Hometown: Veazie, Maine, currently residing in Woburn MA.
Education: B.S. In Computer Science, University of Maine Orono
Favorite Credits: Creative License is the first full-length theatrical endeavor I've written. Recent performing credits: Wonderful Town (Reagle Music Theater, Waltham MA), The Secret Garden (Stoneham Theater, Stoneham MA), Sunset Blvd. (Next Door Theater, Winchester MA), Ragtime (Fiddlehead Theater, Dorchester MA).
Why theater?: I'm the nerdy kid who practiced voices and impressions since I was 6 years old. When I got to college, having been threatened with bodily harm to pursue a non-creative field, I nevertheless took as many theater classes and did as much theater as I could, and now as an adult I do it semi-professionally. It gets in your blood.
Tell us about Creative License: It's the story of two former childhood friends and their scheme to save the family business by putting on a show, written, or so they think, by a famous drama professor. When the show is revealed to be not all it seems, they have to find a creative solution. It's got themes of love, art, friendship, and vulnernability.
What inspired you to write Creative License?: It was a story I'd been wanting to tell for awhile – this idea of an artist struggling with his unfulfilled potential, the relationships that you depend upon to realize your dreams. It began as an unfinished screenplay that I eventually adapted into a musical.
What kind of theater speaks to you? What or who inspires you as an artist?: I like all kinds of theater – musical, non-musical, sketch comedy, experimental. I think the power of theater is that it has no boundaries and I'm always amazed at the creative new ways artists find to reach out to their audiences. I'm inspired by the passion and creativity of theater artists to challenge perceptions and think in new ways.
If you could work with anyone you’ve yet to work with, who would it be?: I playfully refer to Creative License as Aaron Sorkin meets Stephen Schwartz, because of the tremendous respect I have for them both and their influence on me as a writer/composer. As a performer I would love to sit at the foot of Sir Ian McKellan and just listen to his stories.
What show have you recommended to your friends?:Kinky Boots. It restored my faith in theater during a particularly dark period. “Soul of a Man” is a song that still resonates.
Who would play you in a movie about yourself and what would it be called?:"Clusterf*ck: the Kevin Cirone Abomination". And my first choice would be Paul Rudd, followed by Guy Fieri, just to see what people say.
If you could go back in time and see any play or musical you missed, what would it be?: The one where Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole got sh*tfaced at intermission. If you haven't heard that story, Google it.
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?:"American Ninja Warrior". Those people are crazy. Where do you even learn to hang from a ball suspended in midair?
If you weren’t working in theater, you would be _____?: Working a little harder at my day job as a software engineer. Or, hopefully, writing something else.
What’s up next?: If I get through Fringe alive it will be a miracle! After that, back to Boston, and who knows?
For more on Creative License, visit http://bit.ly/clmusical