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The Patter Man
I’ve recently fallen in love with the performances of John Reed, one of the last D’Oyly Carte Opera Company’s “patter men.” This particular patter man would go on to be the only one to have been officially recorded performing every surviving Gilbert and Sullivan operetta for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. He brought a unique flare and character interpretation to every role he took on. I also learned he was a gay man, living with his partner, who was also his business manager, until the day he passed away in 2010. Here’s a link to his obituary as well as a lovely tribute. I just got his book, a lovely autobiography, dictated to a friend, transcribed and published.
In my work getting my master’s in theatre, I specialized in trying to uncover the LGBTQ experiences of past performers and theatre practitioners. I look forward to researching about John Reed to try to find what particular queer influences he may have had on Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta in the mid 20th century. To get his book, “Nothing Whatever to Grumble At” go here!
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Voiceovers
Since I can do many accents and funny voices, voiceover acting seems like an obvious choice! In 2022 I made this demo in the hopes of being cast as a voiceover actor. It’s not bad for a first attempt. I should revisit this and make an updated demo in 2024. In the mean time, check out my demo and if you think you can use me in your project, drop me a line!
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I speak French!
And I sing in French too! Well, I guess the more accurate statement would be that I have studied the French language for years. I began in French 1 in 7th grade, many years ago. I progressed all the way through French 5 and even read a couple plays and books in French. I then took one semester of French in college. After that, speaking French was just a hobby. I hadn’t really given it much thought for some time. About a year ago, after seeing an ad, I installed Duolingo on my phone. Since then, I have brushed up on my skills, achieving at least a B1 proficiency on the The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. Within the next year I hope to become a B2 and become CEFR certified with the hopes of having the opportunity to teach French or even apply study abroad programs.
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The Bald Soprano D-File
In Dramaturgy class at Villanova, we were asked to select a play for a full dramaturgical analysis that culminated in the creation of a website with all the pertinent information, research and articles about that play. I chose “The Bald Soprano” by Eugene Ionesco. I had read “La Cantatrice chauve” in French class when I was in high school, but absolutely did not understand its meaning. It just became a fun set of phrases and bits we learned in French that became a sort of inside joke between us French students. I memorized the line, “oh mon petit poulet roti, pourquoi creches tu du feu?” (pardon the lack of accents) which means, “oh my little roasted chicken, why are you spitting fire?” a perfectly respectable line of dialogue for the theatre of the absurd. Take a look at my deep dive by going here and viewing the entire D-File Website.
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Hidden meanings
In grad school I did research about potential hidden meanings in 17th century British plays using an old secret circus, traveler, and merchant language utilized by LGBTQ people across Europe called Polari. Since then, I’ve been working on revising that paper in preparation for submission to a peer reviewed theatre journal. More to come as I prepare my research. The features picture on this post is Fabuloso by Paul Baker which is a wonderful resource for Polari. Grab yourself a copy today by going here.
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Philadelphia Museum of Art
For nearly a decade, I worked at the Philadelphia Museum of art. For the first two years, I was an Audio Visual Technician, working in the Audio Visual department. There, I ran lighting and sound for many concerts and performances. During that time, I edited audio used in audio tours, maintained the cell phone audio tour, and produced the occasional video. Upon the completion of the Perelman Building, the first official annex to the PMA featuring Costume and Textiles and Industrial Design galleries, to name a few, there was a need for additional IT support. Then I became a Helpdesk Technician in the Information Services Department were I worked for over 7 years. By the end of my time there, I had a grasp of nearly every aspect of the museum industry as well as the technology used to support a world class museum, its donors, and employees. In the picture, I’m removing microphones from a piano after an event.
Dressed as Fountain by Marcel DuChamp 
The old West Lobby 
Melting wax on a Rodin 
Planning for an Exhbition 
More Exhibition Planning 
The PMA Tunnel before the renovation 
PMA Tunnel Construction 
Great Stair Hall at Christmas 
The Tunnel at PMA 
Ellsworth Kelly in a crate 
More Ellsworth Kelly 
Out the windows on a rainy day 
A view of the West Lobby 
My Great Grandfather at the West Entrance where he was a guard at the PMA 
