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!

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Samantha Cooper

Samantha Cooper is tickled pink to work with this hilarious, talented group of artists. Recent credits include: Leah In Vegas (FringeNYC, dir: Kristin Skye Hoffmann), the award-winning Goliath (Culture Project, Wild Project, California tour); Worldwide Plays/Writopia Lab ‘13 & ‘14 (Theatre Row, June Havoc); Ok! Cupid! The Musical, Foreign Bodies (Women Center Stage/Culture Project); And Then They Came For Me (NCTC); Twelfth Night (BoCoCa Festival); The Killing of Jacob Marr (221 Films). Samantha received her B.A. from UC San Diego, and has trained at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, A.C.T., Circle In The Square, and the Lorenzo de’Medici school in Florence, Italy. Administrative Director/Company Member - Poetic Theater Productions. Founding Member - Brass Tacks Theatre Collective. For Toby, always. www.samanthafcooper.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? 

This run is my introduction to the world of Dead Special Crabs, although I have worked with many members of our hard-working team. The lovable Dan Kitrosser directed me in the Writopia World Wide Play Festival a few years ago, and I have been craving to be in something he has penned. The incredible Rosie Kolbo has stage managed the past three projects on which I have worked and I never want to part with her. And this past summer, the effervescent Kristin Skye Hoffman directed Kara Ayn Napolitano's new piece, Leah In Vegas, for FringeNYC. I played two challenging roles; the work was hard, fast, fun, and complemented by a very talented cast and crew. 

• 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? 

It's funny because Leah In Vegas was also a road trip play, although I did not partake in the road trip (and now I am - thanks, Dan - I finally get to hold the steering wheel!). My favorite NY getaway is Fire Island. I was lucky enough to spend my summers there as a kid. It is the only place I can fully relax (yes, relaxing is hard for me, hush) but hand me a Corona with lime and a beach chair and I'm good to go. 

• 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?

Crustaceans. Huge fan. Shrimp, crab, lobster with some lemon butter sauce...I'm hungry. Lobster is my true favorite and if you put it in a bisque, I'm yours. A great old-time favorite is The Oyster Bar in Grand Central. My dad and I go there when we're feeling particularly skinny and need to rectify that situation. 

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

You know, during rehearsal, we keep bringing up certain films that are reminiscent of the comedic style of Dead Special Crabs. Clue is one of them, and we randomly break into quotes (which I do in my daily life, as well). So I think I finally have to come out and state for the record that Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean and the rest of that zany cast influenced my humor and timing more than any other ensemble of actors...with cast of Robin Hood: Men In Tights coming in as a close second. 

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

I am a company member of Poetic Theater Productions, and they are about to open Back, by Mickey Bolmer and directed by Andrew Willis-Woodward, at the cell on 23rd Street. I can't wait to see it; audiences are definitely in for a party. In November, I'm set to shoot a role in the film I Fell in Love with a Psychopath by Whitney Ellis.

Meet the DEAD SPECIAL CRABS Cast: Andrew Harriss

Andrew Harriss is an actor and writer who has been a member of Wide Eyed Productions since its inception in 2007. Company credits include The Medea, Much Ado About Nothing, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, A Devil Inside, The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot, Henry VI (Part III), and Plight Of The Apothocary in 2011’s A Girl Wrote It. Other credits include Gorilla Rep's Hamlet, The Jack Johnson Project, and All For Love with Boomerang Theatre Company. Andrew is also the writer, producer, and star of the webseries White Liars, and the short films The Friday Before Christmas, Moroccan Birdhouse (co-wrote), and Best Friends Club. He is originally from Irvine, California and holds a BFA from Hofstra University.

• 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 asked by (director) Kristin Hoffmann to participate in a reading of Dead Special Crabs for the 2013 Wide Eyed WINKS reading series (season 1). She wasn’t sure which role she wanted me to read for, so I read the script on my flight home for Christmas, and by the time I got to page 37 I was like, “oh, oh, yes, I would very much like to play Walter.” So I texted Kristin as soon as we landed, and luckily for me she felt the same way.

• 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 well. Coming from the reading, which was now over a year and a half ago, it’s been interesting to expand on the choices that were made and to put Walter into a deeper context within the play as a whole. I absolutely love playing him. I think of any character I’ve ever played he has the most positive outlook on life.

• 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?

Well, I’m from the west coast, so my first thought is, “What is this word…fall?” which is ridiculous because I’ve lived here for almost 15 years. I just went to Boston for the first time and had a blast there. I don’t know, I love DC, and Vermont seems like it might be nice. I imagine you could probably get an amazing cozy fall breakfast in Vermont.

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

I really like the version of ‘The Raven’ The Simpsons did. That pretty much sums up my experience of EAP.

• 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 could eat lobster rolls for days. Crab rolls, too. Luke’s Lobster does a great job at both of those. Are oysters crustaceans? The oldest tavern in New York City, The Fraunces Tavern, has a special on weekends where you can get a pint of stout and 3 oysters for 12 bucks. Beer and oysters in a place where George Washington used to hang out? Yes, please.

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

I have wanted to be an actor since I was about 9 years old. My mom signed me up for some drama-for-kids program at some local community center, and my first role was as a dog named Bowser who owned a pet shop.

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

That’s a hard question to answer. Everything? I generally take influence from whatever is going on in my life, or whomever I happen to be spending time with. John Ritter was a big influence on me, and Robin Williams. My family is an endless source of creative influence, too.

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

I’m a member of Real.Good.Spies., Wide Eyed’s improv troupe, and I’ll be in a reading of Sam Byron’s play Butcher during one of our dark nights [at the TBG Theatre] when we’re not tearing it up with Dead Special Crabs.

Be sure to check out Real. Good. Spies. Improv Crabtacular on Oct. 23. All proceeds to benefit Dead Special Crabs!

Real. Good. Spies. Improv Crabtacular!

Come join the fun on Thursday, October 23rd and help us raise money for our upcoming world premiere production of Dead Special Crabs by Dan Kitrosser!

Wide Eyed Productions’ own improv group Real. Good. Spies. will be performing, and there will be raffles, drinks, music, dancing, and laughter to be had. And crabs.
  The Drilling Company
236 W 78th St, 3rd flr

The fun starts at 7pm
Real. Good. Spies. goes on at 7:30pm

$20 tickets available for purchase in advance 

$25 tickets available at the door

Ticket prices include one free drink.

We'll see you at The Drilling Company!