seemed concerned about the American doctor struck with Ebola flying through JFK that morning.), we found crowds of visitors and passengers begin to gather. The costume department did such a wonderful job that it was hard to tell who were in fact background, and who were real security personnel. If it weren't for the "DC Security" badge they were sporting, I might've been worried about being hauled off by real airport security.  The props guys were meticulous- I was even issued a Chinese Passport! 

Oh, and did I mention that the episode was being directed by Eric Stoltz? 

Considering my resume of a largely wide range of character roles, I wouldn't consider myself an "aspirational" model by any stretch of the imagination. So it was with some measure of surprise when my modelling agency GMT contacted me about a straight offer on a "lifestyle" shoot for an undisclosed innovative hi-tech firm based on my portfolio on file.  Sure I was a little flattered, but more so perplexed and curious at what this opportunity would bring. I would be father to a child who is discovering the magic of said undisclosed hi-tech product. The photographer Mark Andrew had a distinct aesthetic and a fascinating portfolio that captured intimate private moments with a raw beauty achieved ironically by eschewing perfection. I was told not to shave prior to the shoot, and throughout the day, was told to mess up my hair, or pull only one sleeve up of my very ordinary-looking grey hoodie.  I was immediately intrigued and felt privileged to be photographed in all my un-shaven tousled messy glory by an artist with such an interesting point of view - not to mention his ability to work as patiently and fluidly as he did with the spontaneous effervescence of my pretend six-year old son.  Suddenly, it all made sense to me. I wasn't at all hired because of my "aspirational" model-good looks. In fact, quite the opposite.  At the end of the shoot, I strolled down the brownstone tree-lined street, a smile on my face.  It was a beautiful day in Brooklyn. 

So about this time a year ago, I had the privilege of working on a show produced by the Donmar Warehouse in London, called "The Machine" at the Manchester International Festival and Park Ave Armory in NYC. The play, about Garry Kasparov's chess match against the team at IBM, and by extension of man vs machine, was written by then little-known English playwright Matt Charman (pictured R, with Hadley Fraser). I personally had a blast working with this man. Creating the role of Dr Hsu, the wunderkind inventor of Deep Blue, with Matt and director Josie Rourke was definitely a career highlight.  Not only were they both such intelligent artists that challenged and inspired me on so many levels, Matt was also, in addition to being a brilliant scribe and new father, a kind, gentle, patient and generous soul. (He is also, somewhat ironic to the title of our show, an unapologetic Luddite ...but I digress...). So it was with such warmth and pleasure that I read this today of his success.  I can't think of anyone who deserves it more and am genuinely thrilled to see what more is in store for his bright future. Congrats buddy! 

Though it isn't necessarily my first time behind a television set, it never ceases to amaze me just how many people are involved behind the scenes in a sequence that wouldn't in the end amount to 5 mins on-screen time.  An early morning call near Bryant Park would take me to a photographer on the 40th floor of a nearby building, who'd take pictures of me that'd feature me in a 'recall' sequence that the star of the show (who has photographic memory) played by Poppy Montgomery, will flashback to. Then it was off to my "honeywagon" for a costume change (John Varvatos for those interested), some waiting time, and then hair, makeup, costume check before being ushered once again to the 43rd floor of the building to rehearse. And there's a hive of activity. The director Nick Gomez, the 1st AD Jamie Sheridan, on-set writer Spencer Hudnut, dozens of background extras, still more dozens of stand-ins, producers, gaffers, boom operators, camera operators, props people, DP. At one point I was ushered in to a meeting room with stars Troy Garity and Dylan Walsh against a breathtaking Manhattan skyline. Both nodded kind acknowledgement, and then went back to their reading material. The room was palpably silent.  I wanted to say how much I'd appreciated Garity's work in A Soldier's Girl but refrained from doing so. Didn't want to come across tacky in a work environment. And then it was rehearsal time and the bustle began again. Here's your spot, here's your mark, we're at rehearsal and action! And then Poppy Montgomery strolls casually up to me and flirts in our scene. I'll leave the details to the episode itself, but the sequence, with its many setups but relatively brisk takes, took almost 5 hours and alot of waiting in what would probably amount to less than 2 minutes of screen time. I am in awe of the people who do this on a daily basis.  It is sheer collaboration and a trust that everyone will do their job on cue. I hope I delivered. 

It has definitely been such a precious opportunity and certainly a rare luxury to work with as large a cast as this on an Off-Broadway show. Thanks definitely go out to Pat McCorkle who assembled this daring, diverse and dynamic cast, as well as director Will Pomerantz, writer Joan Beber and the producing team at Perry Street Theatricals. I am so grateful to get the chance to work in the city I so love and have lived in for the larger part of my adult life. Citi-biking to rehearsals and performances has certainly been a highlight; as is the sheer joy of creating an experience for an audience, and then stepping out of Theatre Row at the end of a fulfilling performance onto neon-lit Times Square. Today, as the lights dimmed on Ethel Sings, I stepped out of the theatre and onto the sidewalk, smiling as I exhaled, grateful to vanish once again into the crowd. What's there not to love?

Guess who decides to drop by today at the performance of Ethel Sings but Robby Meeropol himself! Son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who with his brother Michael was then adopted by the Meeropol family when their own relatives wouldn't take them in as children, Robby spoke to the audience about the 50th Anniversary of his parents' execution, his current advocacy work, his feelings about his cruel manipulative grandmother and his contact with the sole surviving relative in this whole saga, uncle David Greenglass (none). He spoke too about Elia Kazan during the red scare, and the fitting irony that is Hollywood. About Sidney Lumet's "Daniel", an adaptation of EL Doctorow's loosely based biography of the Rosenberg children in which Mandy Patinkin played his father, he looks out into the audience. "I'm looking for the Asian actor who played me". I obliged and waved.  He smiles. "In the film, I was played by Amanda Plummer!"

So today I took some time off our run of "Ethel Sings" to shoot a web commercial. A comedic take on the documentary "Intervention", I get to play a concerned but somewhat bashful Paul who tries to convince his co-worker it is time to give up his childish ways, and switch to Capital One. No, I don't get to act opposite Alec Baldwin, though I do get to speak into the camera like Kevin Spacey does in House of Cards - ooooh =). 

The cast of concerned friends and family couldn't be more delightful to work with. I'll include the link, soon as it's dropped, so do watch this space.  Meantime, I'd like to give a special shout out to producer Kenji Edmonds and director Christian Jackson over at Roley Poley Productions, who ran an incredibly tight, swift, brisk, patient and easy shoot. We even got to wrap early! My injured back a couple of days prior on "Ethel Sings" thanks you!