Welcome to Village Theatre! Can you tell our patrons a little bit about yourself?
Thank you! I originally came to Seattle in December of 2008 to play Truffaldino in The Servant of Two Masters for Seattle Shakespeare Company and, shortly thereafter, officially relocated. Growing up military I have lived in numerous places (Illinois, Alaska, Alabama, Ohio, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta) but I am very pleased to now call Seattle my home. I have had the great fortune to work steadily as an actor here with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Children's Theatre, ACT, Endangered Species Project, 14/48, and I am thrilled to now be making my debut at Village Theatre! I have also been doing a fair amount of voice-over work, including audio books and commercials.

Why did you decide to take on the role of Felix?
I have always enjoyed the work of Neil Simon. As a teenager, I played Eugene in a production of Brighton Beach Memoirs in Montgomery, Alabama. Much like Shakespeare, Simon infuses the emotions and comic timing into his writing; The Odd Couple is a fantastically crafted map of comedy. So, when the offer was made to play Felix, it was an easy decision to work with Jeff Steitzer and a fantastic cast at Village.

Felix is an interesting character. Do you see any similarities between yourself and him?
Yes, well, I am indeed guilty of having a penchant for cleanliness and organization, and my friends both tease and praise me for those traits. I once had a co-worker who took great delight in turning my stapler on its side, propping his feet on my desk and waiting to see how long I could stand it...I think my best record was about twenty seconds.

Oscar and Felix have quite a few issues as roommates. Do you have any ridiculous roommate experiences?
I have always been very fortunate to have great roommates. However, my freshmen year of college presented ample opportunity for my Felix side to shine: my roommate and I shared a bathroom with two other guys. Four men. One bathroom. Need I say more?

Anything else to add?
My girlfriend teaches at Honest Movement Pilates in Issaquah and raves about the many restaurants and local businesses. I am excited to spend more time there, and I look forward to meeting and chatting with the patrons at Village Theatre.

Welcome to Village Theatre!
Why, thank you! It is great to come back, after twenty-two years. The very first show I did in the Puget Sound region, fresh out of college, 1989-90, was The Taming of the Shrew at Village Theatre's First Stage. B.J. Douglas directed; I played Tranio, to Eric Jensen's Lucentio, in a Cockney accent as broad as Lake Sammamish.

Can you tell our patrons a little bit about yourself?
I am a San Francisco native, and grew up mostly in Northern CA, with an 8-year detour in the Midwest, as well as four years of college in Pittsburgh, PA (BFA from Carnegie-Mellon). The cold, hard fact of the matter is that I played Oscar when I was a junior in high school. Per one of your questions below: was he carefree? Yes, resolutely if innocently; unkempt? Yes, though if unshaven, for fear of slicing open pimples. I spent a long apprenticeship in Seattle's rich Fringe theatre community (and also fronted a couple of blues bands), became a proud Actors' Equity member in 2000, and now share a condominium in the Queen Anne neighborhood with my eighty-five pound Akita female, name of Bella.

Why did you decide to take on the role of Oscar?
Three reasons. #1 Pure and simple: it's a very good part in a very good play. #2 Jeff Steitzer! I acted with him in ACT Theatre's 1999 production of The Crucible (we arrested John Proctor together), but have never worked with him as a director. #3 Although I have a fair amount of singing experience, almost none of it is in musicals--and as for dancing, forget it. My opportunities to work at places such as Village Theatre and The 5th Avenue have therefore been decidedly limited. But here we are in a moribund economy with little to no improvement on the horizon, of which the Intiman Theatre in Seattle is merely the latest casualty. So, speaking of horizons, it seems the time has come to broaden mine. I was fortunate, for instance, this past summer, to participate in a two-week workshop at the Seattle Repertory Theatre on a "play with music" entitled Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play that is being developed by a NYC company called The Civilians; I was fortunate this past fall to make my 5th Avenue Theatre debut in Kathie Lee Gifford's new musical Saving Aimee; and I count myself very fortunate indeed to return to Village Theatre for this production.

Oscar Madison is an unkempt, yet carefree character. Do you see any similarities between yourself and him?
Well, of the two, Oscar and Felix, I am definitely closer to Oscar; one glance into my apartment would cement that impression. To whatever extent that I am carefree these days, it is certainly no longer rooted in innocence. Care-free plays even more brightly when it has the care-worn to fight against (or so I shall hope). I lack, however, the scale of Oscar's volubility and sociableness, and retain certain forms of shyness from my proverbial "awkward age" that might rival even Felix's.

Oscar and Felix have quite a few issues as roommates. Do you have any ridiculous roommate experiences?
My very first year of college was at Cal State Sacramento, and I shared a ratty one-or two-bedroom apartment with a fellow whose name, along with anything, really, about the unit's interior, has been chased down the gullet of my memory like a sip of Scotch fleeing Oscar's warm beer. What I do recall, however, is my mother, who, bless her heart, was paying the phone bill, politely inquiring about some calls to a 1-900 number I knew nothing about.