Bread and Butter

When I was in college, we talked about Shakespeare and Bertoldt Brecht and Stanislavski and Uta Hagen and Tennessee Williams and Ionesco and ... and we didn't talk about the really bread-and-butter type things, the commercials and industrials, that we do to pay the bills in between stage gigs. These things are a fairly regular part of my work-life these days.  I recently did some video work for the US Postal Service and for the American College of Cardiology.

Here's a couple of bread-and-butters that I shot a little over a year ago.

Vin Vasive #4

Here's another Vin Vasive video for the USDA.

This was one of the toughest to shoot because of technical issues having to do with the 'helmet' and the pneumatic tubes running into it from the back.  Before I put the helmet on, the director walked me through everything he wanted.  And then I went to the designer, who put me into the helmet, and then carefully walked me (now blind) over to my spot, helped me kneel down, and literally moved my hands to where they needed to be for the shot.  When we filmed it, I had to turn towards where I thought the camera was and hope I was right.

The costume designer said he was very happy I wasn't claustrophobic.  So was I.

Ocean City Tourism, "Vacation Day"

This one has been playing for a couple of months now.  It was directed by Matt Pittroff, whose work I really admire.  I've done a couple of shoots with him before -- his work is always high quality, smart, with a great dry humor to it.

 I'm with Julie Garner in the shot.  She is one of the funniest people I know, and I'd work with her again in a heartbeat.

Vin Vasive #3

Here's another video from the Vin Vasive series I did for the USDA.  My outfit consisted of shoes, pants, shirt, jacket, a neck cover with (plastic) bugs on it, gloves with bugs on them, a balaclava with a bug mouth that I could move, and a sort of helmet that covered my head above the mouth.  With the helmet on, I couldn't see and sound was muffled, though I could hear okay as long as I focused.

The helmet also had tubes running in from the back so that the designer could make the 'eyebrows,' feelers, and 'nose' move using pumped air.  But whenever he would make them move, all I could hear was pssshhhh pshhh pssshhhhh.

There were a couple of times when the director would give me instructions while the designer was testing the moving parts.  So I couldn't hear a word the director was saying or see what he was indicating, but I could tell he was telling me something important.  I would have to wait for the psshhhing sounds to stop, so that I could say to the director, "Sorry, could you repeat that for me?"

Fantastick!

 

I played Mortimer in The Fantasticks at Rep Stage, which ran from April 30th thru May 18th. Reviews treated me very favorably, and as you'll see in the quotes I'm well paired with Nigel Reed. He and I have worked together a couple of times before.

"The show’s real delight is whenever Nigel Reed appears as the incorrigible ham actor Henry and Peter Boyer accompanies him as his dimwitted assistant Mortimer, who can’t act much but sure knows how to die. There is no over-the-top for these roles, but the two veteran actors squeeze every drop of foolishness conceivable from these characters, and achieve the ultimate in comic acting: the audience begins to laugh as soon as they appear on stage." - DC Theatre Scene

"Nigel Reed as Henry and Peter Boyer as Mortimer are perfectly cast."- MD Theatre Guide

"The show is all but stolen by the two kings of comedy, as Henry (Nigel Reed) and Mortimer (Peter Boyer) take to the stage. Climbing out of the prop box as if they were little more than decorative additions to the show, Reed and Boyer share a chemistry, playing exceptionally well off one another. From the moment Reed takes the stage by struggling to climb out of the box, the laughs are rolling. His Shakespearean recitations are a scream and are topped only by the hysterically exaggerated death scenes performed by Boyer .... Rep Stage’s production is indeed ‘fantastic’!" - DC Metro Theatre Art

"This musical's two plum assignments -- droll characters who pop out to help with El Gallo's schemes -- have been particularly well-filled. Peter Boyer has the right deadpan for The Man Who Dies. And Nigel Reed walks off with the show every time he clambers into view, and every time he makes one of his finely flourished exits. A masterful job." - Baltimore Sun

The entire cast was quite good, and a pleasure to work with.  Here's a 'fantastick' promotional video Rep Stage put together:

Vin Vasive #2

Another video from the Vin Vasive series for the USDA.

When I was in the outfit, I couldn't see anything at all except a little bit of light coming through the 'eyes.'  One time the director said to me, "You're not looking at the camera, I need you to look at the camera!"  I replied, "Sure.  Where is it?"  The costume designer, who understood how completely blind I was, shouted out, "Two o'clock!"  I turned a little bit to my right, and we were good to go.

Vin Vasive #1

Here's a video from a series I shot a few months ago for the US Dept. of Agriculture.  The character is called Vin Vasive.  Not my voice, but I am the man behind the mask.  It was one of the most unusual shoots I've ever been involved on.