UArts / Pig Iron Devised Performance

Attending the UArts/Pig Iron Devised Performance Program allowed me to immerse myself in theater-making and expand my artistic vocabulary. The 5-semester program is a rigorous training ground and a crucible for creation. I became known as a stalwart collaborator with a keen sense of storytelling. My work was consistently included in public showings.

​Highlights from the intensive 2nd year of the program include Quick Dick, a hilarious modern mask piece set in the Old West; Peter/Weiner, a grotesque satire of the prurient news media and the ridiculous figures in the headlines; The Educational Industrial Complex, a scathing critique of the U.S. higher education system; The Withers' Family Traveling Extravaganza, a red nose clown piece featuring the two surviving members of a family variety show; and Do You Realize? a tragicomic cabaret featuring former employee of the year, Neil Armstrong Claybourne.

I was also featured in 4th semester capstone projects by other members of my cohort. Two of them are pictured below. My own student capstone projects—​In The South, and Visitation—are featured on separate pages of this site.

Production stills by Lindsay Brown, courtesy Pig Iron School.

The Withers' Family Traveling Extravaganza

A red nose clown show featuring Clementine, the sole survivor of a family variety show, and her faithful Preston Tuttle. The piece stood out for its sensitive storytelling, character work, and an extraordinary slapstick cascade by the hardworking but hapless Preston.

The Troubadours, My Whisper Became a Howl, and Do You Realize?

In Sarah A. Gardner's piece, The Troubadours, I play Oscar, a member of a musical ensemble who can't quite get the show started—despite the extraordinary efforts of their self-appointed manager, Ann (without-an-E). In Sterling Melcher's surreal, My Whisper Grew Into a Howl, I'm the protagonist's enigmatic guide— or perhaps captor. In my solo-devised tragicomic cabaret, Do You Realize? I play Neil Armstrong Claybourne whose personal and professional setbacks have led him back to the workplace one last time.

Peter / Weiner

This grotesque (a genre closely related to the bouffon) satirizes the shameless prurience of the news media and the ridiculous figures in the headlines—in this case, Peter Theil and Anthony Weiner. I play news anchor John Matthew Scott, who has a golden voice and a heart of filth.

Educational Industrial Complex

In the bouffon piece, Educational Industrial Complex, I played the head coach of a sports-obsessed university in this scathing critique of the higher educational system.

Prison Break and Quick Dick