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My Audio and Video Interview about Vanya for Portland Radio Project

Here’s another fun bit of PR for my current production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike running at Portland Center Stage through 2/8. This time I’m interviewed by Inessa, Program Director/Music Director for Portland Radio Project, who was a real sweetheart. I’ve had such a good time with all my interviewers here in Portland!

PRP ended up posting a brief video edit of the interview (about 3 minutes), plus a podcast of the entire interview (about 18 minutes). They also include a few fun photos from the production.

Click the image to visit their site, and then you can watch and or listen, as you please! I hope you enjoy it.

_{Image: Portland Center Stage production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Photo: Patrick Weishampel}

New “Vanya and Sonia” Radio Interview on Portland’s Wild Planet

I recently did an interview about Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and my career in general, with Sam, the genial host of Portland’s new gay radio station, Wild Planet. It was fairly early in the day for me, so who knows what I said–it could be very entertaining to tune in and find out!

Click the image to visit Wild Planet’s web site and listen to the interview podcast!

Vanya and Sonia Opens Tonight at Portland Center Stage!

After five previews with great audiences, this is it! Tonight we open our production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Portland Center Stage. This unofficially qualifies as my West Coast stage debut, too.

If you’re in the Porland, OR area, and need an evening of laughs–buy your tickets now! I’m told weekends are already heavily sold.

Break legs, all! Many thanks to director Rose Riordan, our stage management team, company manager Don Mason, and everyone who has helped bring this project to life. It’s been a treat putting together this wacky production, and I’m thrilled that local audiences are eating it up. Click the image to visit the PCS site and order tickets.

See you there!

New “Vanya and Sonia” Interview in PQ Monthly Online

This Friday is opening night for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Portland Center Stage. The previews have been a great learning experience for us all, and we keep playing with little moments to make the production even better. Audiences have been fantastic.

Here’s a link to an interview I gave recently for Portland’s online gay magazine, PQ Monthly. I talk about personal connections and resonances that I explore as Vanya. Enjoy!

Click the image to read the article.

Happy Holidays from the Portland Center Stage Company of Vanya and Sonia!

Happily, order was restored just in time for the holidays. As you can tell from our silly string of holiday photos, we’re having an awful lot of fun putting together Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike here at Portland Center Stage. If you’re in the area, come see us! We play 1/10-2/8 in 2015. Thanks again to PCS for use of the set for their hit production of The Santaland Diaries, and to Kate Szrom for the great photos!

Here’s our happy company, including cast and stage management (our wonderful director, Rose Riordan, is not pictured):

And here’s the cast cutting up one more time:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Holiday Photo Madness for Vanya and Sonia at Portland Center Stage

When we started rehearsals at Portland Center Stage for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike last Tuesday, we were given a tour of the beautiful Gerding Theater (a.k.a. The Armory). They are currently running their seasonal favorite production The Santaland Diaries in the Ellen Bye Studio Theatre in the basement. The minute I laid eyes on the fantastic set, I thought: what a great holiday photo opportunity for the Vanya and Sonia cast! Our fabulous stage manager Kelsey Daye Lutz made inquiries and obtained permissions and assistance from many kind souls, and Kate Szrom even came along to take the photos for us. I love seeing our characters behaving as usual in this utterly foreign and fantastical holiday world.

Here’s a shot where Vanya tries to teach the true meaning of Christmas to sisters Masha and Sonia, as Nina and Cassandra look on, and Spike looks off (maybe at that tempting pond?). Will harmony prevail in time for Christmas Day? Stay tuned!

I’m Starring in “Vanya and Sonia…” at Portland Center Stage in Oregon!

Two days after I returned from starring in a hit 30th Anniversary production of The Foreigner for the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, I had an audition. The next day I had a callback. And then….

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be starring as Vanya in Portland Center Stage’s production of Chris Durang’s brilliant Tony-winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. I played the role for three months last winter for Asolo Rep, and am so excited to take a completely fresh look at the role and the play with a new director and a new cast and new designers.

Plus, I’ve never been to Portland, or anywhere in that area on the West Coast. I hear fantastic things about it, and can’t wait to explore in my time off. Portland Center Stage has a gorgeous, LEED-certified new home downtown, and my apartment will only be a few blocks away. After all the years I’ve been in this business, this will be the first time I’ve lived and worked downtown in a major city. I can’t wait!

If you’re in the Portland, OR area, I do hope you’ll come to see the show and say hi afterwards. Rehearsals begin 12/16. Previews are January 10-15, 2015, and we open on January 16th. Closing day is February 8th. Hope to see you there! Click the image below to visit the PCS website for tickets and more information.

(Plus, is that a great logo, or what? The more you know the play, the more perfect it is!)

American Theatre Magazine Online Includes Photo From The Foreigner!

Well, this is a nice little surprise: American Theatre magazine’s online weekly roundup of photos from regional theatre productions includes a shot from our Maltz Jupiter Theatre production of The Foreigner!

You can see the shot in their slideshow by clicking here.

If you’re in the Jupiter, Florida area and are in need of an evening of big laughs, join us at The Foreigner! We’re playing only through this Sunday, November 9th.

The Foreigner Opens Tonight at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre!

It’s opening night! After a string of roaringly successful previews, and standing ovations at the end of each one, tonight we open The Foreigner at the beautiful Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Jupiter, Florida. In my last post, I saluted all the folks behind the scenes. And I want to thank again our wonderful director Matt Lenz, who made the rehearsal process such a joy, and Producing Artistic Director Andrew Kato, for championing this play and choosing to open his season with it.

For this post, however, I want to focus on my fellow actors, who are all wonderful offstage, and even more wonderful onstage. I’m very lucky to be out there with each and every one of them. If you’re in the Jupiter area, you owe it to yourself to see these fine folks at work, generating everything from chuckles to guffaws. Who are the wacky people pictured here? You can see the full cast (and the creative team)–and buy tickets–here:

Thank you and congrats to everyone involved with The Foreigner. This is my fourth production as Charlie Baker (the “foreigner”), and I still learn new things every day from everyone involved. Happy Opening!

The Foreigner Opens October 30th at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre!

We’ve already done a couple of previews, with fantastic audiences, and have two more today. Then we officially open this lovely (and yes, very funny) production of The Foreigner on October 30th. If you are in the Jupiter, Florida area and don’t already have your tickets–buy them now! We only run through Sunday, 11/9, and tickets are selling fast for this crowd-pleaser. Standing ovations every night.

Matt Lenz is our wonderful director; he has helped us all find so many lovely (and sometimes zany) moments, and made the entire rehearsal process a joy. Production Stage Manager Brandy DeMil (the divine one and only) and Assistant PSM Neil Krasnow have kept us in line and on time, all with a smile. And the design team is equally fabulous: Rob Odorisio (set), Paul Miller (lighting), Michael McDonald (costumes), and Marty Mets (sound). And of course, none of this would have happened without the ongoing guidance and support of Producing Artistic Director Andrew Kato, and Associate Producer/Company Manager Rachel Blavatnik. And then there’s the fantastic tech, marketing, administrative, house management and production teams–what a talented and lovely bunch all around!

As a little teaser, here’s a photo of Rob’s gorgeous log cabin set with some of Paul’s sublime lighting. The production came together so smoothly that the design and tech teams had spare time to add smoke coming out the chimney. Come see it all in person!

For more information, click here.