Q) You are no stranger to the Dock Street Theatre stage. What are a few of your favorite past roles that you’ve performed with Charleston Stage?
I was worried when Marybeth and Julian asked me to do this show that I WOULD be seen as a stranger! Because of “life” I realized last year, when I came back to return to perform at the 40th Anniversary Gala, that my last show I did with Charleston Stage was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. That was such an amazing experience playing Vice Principal Panch. Prior to that, I had not been on stage with Charleston Stage since before my med school days, as a Resident Actor. In those years I was lucky enough to play Sancho in Man of La Mancha and Marley in A Christmas Carol, among other roles. But Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls will always be my favorite. That was my first show at the Dock Street and is still one of my favorite musicals of all time.
Q) What is your role in Mamma Mia and what do you like most about your character?
I play Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia. I LOVE playing Sam. In a sea of big characters, big outfits, and BIGGER music, Sam is a real human being who has been through something very difficult we all can relate to (divorce) and who is making that one last leap at his dreams. You know, so often characters like Sam, in musicals and plays, are young dreamers who are fighting for their dreams. Sam is different. He is taking that chance later in life, and I think that is a message that resonates with a lot of people. That it is never to late to live “happily ever after”.
Q) What drew you to performing in Mamma Mia?
Since I went to medical school I have been doing the majority of my performing at Theater 99 doing shows there with my ensemble. We do mostly comedy improv, but there are shows that I do there that are also very deep and can be emotional, like Moral Fixation a 2 person improvised one act play that I have been doing for 14 years with Greg Tavares. But those shows have always been high quality with low production. We do the show month after month with just two chairs on the stage. When I performed at the gala last year, and got up on the Dock Street Stage again, it felt like it was time to come back to a “big production”…you know, partly to be a part of the spectacle again…and a little part of me to see if I still “had it”.
Q) What are you most excited about that audiences will experience with Charleston Stage’s production of Mamma Mia?
I think that the audience will get everything that they expect with this show. The ensemble is amazing. We have Broadway quality singers in the cast and excellent dancers. The sets are amazing, the crew (though many are under 16) are super professional and tight with their transitions. The lighting, sound, and orchestra are all as good as anything you will find in the Southeast. The music is fun and timeless and there are tons of laughs. What I think audiences will be surprised at is how relatable and real the central stories are. Sure, there is the Shakespearean Comedy of Errors component of fatherhood that the plot is built around, but the real story is about what it means to be a family, and what it means to be in love.
Q) Share a little bit about yourself.
A native South Carolinian, I have lived in Charleston since 2000 after finishing Wofford College. After my Resident Actor year at Charleston Stage, I went back to medical school at MUSC where I specialized in Psychiatry and then did a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. I currently am a Professor of Psychiatry at MUSC and run the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training program and develop the Psychiatry curriculum for all of the medical students in the College of Medicine. After living in the old St. Jasper apartments during my acting residency, my then fiancée (now wife) Amy and I swore that we would never move off of the downtown peninsula (I think knowing that if we left we wouldn’t come back). So, for the last 18 years, we have slowly increased our living space downtown and now we have a nice little home for our family (Son Charlie (12) and daughter Grace (8)) in Radcliffeborough.
Q) What’s up next for you?
Starting back in October I will be back at Theatre 99 performing in my monthly shows Moral Fixation, Doppelganger, and Not Your Momma and Daddy. I will also probably do a few weekend shows with The Have Nots, as is my normal schedule. I hope to be back on the Dock Street Stage sooner rather than later, and you never know where (or when) I may show up again!
Performances continue running Sept. 19 – 23 at the Historic Dock Street Theatre. Purchase online today by clicking here.
