When I was young I loved 1970's gritty New York Cop Movies.. I mean I was obsessed with them. I knew even during my "Ninja Turtle" days I would end up in NYC. I didn't know I wanted to be a comic or actor but I knew I wanted to be in New York.
American Academy of Dramatic Arts Graduation on Broadway
Bob Kozar: My first Acting teacher hanging with my brother
Thelma Carter (Rest in Piece) ran AADA.. Miss you Thelma
The ol' Academy days.. when I learned I like reading
As soon as I graduated I moved to New York City. The first few guys I met I am still friends with in fact I am in there theatre company: Matthew Pilieci, James Kautz, Matt Frayley and Derek Ahonen who make upThe Amoralists.. In Fact I did every Academy play with Derek. Who is also the playwright of the group.
I did a little theatre in High School but didn't truly fall in love till I attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
The Academy friendships I have run deep- they are my NY family. I think there is nothing better than live theatre when done well. If you want to be entertained watch a movie- If you want to change your life go see a play. The academy changed allot of things about me, made me think different, act different and understand better.
Chekov in Yalta
Caucasian Chalk Circle (Me Derek and James)
Childe Byron
James Kautz and I: been friends since age 17.
Hey Ray! Ray Collins
The Academy days made me develop as a person and learn about myself. I think it allowed me to open up and get out of allot of bad habits as a person. I wouldn't change those days for anything.
My friends started a theatre company I was fortunate enough to work with them in Happy in The Poorhouse.
Publication: Time Out New York
Title of Article:
Bar fighting and Playwriting with The Amoralists
"For the critics and audiences who have fallen hard for the Amoralists’ sprawling, knockabout style, the news is good. Nobody else weds old-fashioned realist structure to working-class-hero lunacy quite this way, and no other acting collective seems so raw, so heartfelt, so exuberantly extreme onstage and off."
At Graduation Dinner: SARDIS
Happy In The Poorhouse: All the gang is back together but on the big off white way
St. Marks Theatre: HAPPY IN THE POORHOUSE by Derek Ahonen
My gut is that part of the future of American theatre rests with these guys and artists like them, which is why I keep coming back to see what they're cooking up.- Martin Denton, NYTheatre.com
Publication: Backstage
Title of Article: Company Town
When they were students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, James Kautz, Matthew Pilieci, and Derek Ahonen were already disaffected with mainstream theater. They wanted to “open up an honest dialogue between audiences and artists,” says Kautz. “We wanted to ask difficult questions: social, political, spiritual, sexual.”
I did a little theatre in High School but didn't truly fall in love till I attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
