We’re performing Death of A Salesman at the stunning Cairo Opera House as a part of the mind-blowing CIFCET Festival— it’s an experimental theater festival featuring theater companies and artists from around the globe and I am so incredibly grateful to share this piece that I love in a place I’ve been obsessed with since I was a kid! Oh, and look— we made the cover of the festival’s publication, The Experimental!
I’m over the moon that our experimental production of Death of A Salesman at BAM is officially sold out! Playing Linda has been a dream and I’m so humbled to share it with such gracious and energetic audiences. I’m also beyond thrilled to take it to Santiago, Chile (the day after we close in NY) and then to Egypt immediately after that!!! The reviews are officially in and I just wanted to share a few snippets!
Theater is Easy
“After actors Justin Nestor and Kayla Asbell (playing Willy and Linda Loman respectively) turn to each other and don their melted-face masks, their posture drops, their voices slow, and they move with great physical anguish throughout the minimalist set. The effects of old age upon the mind, body, and spirit is particularly devastating when contrasted with the frenetic versions of themselves during flashback sequences, when the masks are removed…Justin Nestor, Kayla Asbell, and Corey Sullivan each nail the changing physicality and vocal ranges of their characters though different decades.”
morethantheplay
Justin Nestor and Kayla Asbell are truly captivating as Willie and Linda Loman. They are in sync throughout the two acts. Their vigor is exuberant in scenes from the earlier, optimistic years of their characters’ lives. Their physicality and vocal expression transition to illustrate the toll life has taken on them, succinctly expressing their overwhelming weariness.
THEATERMANIA
His long-suffering wife, Linda (a convincingly despondent Kayla Asbell), has raised their two ne'er-do-well sons — Biff (an intense Corey Sullivan) and Happy (Denis Butkus delivering his lines with youthful optimism) — the best she could.
Also, you can check out my interview about playing Linda with Broadway World at
I will be performing in Theater Mitu's run of Juárez: A Documentary Mythology at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in September. From there, we will take it to Los Angeles Theater Center's Encuentro Festival in October. In November, I will be heading back to Abu Dhabi for some more Hamlet madness! A little background on my work with Mitu: I have spent the last year extensively working with Theater Mitu, one of my absolute favorite New York based theatre companies. I joined them upstate at the North American Cultural Laboratory to be in their production of Juárez: A Documentary Mythology. We then journeyed with the show to a far and distant land, Abu Dhabi! While we were there, we also began workshopping our retelling of Hamlet, Hamlet Ur-Hamlet, which we are devising with acclaimed Irish playwright, Jocelyn Clarke, in partnership with Kalaripayattu masters and a mesmerizing Butoh dancer. Wild!
The short film, scent_mem, I shot last spring, a dark comedy about a jilted lover in a technology saturated world has been accepted into the LA Comedy Shorts Festival and the Central Florida Film Festival so far. Exciting stuff! Check out a clip in the MEDIA section!
I am acting in a mini-series, Skyrim: The Shadow Cult, based on the addictive role-playing video game, directed by Mike Martinez of Puzzle Maker Films. I will be portraying the character of Eola, a badass Mage who engages in a battle of wits with the Dragonborn. We had a screening for the first half of the pilot episode this week, and once it is ready for your viewing pleasure, I will post the video to the MEDIA portion of the site! You can check under the PHOTOS tabs for sneak peak production stills as well as on the production's official Facebook page.
The film has also created buzz on the website, Kotaku, the best source for video game news. They're as excited as I am!
I am in a new show, Not Without My Gallbladder, part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festival, from May 29th to June 16th at the Robert Moss Theatre (440 Lafayette St). A little blurb about the show :
When the swine flu pandemic hits a Wisconsin high school's latest production chronicling the life of Typhoid Mary, their hero's plight becomes all too real. The show must go on... but should it?
For more info/dates/times/photos/etc. go to the Facebook page For tickets: http://planetconnections.org/not-without-my-gallbladder/
The audiobook I recorded, Tender Betrayal by Jennifer Blake, is up on the Audible.com website! Check it out/buy yourself or that special someone a copy if you want to hear me reading you a naughty book!
Monday, July 23rd at Joe's Pub
Playing to full houses at 3LD Arts and Technology Center in November 2011, All the Rats and Rags will be returning for a one-night-only reading at Joe's Pub on July 23rd at 9:30PM! This time around I will be playing the diabolical villain, The Barber, the mastermind creator of the spy-robot, Twizt!! You can check out more details on the production's official website and buy tickets today as it is one night only and tickets are going fast!! You can check out some awesome publicity from New York Daily News (and we will be up soon on TimeOut's website) and check out a rockin' review of our last incarnation of the show! Hope to see you there!!!
Sunday, May 27th at Snugs Harbor in New Paltz, NY
Escape the city and join us upstate for beers, barbecues and debauchery!!!
We'll be playing with Livids (with frontman Eric Davidson from New Bomb Turks and author of We Never Learn), Thee Omens and DJ's Christophe Lopez-Huici of Bananas Magazine and Charles Gaskins, owner of Killer Diller Records (our record label! Check out the website and buy our record!http://www.killerdillerrecords.com/)