Meet the Cast: Leif Steinert (ANIMALS)

Leif Steinert (Robby) moved from Massachusetts to New York after graduating high school in 2004. Passing on college, he opted to take some acting classes in Manhattan and get a job (there have, in fact, been several jobs: a clerk in a laundry center, a U.S. census taker, a Central Park tour guide, a bartender, and a doorman dressed as a toy soldier in front F.A.O. Schwarz, just to name just a few). Over the years, he has learned countless lessons and had countless experiences that are of the kind that only New York can offer.

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming production of Animals for the New York International Fringe Festival. Can you tell us some of your initial thoughts about the piece and your character? How are rehearsals going?

I play a guy named Robby who's just moved back home after being away for five years. He's a pleasure seeker who's trying cope with the many changes that are happening in his life. Rehearsals are going very well.

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

I didn't get good grades in high school, so my father gave me an ultimatum in my junior year: either to be locked in my room for 3 hours a night to make a desperate push for college or to join my school's production of West Side Story. I chose the latter, and fell in love with the sensation of being on stage in front of an audience.

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

I am influenced by my day-to-day life as it plays itself out. The basic human responses that life provokes inside of everyone on earth is what I go fishing for whenever I play a role.

• What is your favorite part of the creative process before you perform for an audience? Do you have a particular pre-show ritual that you engage in before curtain? If so, can you share it with us?

The pre-show stuff depends on the part, and I guess my ritual is that I like to hug or connect with everybody in the cast before the stage manager calls for us to take our places. It's an expression of support, unity and gratitude for sharing the experience.The table work is my favorite part of the process because it's like preparing for a bank heist.

• I believe this is your first time working with Wide Eyed. We’d like to get to know you a little better. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project? Is there something cool that you like to do in your spare time?

I’ve been enrolled at the New School for Drama's M.F.A program for the last year, which is where I’ve worked with Kristin [Hoffmann] and Sam [Byron] a couple of times. I just did a reading at M.C.C. for a play they are considering to produce. I love to ride my bicycle around the city.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Care to share with us?

The other day, I got cast in a short film called Life in a Box. It's a great script, and I believe it will turn out to be something quite special.

Meet the Cast: Jeffrey Adams (ANIMALS)

Jeffrey Adams (Drew) received his BA in Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University and is currently working on his MFA at The New School for Drama. Recent attributes include: NSD's Venus in Fur (Thomas) and the many works of the Great American Playwright, Sam Byron...Box Colony Theatre's Women and Wallace (Wallace), Pear Avenue Theatre's Death of a Salesman (Happy), The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee (Chip), Diablo Theatre Co's White Christmas (Bob Wallace), Twelfth Night (Feste), Lyric Theatre's Cinderella (Prince), Playboy of the Western World (Christy), Erik Ehn's The Saint Plays (Genesius), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jimmy), and the world premiere of Over the Mountain at Brava Theatre in San Francisco. Adams is so happy to be working with Wide Eyed and such a talented team on Animals, and is grateful for the opportunity and privilege of participating in this year's Fringe Festival. Thank you always for the love and support of faculty, family, and friends.

• You’ll be performing in our upcoming production of Sam Byron's Animals for the New York International Fringe Festival. Can you tell us some of your initial thoughts about the piece and your character? How are rehearsals going?

After the initial table reading of the play, I was excited to be part of a piece that was so funny but also posed a moral and ethical challenge to audiences. Sam (Byron) always manages to create relatable dialogue and characters that mirror real life situations with an unexpected, signature twist, and Animals is no exception. The play also unlocks a relatively universal nostalgia with a prolonged homecoming, high school recollections, and the reunion of a group of dysfunctional friends. I play Drew, the group’s punching bag who is pushed to the limit. He’s a hopeless romantic, aspiring medical student, and delightfully neurotic with women. I think audiences will watch with “I went to college with that guy” in mind.

Rehearsals are going well. You rarely get to work with such incredibly talented people that you also happen to respect and consider close friends, and I am fortunate enough to say, that has been my experience with this project. The nature of the play requires us to be a tight knit group, and we became very close early on. The beauty of working with the dynamic duo of Sam and Kristin (Hoffmann) is that they allow creativity and are open to new ideas in the rehearsal room, which gives actors freedom to play, which is what we love.

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

I started acting when I was eight in community theatre productions where I grew up in California. I actually performed mostly in musicals, and my passion and interest in theatre continued to grow in high school and beyond. I remember playing Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha in 2003, and that being the role that sealed the deal for me. It was when I realized acting was the perfect fusion of the “character” and the “self,” where the story you are telling should teach you a little bit about who you are; that acting at its finest is self discovery.

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

I would say my parents are honestly my greatest creative influences. They were the first people to share the arts with me and expose me to theatre, music, television and really encourage imaginative exploration. My parents are both educators, and because of that, I see actors as teachers. My dad told me years ago one of my favorite quotations by Aldous Huxley: “The more you know, the more you see,” and I really try to approach every project and character with that in mind.

• What is your favorite part of the creative process before you perform for an audience? Do you have a particular pre-show ritual that you engage in before curtain? If so, can you share it with us?

Getting to know the cast as an extension of your family is an important part of the process for me. You see these people every day for weeks, if not months on end, and you share something with them, an experience that only they can really understand. I love that. It’s something that you share with that group alone, and you will always have that.

Before I go onstage for a show, I pretty much go through the same checklist as a person about to embark on a two hour road trip. I use the restroom, get my fill of snacks, make sure everything I need with me is accounted for, swig some water and I’m off. Then right before I walk on stage, I dedicate the show to someone in my head...just as a reminder of the people that have helped me get there.

• I believe this is your first time working with Wide Eyed. We’d like to get to know you a little better. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project? Is there something cool that you like to do in your spare time?

The last project I worked on was The Box Colony Theatre’s production of Women and Wallace at Theatre Row’s Studio Theatre. It’s the story of a little boy who witnesses his mother’s suicide and how that affects every relationship with women from that point on through the lens of Freudian Psychology.

In my spare time, I like to stay relatively low key. I love going to concerts, occasionally exploring the city, or even staying in with my girlfriend and ordering food and watching movies and television as a sort of character study, or homework. Watching talented actors apply their methods and techniques helps me complete the flipside to Huxley’s thought, so the more I see, the more I know.

• Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Care to share with us?

I guess my next big endeavor is starting an improvisational comedy group called Morning Stubble, a sketch based troupe that will hopefully start getting gigs around the city soon! I am looking forward to being a part of this year’s Fringe Festival with Animals, and hope to work with Wide Eyed again on future projects.

ANIMALS: Press Release

Wide Eyed Productions

presents

 

 by Sam Byron 

Directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann 

As part of the FringeNYC Festival 2012 

At THE KRAINE THEATRE 

85 E. 4th Street, NYC

Take the 6 train to Bleecker Street Station. Walk east on Bleecker to The Bowery, 

then north to E. 4th Street, then east to the theatre. 

TUE 8/14 @ 7:00-8:30 

THU 8/16 @ 4:15-5:45 

SUN 8/19 @ 2:15-3:45 

WED 8/22 @ 4:45-6:15

THU 8/23 @ 7:00-8:30 

Download the Press Release Here

Mexico winner!

Congrats to William A. Fischer, winner of our Mexico raffle! Ole'!

ANIMALS at FringeNYC

Did we mention we're doing a show at the New York International Fringe Festival 2012?
Add this one to your dance card; you're not going to want to miss it. From the Fringe directory (click to enlarge):

The Digi-show: A night of digi-shorts by Duane Ferguson, 5/19 @ 8pm ($5)

Duane Chivon Ferguson is an actor, writer, director, producer, editor, shooter, singer and poet. He was born in Harlem, New York and raised in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. He first developed his creativity performing in plays at his alma mater, Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York. He also performed on various stages in New York and did repertory work with The Positive Youth Troupe and The Citykids Foundation. On camera, Duane has hosted various episodes of magazine shows and has appeared in numerous independent shorts. He is currently a member of Wide Eyed Productions in NYC. His life is all about the chase....whether it be after the dream, the fantastic, or the joy of being surrounded by his friends and family. He dedicates all of his efforts to his lovely daughter, Soul.


"Even the Score" (2006) 
Starring Richard LaRochelle, Leslie Shim, Chris Cole, Skid Maher and Nedra McClyde 
What would you do if your partner is unfaithful? Would you forgive and forget ... or would you move on? What if your partner offers you the opportunity to sleep with someone else to "make up" for their infidelity? "Even the Score" tells the story of a young couple that is face with that very scenario and the choices that ultimately seal the fate of the relationship. Official selection for the Los Angeles DV Film Festival, The Brooklyn IndieHouse and The New York Short Film Festival. 


"El Día de Las Flores" (2011) 
Starring Amaurys Rodriguez and Jessica Courtemanche 
A poem about love and getting over it. Official selection for the CortoCircuito Short Film Festival. 


"For The Leaping Tongues of Fire Womyn" (2011) 
Starring Carmen Mojica and Amuarys Rodriguez 
This poem, written by Carmen Mojica, explores the threshold where womynhood is tested to it's absolute limit. This video is a co-production between These Waters Run Deep and BabaSoul, Ent? 


"I Am: Keep Your Hood Up" (2012) 
A short video piece made in response to all the acts of profiling that have lead to the untimely deaths of any and all members of the global race. Dedicated to Trayvon Martin.

Mike Aguirre's "Somewhere in this Favor'd Land" - 5/19 @ 6pm

Mike Aguirre is a graduate from Indiana University with a B.A. in Theatre and English.  A suburban Chicago native, Mike has worked with the Windy City Players, First Folio, Steppenwolf, The Wilma Theater (Philadelphia), and the Hexagon Theatre (South Africa).  Since arriving in New York, he’s worked with The Pearl Theatre (City Center), Wide Eyed Productions, has taken classes and worked with Anne Phelan, John Grabowski, and Chelsea Rep and Lab, and is a company member with Rising Sun.

• Your play Somewhere in this Favor’d Land will be performed as a part of our Dark Nights series this week at the Richmond Shepard Theatre. Can you tell us about what inspired it?

I’ve always wanted to write an homage to baseball.  I’ve always wanted to write an homage to Wilder’s Our Town.  I think the play is a combination of the two (but don’t let those two subjects turn you away from the show!)  At its heart is a story about change in America and how change shapes a conservative town, a father and son.

• You are part of Wide Eyed’s very first Apprentice Playwrights Program. Can you tell us a little bit about what the process has been like?

At the beginning of the process, I wrote a very different play that… I just didn’t think it worked for many reasons, so it’s had more changes that I can account for since the early stages of the idea.  But that’s been the beauty of the process with Wide Eyed.  I started in the theatre as an actor, and any actor will tell you that you never get it right at the first rehearsal.  It takes days, weeks, months.  You grow with a character even during performances, and I am learning that the same is true with writing a script.  Half the battle is getting it down on paper.  Then it goes through so many steps listening to actors and directors interpret your work, seeing what moments are good and more importantly, what moments need to be thrown away.  I remember reading an article about John Guare where he says that playwriting is a ‘blood sport’.  You have to be brutal with what stays and what goes, what moments are honest and what are contrived.  I’m very new to playwriting and it’s something I’m still learning how to do.  Tim Butterfield, the Artistic Director of Wide Eyed and the director for the play, is an expert leading a writer through the process, so it’s been a challenging but fulfilling one, and I’m grateful that there are programs like Wide Eyed’s Apprenticeship which invest the necessary time it takes in developing a script.

• When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? What made you start writing plays?

I hate admitting this, but I think I had this grand idea of writing plays that I could act in after I was tired of auditioning and auditioning, begging people to put me in their shows.  It was selfish, at first.  But once I began studying the structure, taking classes, having discussions with other professionals and learning to appreciate this rich tradition of story-telling, I fell in love with it.

• Who or what has been your biggest influence as a writer? What inspires you to get to the page?

Seeing any productions are the biggest influence: seeing what’s out there, what creative things are being done, and what I can do to add to it always gets my mind going and gets me motivated. Also, my parents used to tell my brother and I stories when we were very young.  They would make them up on the spot at bedtime, and they would always leave a cliffhanger of an ending for the following night.  Their story-telling and creativity probably had the biggest impact on pursuing a life in the arts.

• In terms of your creative process, do you have a particular ritual when it comes to writing? If so, can you share it with us?

A glass of wine or a few beers always help. I also don’t own a computer, so I suppose part of the ritual is stealing my girlfriend’s laptop to do some writing (Thanks, Ali)!

• Can you tell us about any other projects you’re working on right now?

A one-act I wrote entitled Almost a Fantasy has been accepted into the NY Fringe Festival this summer.  It’s being produced by Chelsea Rep and Lab and Rumination Theatre, and it’ll be very exciting to get back into a rehearsal room this summer.  It opens in August.  Hope everyone can come see it!