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My First Audiobook: Black Sails, White Rabbits; Cancer Was the Easy Part

I’m delighted to share that I’ve just recorded my first audiobook. And I’m especially thrilled because of how it all came about. As you may know, I’m a major Lewis Carroll/Alice fan, and I presented some staged readings of my new, original play Through the Looking-Glass Darkly at the October 2015 ALICE150 international conference in NYC.

My friend, the multi-talented Wendy Ice (whom I met last winter in Portland, OR when I was performing out there), was in the audience for one of my performances. Wendy is producing a stunning, collectible edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by her insanely talented husband, David Delamare. And that evening, Wendy brought along her friend Kevin Hall, former professional sailor and Olympian, who is also a huge fan of the works of Lewis Carroll. Kevin and I are both coincidentally Kickstarter backers of David and Wendy’s book.

After my performance, my husband Tim and I had dinner with Wendy and Kevin to discuss our various creative projects. It turns out Kevin was about to publish his autobiography, about his dreams of Olympic competition and raising a family, set against his struggles with cancer and bipolar disorder, specifically Truman Show Syndrome. It’s a frank, harrowing, wildly theatrical, and often darkly funny tale of triumphing over adversity and fulfilling your dreams. It is, like Kevin himself, remarkable.

Long story short, Kevin loved my performance, and a few weeks later asked me if I would like to perform the audiobook of his story. I’ve just completed recording sessions at Star Cloud Studios, and we hope to have the audiobook available on Audible and Amazon sometime later this March.

Sometimes all the stars align, and all the elements for a magical creative project just fall into place. I couldn’t be more excited to share this amazing story with you. Stay tuned for release information!

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

I’ve been so busy so far this year that I’m just now trying to catch up with some posts. Back in 2015, I performed the role of the world’s greatest detective in a staged reading of Greg Oliver Bodine’s new play, A Requiem for Sherlock Holmes, which combines two famous Conan Doyle short stories into a very satisfying Sherlockian evening of theatre.

This past January 6th, on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 126th birthday, Greg asked me to don the role of Sherlock again, this time for a staged reading at the Players Theatre, nimbly directed by Leslie Kincaid Burby. We had a great audience, and a great time.

After the show, we were given a private tour of The Players, including Edwin Booth’s private rooms. Remarkable and fascinating.

Here’s hoping I have the opportunity to bring Greg’s play and my Sherlock to a theatre for a full production sometime soon!

I’m Appearing in a Staged Reading of a New Drama December 7-8 in NYC

I’m appearing in a staged reading of a new drama by Sam Affoumado called Straight Talking. It’s a play that examines the damage caused by “reparative IMG_1452-1 therapy” practices that seek to convert gay men to heterosexual life.

I play Jonah, a self-proclaimed ex-gay man who runs one of these misguided therapy practices. My husband noted that George Bernard Shaw always gave his antagonists great arguments, and Sam has given my character plenty of almost-convincing things to say. It’s exciting to play a character so completely at odds with who I am. One of the things that keeps acting so rewarding for me as a profession is occasionally stepping into the shoes of someone I believe to be wrong, wrong, wrong, but must portray as believing himself to be absolutely right.

It’s a good cast and an interesting play. If you’re around NYC on the evening of Monday 12/7 or Tuesday 12/8, both nights at 7pm, consider joining us. It’s at the Playroom Theatre, 151 West 46th Street, 8th floor. And it’s free. To reserve seats, simply email saffu@aol.com and specify which night you want to attend and how many tickets you need them to hold at the box office. Simple! Right now there are plenty of seats for Monday, and still some left for Tuesday, as well.

I hope to see some of you there.

I’m Introducing the 1933 Paramount Alice in Wonderland at Film Forum on 12/5

I’ll be giving a very brief intro before the scree Film Forum Wonderland Screening Promo Crop ning of the 1933 Paramount “Alice in Wonderland” film this Sunday, 12/5, at the Film Forum in NYC. Showtime is 12:45 pm. For more info and tickets, click here.

If you haven’t seen this vintage, star-filled mashup of the two Alice books, it’s well worth seeing–especially on the big screen. And I promise to be both pithy and brief. See you there!

One More Sneak Peek Performance of “Through The Looking-Glass Darkly”!

First: Thank you to everyone who managed to make it to one of my four “sneak peek” staged readings of my new play Through the Looking-Glass Darkly as part of the Alice150 conference last week in NYC. The audience response and feedback afterward was truly humbling. I’m extremely excited that people are so entertained and moved by this piece; I didn’t expect it, but a few folks were even in tears by the end. I’ve worked on this project for a long time and am thrilled to be able to share it in this form, while I continue to work towards a fully staged theatrical production down the road.

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be giving one more sneak peek performance at 2pm on Saturday, October 24th, at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, 125 Symmes Drive, Manalapan, NJ. The show runs 75 minutes, and I’ll be holding a talkback after the performance.

If you’re in the Manalapan area on 10/24, please join me in helping the Monmouth County Library celebrate Alice150! I hope to see some of you there. Telephone: 732-431-7220.

This performance is FREE. There are no tickets or reservations; just come and enjoy! My thanks to the library’s Donna Mansfield, Christina Roma, and everyone there for helping make this performance possible. The play is suitable for ages 16 and up; it is not intended for children.

If you’re not able to see the show on 10/24, stay tuned–I will post more dates and news as they become available.

Through the Looking-Glass Darkly Sneak Peek at Alice150 in NYC!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be presenting four “sneak peek” performances of my new 75-minute solo play Through the Looking-Glass Darkly, or Lewis Carroll and the Pursuit of Innocence, at Columbia University’s Butler Library on October 6th and 7th as part of the international ALICE150 conference.

You probably know that Lewis Carroll wrote two of the most popular books in history: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. You may not know that in real life, Lewis Carroll was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Mathematical Lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford. Imagine Lewis Carroll giving a lecture–on himself! Come hear the full, untold story of his relationship with the real Alice, as taken from their own writings.

You can read all the details here.

I hope to see you there!

Taming of the Shrew for NY Classical Theatre

Apologies! I’m posting this very late, but we’re coming to the end of our long run of The Taming of the Shrew for NY Classical Theatre. I play Gremio, the rich and cranky old suitor to the young and seemingly virtuous Bianca.

For those of you who have never seen a production by NYCT, they are now in their 16th year of providing free Off-Broadway classical theatre to NY audiences in city parks. We played in Central Park for a month, in Prospect Park for two weeks, and now we are ending our run with four final performances in the tiny and beautiful Teardrop Park in Battery Park City.

All performances start at 7pm and are weather permitting. We will be at Teardrop Park on Wednesday, 7/8, and then Friday-Sunday, 7/10-12. For more information: http://www.newyorkclassical.org/whats-playing

If you’re in the city with one of these evenings free, stop by for about 90 minutes of silly Shakespearean fun!

I’m Playing Multiple Roles in a Staged Reading of “A Question of Country”

I’m delighted to share that I’m going to be playing multiple juicy roles in a staged reading of a fascinating new fact-based play about apartheid called A Question of Country by the supremely talented Janet Neipris. Janet is head of graduate screenwriting and playwrighting at NYU, and has turned out a host of wonderful writers in her many years there. Janet went to South Africa and lived with one of the two women her play is based on, so she’s writing what she knows in a very powerful way.

The reading is being directed by the wonderful Susan Einhorn, who has headed the acting program at Queens College for 25 years, and recently completed her term as department chair. Her professional relationship with Janet has spanned many years and many plays.

On top of it all, we have a wonderful cast, including my dear friend Anne Marie Cusson; we haven’t seen each other since the five months we spent together last winter playing down at Asolo Rep. It’s so great when people I love working with come back into my orbit!

There are only two performance of this free staged reading:

Monday, May 4th at 7pm at Theatre for the New City
Tuesday, May 5th at 7pm at the Colden Auditorium at Queens College

If you’re free either evening, come see our reading of this compelling tale!

Call 212-254-1109 for more details, or view the PDF flyer attached to this post.

A Question of Country Flyer final

The Foreigner Wins 2014 Carbonell Award for Best Production of a Play!

Last night, I attended the 39th Annual Carbonell Awards in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as part of the delegation from the fabulous Maltz Jupiter Theatre. And I’m thrilled to share the news that our production of The Foreigner, in which I played the title character, beat out the impressive competition to land the coveted 2014 Best Production of a Play award!

Our terrific director, Matt Lenz, accepted the award on behalf of everyone involved in this special production. The Foreigner means a lot to me for many reasons, not just Charlie is a tour-de-force role. The script is incredibly inventive, and frequently downright hilarious. I’ve never done a play that made an audience laugh more. But by the end it also manages to be surprisingly touching, and seriously thought-provoking. Its messages of tolerance, and of the importance of second chances, resonate with every audience that sees it.

I am so grateful to have been Charlie for this wonderful production, to have been part of such a well-cast production, which included Michael Edwards, Brooks Anne Hayes, Matthew Minor, Maddie Jo Landers, David Sitler, and Carrington Vilmont. Our incomparable stage manager Brandy DeMil and her assistant stage manager, Neil Krasnow, kept us running every day like a well-oiled cuckoo clock. My thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in the production onstage, offstage, and in the administration at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. It was a joy, starting with the auditions in NYC at Bob Cline Casting, to the first read through with the wonderful cast, to the sold-out, standing ovation closing performance with the wonderful Jupiter area audience.

My thanks to Bob Cline for bringing me in to audition. And special thanks to Matt Lenz for directing us with such a gracious and generous hand, and to the theatre’s brilliant Producing Artistic Director, Andrew Kato, for championing this play, this production, and me. I’m honored to have been a part of this terrific show, and so happy that we are ALL receiving this recognition from the South Florida theatre community. It means we made playwright Larry Shue’s voice heard.

To everyone involved, I can only say: Blasny, blasny!!

Fun Q&A For My Carbonell Awards Best Actor Nomination!

Here’s a link to a silly and fun Q&A session I did for South Florida’s Carbonell Awards, as a Best Actor in a Play nominee for my work in Larry Shue’s wonderful comedy The Foreigner at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Win or lose, I’m looking forward to attending the ceremony with the Maltz Jupiter team in Ft. Lauderdale on March 30th.

Click the image to read the article. Enjoy!