Richard III is a HIT!

We opened Richard III at The Curtain theatre in Jersey City on March 8th after two previews. Two reviews have come out and are absolute, unqualified raves!

Here’s the one from NJArts.com.

And here’s the one from JerseyCityTimes.com (this one requires a free account).

Somehow our run is already half over. Playing Richard has been taking all my energy, but at last I’m posting this update on a day off. I’m so proud of this production and of my work in it. It is the challenge and gift of a lifetime. Artistic Director Sean Hagerty has created an amazingly funny and sleek adaptation and has directed it with great precision. It would mean the world to me to see people filling those seats for our last two weekends.

Here’s a link to another interview where I discuss Richard, Gotham, and more!

You can purchase tickets at this link. It’s an intimate playing space and I have a lot of fun talking directly to the audience a lot—I hope to see you there!

Here are some swell production photos from the amazing Will O’Hare Photography. Enjoy, and see you in Jersey City at the court of King Richard!

RICHARD III Interview!

A lot of people have been asking why Artistic Director Sean Hagerty of The Curtain chose to create a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III now. Sean and I both feel the story simply couldn’t be more timely. Here’s a brief interview I did recently with Sean about Richard and the play. Enjoy, and come see what all the excitement is about!

Richard III plays 3/6-29 only, Thursdays-Sundays, at the beautiful Nimbus Arts space in Jersey City. It’s a strictly limited engagement and seating is also limited to keep that intimate connection between the actors and the audience. We play previews on Friday 3/6 and Saturday 3/7, and you can save 15% for those preview dates only with the code YORK at The Curtain’s Website.

Richard III in a Holiday Mood!

I couldn’t resist creating some holiday-themed advertising for our upcoming killer production of Shakespeare’s Richard III, so I thought I’d share them here as well. Tickets are on sale now at The Curtain and we play for four weeks only! March 5th-7th are our three previews, and March 8th is our official opening. We then play Thursdays-Sundays through March 29th. Artistic Director and Production Director Sean Hagerty has created an amazing adaptation and a fabulous ensemble. And these amazing press photos are by the fabulous Will O’Hare.

15% Discount Code for Our Three Previews (3/5-7): YORK

Richard III in Rehearsal Now!

Today we had our first rehearsal and read-through for Sean Hagerty’s amazing adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III. This play is so of-the-moment that audiences are going to gasp in recognition. It’s a darkly funny descent into hell at the hands of a clever maniac who will stop at nothing to become king.

The press releases have gone out to announce me at the despotic Richard, accompanied by this incredible image by our amazing photographer Will O’Hare, who has photographed all our productions at The Curtain. 

Here’s our amazing company from the rehearsal room!

And here’s our poster! Tix are on sale now at The Curtain and seating for this March 5th-29th run is very limited. Buy your tickets now; you won’t want to miss this exciting and all-too-timely production!

Next up: Richard III!

I’ve announced this on social media and I’m just now catching up on my website. I don’t even have words to express how excited I am: Sean Hagerty, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Curtain theatre company in Jersey City, NJ, has asked me to play one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains in March 2026: Richard III.

Sean and I have been talking about this since we worked on his company’s inaugural production of Hamlet together back in 2019. At last the pieces are falling into place to make it happen. Also joining me on this thrill ride are pals Aria Shaghasemi and Christianna Nelson. Aria played my son Laertes in Hamlet, and all three of us were in The Curtain’s 2023 production of Romeo and Juliet. Aria will play Richmond and Christi will be our Queen Elizabeth. Last week we held callbacks for the remaining roles and I can only say that our entire cast is absolutely terrific.

Sean’s new version of the script is lean, mean, and very funny. It’s the best version I’ve ever read. This will be unlike any other production of Richard III that you have seen. I’m honored that Sean is entrusting me with portraying this witty, vicious, larger-than-life monster in what is shaping up to be an absolutely incredible production. And timely? Wow. Wait till you see how Shakespeare’s words resonate with our current times.

Rehearsals start February 3rd and performances run Thursdays-Sundays March 5-29 at Nimbus Arts Center in Jersey City—a five-minute walk from the Grove Street PATH station. It will be so worth the short commute! You’re not going to want to miss this one.

 

Dramatic Film Anthropocene is Finished!

I’m thrilled to share news that Anthropocene, the short dramatic film I worked on earlier this year is finished! And it is beautiful. Quietly surprising, a bit scary, nakedly human, and deeply thought-provoking. All in 15-minutes. I think it will resonate greatly with today’s audiences in these uncertain times. Congrats to writer/director/producer Nathan Crane Cohen and Park Bench Pictures co-producer Paul Grant on bringing together the perfect team to tell this unsettling American tale. The role of Jim is something of a departure for me, and I’m grateful to Nathan for entrusting him to me. And my fellow performers Austin Cassel and Emily Celeste Fink are simply terrific. I’m honored to be in this entire team’s company.

It was a wonderful shoot with wonderful people, and I can’t wait for you all to see the finished film. Anthropocene will be at the festivals in 2026—watch for it!

New Audiobooks Available Now!

I’m delighted to share that my two latest audiobook narrations are now available—and they couldn’t be more different! Big thanks to @HachetteAudio, @LittleBrownYoungReaders, and Andy Paris and the team at @VoiceworksAudio for both of these fun gigs.

For the family audience—all ages, truly—check out my new recording of Robert Lawson’s classic fantasy novella Ben and Me, about Ben Franklin’s secret best friend, an irascible mouse named Amos who decides to set the record straight about who had all those great ideas!

And for grownups only, you can check out my narration of Joe Dolce’s Modern Psychedelics, which is both a history of mind-altering substances and also something of a how-to-use-more-safely guide. It’s quite a trip!

New Audiobook of Classic Ben and Me Coming Soon!

I’m delighted to share that @hachetteaudio and @littlebrown have chosen me to record their new version of Robert Lawson’s classic 1939 comic tale Ben and Me in which Ben Franklin’s life is reinterpreted by his best friend, a singularly opinionated mouse named Amos, who feels his own contributions have been unfairly overlooked. This one was a joy and I can’t wait to share it with you later this summer! Thank you Andy Paris and Voiceworks Audio for another audition leading to a great gig. #Audiobooks #BenAndMe #Narrator ❤️🙏🎤🎧📚

Even if, like me, you didn’t read Ben and Me as a child, you might recognize Lawson’s illustrative talents—he also illustrated the classics Ferdinand the Bull and Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Now, of course, you won’t “hear” his illustrations in the audiobook version—but you will hear my playful renderings of Amos the mouse, Ben Franklin, and a host of other fun characters.

I’ll let you know when the audiobook launches! It’ll be a short and sweet little listen—probably about 2 hours at most.

Recording Ben and Me at Voiceworks Audio

Groundbreaking 360° VR Fantasy Series “Perspective” is now on Circuit Cinema!

“Whose dreams do you subscribe to?” A couple of years ago, I went down to Atlanta for two weeks to shoot a new series with two of my favorite people, brilliant writer/director/producer Charles Huddleston, and his leading lady, Michele Martin. The project was a mind-bending rethinking of a fantastic sci-fi project we had shot a few years earlier that never hit prime time for technical reasons.

What makes this new series, Perspective, so incredibly cool? It’s the world’s first 360° VR immersive series! And the first episode has just launched on the new Circuit Cinema subscription streaming channel. In the first season there are multiple worlds/realities in play. I appear in one of them—in multiple incarnations of my character, Sylvester. That’s all I can tell you!

I hope you will check out this twisty and entertaining new show. It will blow your mind. It was so much fun being reunited not just with Charles and Michele, but also buddies Nija Okoro and John Tague, with whom I’ve worked on a couple of projects for Charles,  and working with new acting buddies Hari Williams and Kenneth Johnson.

If you have a VR headset, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in the world of our story from all angles, as if you are in the space with us as the action unfolds. You can look up, down, all around—you’ll be in the middle of it all. It’s amazing. There will also be 2D versions of all episodes for those of us without headsets! It’s entertaining storytelling either way. Charles’s dreams are well worth subscribing to!

 

 

New Short Dramatic Film Coming This Fall!

I’m very excited about this project, currently titled Anthropocene. We did principal photography back in March in the wilds of Pennsylvania and then just last week I shot a flashback scene in NYC, so I’m now officially wrapped on this new short dramatic film.

This one just fell into my lap, and I’m so grateful when this kind of thing happens. I got a call out of the blue from talented and kind writer, director, and producer Nathan Crane Cohen who said I came highly recommended by a director I did a staged reading with a few years ago. To be invited to audition based on another director’s kind words means the world to me. I did a Zoom reading with Nathan and the other two amazing actors, Emily Celeste Finke and Austin Cassel. We clicked, and together we have now filmed a powerful little drama about a future state of America that seems all too possible.

Park Bench Pictures co-producer Paul Grant made sure everything happened on schedule, Michael Della Polla contributed his amazing cinematography skills (what I’ve seen looks absolutely gorgeous!), Maricela Nodar did beautiful costume work, and everyone involved was simply terrific. It was a great shooting experience start to finish.

I can’t wait to share this one with you in Fall 2025!