On the High Road - and the High Seas - with DEAD SPECIAL CRABS

Look who's the Photo of the Week in Time Out New York! Many thanks to Al Foote III Theatrical Photography.

The reviews are starting to trickle in, and it's all goodness - this one from TalkinBroadway.com is a great primer ("funny stuff, indeed"). We'll be posting more of those as they come in to our Facebook page, so be sure to follow us over there.

Opening night is this Friday, November 14! Small reception to follow. Get those tickets.

The Genesis of Walter

Andrew Harriss grew a beard for DEAD SPECIAL CRABS and made a video about it.
We kind of love him for it. Previews continue tonight. Get your tickets here!

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Amy Lee Pearsall

 

Amy Lee Pearsall is a long-time member of Wide Eyed Productions, having appeared with the company in The Trojan Women, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, and their inaugural production of The Medea, among others. She was named as one of Indie Theater Now’s People of the Year for 2013. NYC stage credits include: Picture Ourselves in Latvia (New Light Theater Project); King Kirby (Comic Book Theater Festival/The Brick); Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens (Boomerang Theatre Company); Blast Radius (The Honeycomb Trilogy) (Gideon Productions). A member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the League of Professional Theatre Women, Amy Lee has served as a member of the nytheater now (née nytheatre.com) reviewing squad since 2010. www.amyleepearsall.com

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs. What was your history with the piece before coming on board for the full production (if any)? 

Wide Eyed Productions produced a staged reading of Dead Special Crabs during our WINKS staged reading series, season one. It was a real crowd pleaser. In that incarnation, I read the part of Aunt Missy, and had a great time with it. And the company just fell in love with Dan's play; it is so ridiculously funny. This time around, I’m playing Kathy - a different experience, but equally delightful.

• How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing in Dead Special Crabs, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Rehearsals have been a hoot. (Yeah, I said it.) It’s a fantastic cast and creative team - just a great group of people - and I’m delighted to be a part of it. I mean, really, just look at this photo. Those are not the faces of abject misery. We are clearly having a good time.

photo by Al Foote III

As for what I can tell you about Kathy…she’s a religious cult leader with a complicated past, and maybe some rage issues. But I think she operates from a place of deep conviction, and believes that her actions are for the greater good.

• This is a road trip play, and the leaves are starting to change, so we have to ask: What’s your favorite place to go for a quick road trip getaway on the east coast?

For a complete change of scene a little over an hour from the city, I'm going to have to go with Cold Spring. You can drive up historic Route 9D, but for the car impaired, Metro-North also takes you right there. I lived there for a year. It was lovely; the commute every day just wore me down after a while. But when the leaves are changing, the fog's rolling on the Hudson in the morning, the hum of passing boats and trains are bouncing around Crow's Nest and Storm King mountains across the way, and you've got a mug of coffee in your hands and a date with a kayak, it's just kind of magical.

• What’s your favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe? You know you have one.

I’m rolling with “The Raven.”

• And while we’re on the subject: Crustaceans. Friend or food? Allergies? Assuming you eat them, which is your favorite one to eat? Any restaurants we need to know about?

I’m kind of a big fan of anything that comes out of the ocean looking like an armored car; it's usually protecting something delicious. In the city, I’m partial to Grand Central’s Oyster Bar, Cull and Pistol at Chelsea Market, and Lobster Place right next door.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

There is some talk of Boomerang Theatre Company reprising Johnna Adams’ verse play Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens next year, and I'm excited about that. There’s also a film project that I’m super stoked about, but I can’t talk about it quite yet (details soon, I promise – keep an eye on my website). Other than that, my fellow Wide Eyed company member and buddy Andrew Harriss has informed me that I’m bringing brussels sprouts to potluck Thanksgiving. So I guess that’s my next big thing.

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Greg Carere

Greg Carere is a New York-based, Canadian-born actor and writer. New York credits include: The Downtown Loop (3LD), If You Can Get To Buffalo (Incubator Arts Project), The Party Play (The Brick), The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome (FringeNYC), King John (The New Ensemble Workshop). Regional credits: Merchant of Venice, Pericles, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare by the Sea), Rudy vs the World (OLS). He holds an MFA from The New School for Drama. Love to his family, friends, and Rose.

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs. What was your history with the piece before coming on board for the full production (if any)? Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

I didn’t really have a history with Dead Special Crabs before I auditioned, but I’ve been friends with and a fan of both Dan Kitrosser and Kristin Skye Hoffmann for the past few years since they showed up at The New School for Drama. I’ve helped out a little with Wide Eyed WINKS, from whence Dead Special Crabs had an early reading, and I was really excited to have a chance to work with Dan and Kristin and the company.

My last project was with Fringe NYC and Outside/Inside: The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome, by Michael Ross Albert (who, actually, now that I think about it, also has a bit of a history with Wide Eyed). It’s a tight little dramatic comedy about a group of artists in the aftermath of a gala, in which one of the artists had a psychotic break and destroyed almost every piece in the show. I played Marshall, a painter who’s trying to find his identity in the wake of his father’s death, and whose work was the catalyst for the aforementioned psychotic break.

I mentioned it was a comedy, yes?

• How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing in Dead Special Crabs, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Rehearsals are going terribly! Kristin is a tyrant! Dan is a talentless hack! The rest of the cast are all hideous trolls who wouldn’t know acting if it walked up and stabbed them in the gut! My character, Virgil, is a depressed misanthrope and I can’t seem to break character! My favorite thing about this role is NOTHING! NOTHING MATTERS!

• This is a road trip play, and the leaves are starting to change, so we have to ask: What’s your favorite place to go for a quick road trip getaway on the east coast?

I don’t get to take quick road trips all that often, but I was just on Bear Mountain to watch two of my very good friends get married, and so if I was going to recommend anything, I’d say go watch two very good friends get married on Bear Mountain in the fall.

• What’s your favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe? You know you have one.

It’s probably a little cliche, but it’s hard to deny “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It so perfectly captures madness and obsession and guilt, and the sequence where the narrator creeps into the old man’s room and opens the shutter of his lantern to have the beam fall on the eye (the eye!) has stuck with me since I was a kid. But, in some ways, I think “The Cask of Amontillado” captures a lot of the horror and obsession of “The Tell-Tale Heart” in a tighter, more efficient story.

• And while we’re on the subject: Crustaceans. Friend or food? Allergies? Assuming you eat them, which is your favorite one to eat? Any restaurants we need to know about?

Friend AND foe! My favorite one to eat is ALL OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME, but if I had to choose, I would probably say lobster. And, speaking of which, the Red Hook Lobster Pound (which has locations in Red Hook, on the LES, and at Smorgasburg) does just about the best lobster roll I’ve ever had.

• When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

I don’t know if I really knew that I wanted to be an actor until somewhere near the end of my time at grad school, where I was getting an MFA in Acting. It wouldn’t be exactly fair to say I fell into it, but it was certainly something that kept pulling at me despite my best efforts to ignore it. I got “started” when I took a drama class in high school, because I needed an arts credit and thought it would be a bird course. And then I ended up majoring in theater in college, despite enrolling in a university without knowing they even offered theater. And then, after I graduated, I spent a lot of time trying to be a freelance writer and working as an administrative assistant in a government office before finally applying to grad schools, primarily as a playwright. Even The New School for Drama, where I ended up going to study acting, I had originally applied to as a playwright. Acting hunted me down, and I don’t know if I really gave in until just a few years ago, and at that point I’d been doing it on and off for 10 years. 

• Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date? Why?

I’d say the people I met while at NSD, both students and teachers. It was a wonderful little laboratory, full of mad scientists, and everything, every breakthrough and mistake and blank out and triumph, that anyone made, was something that I learned from and that influenced me, and I’m guessing will continue to do so for a long time.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

Yes! A number of things! But almost none of which I can talk about! There are a couple of plays in development, and a TV pilot, and maybe a movie. But most imminently: keep an eye out for Hazard Rep’s first production, Cliff by Ryan Feyk. We’re developing it right now, and I think it’s going to be something special.

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS cast: Lee Seymour

Lee Seymour is an actor, writer, and producer. Highlights as an actor include Triassic Parq (Off Broadway) and As You Like It (Stratford-Upon-Avon); as a producer they include Godspell (Broadway) and BALLS: The Musical (Off Broadway). He has written two novels and is working on a trilogy of Young Adult books about supernatural creatures hiding out on Cape Cod. He sits on the board of the artist residency SPACE on Ryder Farm, and enjoys Scotch smoky enough that you could mistake it for bogwater. MA from LAMDA, BA from Yale.

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs. What was your history with the piece before coming on board for the full production (if any)? Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

I have absolutely no history with the piece (I think I’m [one of the few] on board for whom that is true). I was connected to it by the wonderful casting director Kate Murray, who suggested me to our wonderful director Kristin Skye Hoffmann. The rest is wonderful history.

• How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing in Dead Special Crabs, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Rehearsals have been a blast. We’re two weeks from previews and I still crack up watching the play. Everyone involved is massively talented and hilarious. My character is Barney Horntub, a detective from Western Massachusetts who is really not very good at his job, but does it with all the gusto he can muster. Like so many, deep down he’s just looking for a little bit of love.

• This is a road trip play, and the leaves are starting to change, so we have to ask: What’s your favorite place to go for a quick road trip getaway on the east coast?

Cape Cod, no doubt. Nothing like a weekend by the sea with a solid lobster roll in hand (even though the play is about people from Maine, I’ve got to say Cape Cod does lobster better – heresy, I know…)

• What’s your favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe? You know you have one.

"The Raven" is so beautiful that it excites me inappropriately.

• And while we’re on the subject: Crustaceans. Friend or food? Allergies? Assuming you eat them, which is your favorite one to eat? Any restaurants we need to know about?

Friend and food. I love a good snorkel, and nothing delights me more than finding a big friendly lobster peering out from under an overhang. Nothing…except, of course, for eating lobster afterward. I do love me some delicious arthropods. The best seafood place is in Chatham, MA: The Impudent Oyster. They serve lobster rolls that are basically a pile of fresh meat with a bun buried somewhere underneath. Flawless.

• When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

When I set myself on fire in chemistry class by accident and turned it into a silly dance that entertained everyone. I thought, “I wonder if people get paid for this kind of thing.” Turns out the usually don’t, but that doesn’t stop it from being a fun thing to do with your nights.

• Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date? Why?

Eddie Izzard, Robin Williams, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench. Stand-up comics and Knights of the British Empire, basically.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

I sit on the board of SPACE on Ryder Farm, a phenomenal artist residency program just north of NYC in Brewster. We host hundreds of artist every summer – from multiple Tony, Pulitzer, and Emmy winners to brand new up-and-comers – on our 130 acres of woodland. I’m hugely passionate about it and encourage anyone reading this to apply for our upcoming 5th season next year. (Also to donate to our organization, if that’s your thing. Art ain’t cheap, yo.)

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Nic Marrone

A Georgia native, Nic Marrone made his own cross country road trip three years ago to attend the Master’s program at The New School for Drama. He is saddened knowing that after working on this piece, with this writer (Dan Kitrosser), and this director (Kristin Skye Hoffmann), and this incredible group of actors and crew, there just won’t be another opportunity quite as amazing as this one for a long, long time. www.ndmarrone.com

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs. What was your history with the piece before coming on board for the full production (if any)? Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

I was fortunate enough to do a reading of Dead Special Crabs a couple years ago under the direction of Kristin, and amazingly enough I got the chance to work with the dynamic duo (Kristin and Dan) on Dan’s thesis project The Old Forever New Things at The New School for Drama. These two create the perfect balance in a room with tons of hard work combined with incredible bouts of laughter and play.

• How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing in Dead Special Crabs, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

I’m playing Loomer, and rehearsals have been a blast as expected! I’m usually cast as the weirdo or the comedic relief so my favorite thing about this role is getting to play the straight man. It’s a challenge because I have to constantly react as if everything is happening for the first time and I have to somehow keep from laughing at the brilliant comedians in the room.

• This is a road trip play, and the leaves are starting to change, so we have to ask: What’s your favorite place to go for a quick road trip getaway on the east coast?

Georgia, baby! Always! Savannah is the East Coast king!

• What’s your favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe? You know you have one.

"The Tell-Tale Heart"!

• And while we’re on the subject: Crustaceans. Friend or food? Allergies? Assuming you eat them, which is your favorite one to eat? Any restaurants we need to know about?

My family traditionally has lobster for New Year’s Eve! And there’s no better NYC dining than the Red Lobster in Times Square…

• When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

I played the Owl in my kindergarten’s production of Hoo Hoo Who Lost a Shoe. Never looked back.

• Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date? Why?

I’m actually in a weird place to be asked this question, haha! Lately I’ve been very interested in the transfer of energy (both physical and abstract) and the span of its ripple effect. So I guess I would consider everything that has ever happened to me ever as a creative influence. That’s a lil too deep, but here we are.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

Haven’t signed the official contract, but I’m on board as the male swing in the national tour of Peter and the Starcatcher! Hooray!

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Ellen David

Ellen David is the proud recipient of the 2006 New York Innovative Theater Award as Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for Working Man's Clothes' production of To Nineveh by Bekah Brunstetter. After studying in London at Guildhall, she moved to Israel where she appeared on Israel National Television, toured with The English Theater of Tel Aviv, portrayed Pilate's Wife in the Norman Jewison film Jesus Christ Superstar, and dubbed numerous international movies. In New York, she was a founding member of the sketch comedy group "Rubber Feet". Regionally, she has performed at The Cleveland Playhouse and the Hanna Theater. At The Schoolhouse Theater, she played Geneva in Landford Wilson's Redwood Curtain and the fabulous Bunny in Albert Innaurato's Gemini. She had the title role in Clifford Odet's Country Girl at Fleetwood Stage where she also performed Love Letters with Matthew Arkin. She can be seen in the Law & Order episode "Kid Pro Quo." Last season, she played twelve characters in The A is for Abortion Play at FringeNYC. Recently, she took part in the HB Studios' Ten Minute Plays, where she played the scientist, Lise Meitner. She has recorded numerous Talking Books for the blind and visually impaired. www.ellendavid.com

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs. What was your history with the piece before coming on board for the full production (if any)? Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

I had the great pleasure of meeting the author, Dan Kitrosser, through a director friend, Isaac Byrne. About four years ago, Dan asked me to do a table read of Dead Special Crabs, which was followed at a later date by a staged reading. I was delighted when I was asked to audition for the world premiere! And this past spring, I portrayed Lise Meitner in Maria Torres' The Job Offer at HB Studios' Ten Minute Play Festival.

• How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing in Dead Special Crabs, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Rehearsals for Dead Special Crabs are fun, exciting, and daunting. I play Aunt Missy, a cantankerous Maine crabber with a mission. Mayhem ensues! I love finding the shades of Aunt Missy…just when you think you know what she's about…she throws you a curve. The company is so talented and director Kristin Skye Hoffmann has a bold and zany vision that she happily shares with us all.

• This is a road trip play, and the leaves are starting to change, so we have to ask: What’s your favorite place to go for a quick road trip getaway on the east coast?

At this time…or any time…I like to head up to Boston to see my sister!

• What’s your favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe? You know you have one.

My favorite work by Edgar Allen Poe is "The Pit and The Pendulum." I recently reread it and got all shivery.

• And while we’re on the subject: Crustaceans. Friend or food? Allergies? Assuming you eat them, which is your favorite one to eat? Any restaurants we need to know about?

Yum! I love shrimp, scallops, lobster, and crab! Joe's Stone Crab in Miami is my favorite! Nothing raw though!!!

• When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

I knew I wanted to be an actor from the age of twelve, though it took me till age fifteen to get enough courage to actually audition. That first role was Mary Warren in The Crucible, and I was hooked!