My first acting experience was with the Flying Hedgehogs, my high school drama club. Only now that I have a graduate degree with a minor in theatre performance, and have learned a lot about theatre from the best and brightest, can I appreciate what an avant-garde and truly high-quality troupe the Hedgehogs really were.
I played David in The Foreigner.
The woman who would become my partner, Elizabeth, played Catherine.
As an undergraduate I was in several plays with the RPI Players, an independent playhouse completely run by students. Who throw great parties.
I played The Chancellor in The Ugly Duckling,
Rusty in Up the Down Staircase,
Ben Dover in Hush Little Celia, Don't Say a Word,
a Doctor in Harold,
a Man in Take a Deep Breath,
Arthur and Dick in The Dining Room,
and, last but perhaps greatest,
Banquo in Macbeth.
I first took coursework in theatre at Cornell's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, where I had the privilege to practice the commedia delle arte with Beth Milles.
I played Leonid Gayev in an outdoor, public, travelling production of The Cherry Orchard, which Beth directed. It was my first experience being recognized around town by strangers, who said my lines back to me.