Name:
Jason Kendall
Year Graduated:
1996
Degree:
M.F.A. in Acting
Favorite Memory of T&D:
Arlecchino in “Three Cuckolds,” The wildly incredible “Billy Club Puppets,” Producing “Midsummer Night's Dream” on the Six Pack, attracting over a thousand people for a free performance at 5PM.
Influential Professors or Classes:
Oscar Brockett in everything.
Current Hometown:
New York City
Current Profession:
Wall Street – UNIX Systems Administrator, eSpeed/Cantor–Fitzgerald.
Biography:
Acting
Cirque du Soleil
2005: I was accepted into the Casting Pool of Cirque du Soleil for the Clown group. I completed an invitation–only audition in New York on April 5 which placed me into the available list of performers that Cirque would call up to fill new or vacant roles. I have been up for roles in “Dralion&8221; and “Mystere.”
Directing and Producing
Shakespeare Saturdays
Spring, 2004–today. New York Public Library, Inwood Branch, New York City.
http://www.shakespearesaturdays.com
Directed a reading series of now 15 Shakespeare plays: “Romeo & Juliet”, “King Henry the Fifth”, and “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” and many others. Focused strongly on casting minorities in roles for which they usually are passed over, i.e. leads.
The Merry Month of May
May, 2006. New York City
http://www.themerrymonthofmay.com
Produced a month–long festival of plays, including four Shakespeare play, a cabaret, and a remount of my clown comedy “The Dentist”. With a cast and crew of 125 people in 6 different shows all at the same venue, I created a strong business model for the OOB Festival.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
January 16 and 17, 2006. Manhattan Repertory Theater. New York City.
http://www.moonbeam.net/moon-history-2Gents.shtml
Shakespeare's understood comedy done with an eye for the absurdity in casting. Opening on Martin Luther King Day, the show featured prominent black actors in the leads. Uncut with original music by Donna Stearns.
Twelfth Night
November 21 and 22, 2005. Manhattan Repertory Theater. New York City.
http://www.moonbeam.net/moon-history-12Night.shtml
Shakespeare's classic comedy done in an extremely tight space with high physical energy and cast interaction with the audience. Uncut with original music by Donna Stearns. Featuring UT Alumni Jerry Marco and Elizabeth G. Wilson.
The Dentist or Be Careful What You Put In Your Mouth
Revival in June and August, 2005. The Duplex Cabaret Theater. New York City.
Show website: http://www.thedentistplay.com
A raucous farce in the style of the Commedia Dell’ Arte, written by Jason. August, 2002. New York Fringe Festival. CSV Milagro, 103 Suffolk Street, New York City.
A raucous farce in the style of the Commedia Dell’ Arte, written by Jason. Reviewed by http://www.NYTheatre.com
All the World's a Stage
July, 2002. Midtown International Theater Festival. Raw Space, New York City.
http://www.moonbeam.net/moon-history-atwas.shtml
Director and Producer All the World's a Stage a new musical by Donna Stearns. Award–winning songwriter Donna Stearns created a clown–sex–farce, gay–friendly musical based loosely on Shakespeare's “As You Like It”. Created an original clown troupe in place of a typical chorus. Reviewed by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volNine/five/Alltheworld.htm
NYC Theater SLAM
May and June, 2001. Produced by Genesis Repertory and Snapper Bear Studios, New York City.
Artistic Director for a showcase event of over 80 performing artists and playwrights. All original works of varying styles, presented in a “SLAM” format.
Measure for Measure
April 2&dnash;12, 2000. New York Comedy Club, New York City
Produced and directed this Shakespeare classic in the innovative setting of a stand–up comedy club in Manhattan. All information is online at http://moonbeam.net/moon-history-m4m.shtml. Getting great reviews for cast and direction, this play was favorably compared to current Off–Broadway productions, and was called by OOBR "one of the freshest, smartest, and funniest evenings in recent memory" review by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volSix/thirty/0422measure.html
Don Juan in Hell
September 15–26, 1999. J.E.T. Theater, New York City
This George Bernard Shaw one–act is actually the third act from his play Man and Superman. Based on Don Giovanni by Mozart, this politico–religious romp playfully explores some of the deepest questions of humanity. It portrays a Don Juan, bored with Hell, who rebels against the Devil and all the pleasures of Hell. The Devil is, of course, thoroughly put out by Don Juan's lack of taste. The interesting thing about this show is how it uses very high language and extended monologues to amuse and raise up the audience by watching Don Juan negate the Devil. In this cosmology, Hell is a place of eternal pleasures, not of pain, and "the Devil is not so black as he is painted." He is merely a gentleman. That, however, is a catastrophic insult coming from Shaw. Shaw wanted to show us our loss of humanity and purpose by showing us that Damnation is actually a place where one does nothing for anyone else. It was my hope, with this play, to chip away at the “Baywatchification” of the theatre, providing a dramatic outlet for wit and intellect. It was reviewed by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volSix/four/0928don.html
For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls
July 14–18, 1999, J.E.T Theater, New York City
Revived at the Duplex, September 21, 23, 28 and 30, 1999, New York City.
The Christopher Durang short was produced a part of a week of Durang plays. As a spoof of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, this play was a hilarious farce and a joy to work on. The caller is a lesbian dock–worker, Laura is now Lawrence, and Tom finally comes out of the closet by finally telling us what movies he actually sees. It was reviewed by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volSix/two/durang.html
The Letter
July, 1998, Brooklyn Music School, Brooklyn, New York
Directed this new play by Donna Stearns in which a baby is abandoned on the doorstep of a babysitter who is considering adopting a baby. This heart–warming and dramatic tale tells the story of the natural mother's difficulty in leaving her child and the choices that forced her to do it, a daughter who would never have children who takes the new baby as her own, and the adoptive mother who chooses to fight to keep the baby. The play has many impressionistic elements and bounces from moment to moment as the adoptive mother reveals the true story to her child. This true story is a tribute to the playwright's mother.
Musical Chairs and Other Diversions
1998, Actors’ Loft, New York City.
Directed and produced the play “Musical Chairs” by Mark S.P. Turvin. It was an improvisational satire in which the audience votes on which players are worthy of speaking in the next scene. The “Other Diversions” were five scenes which were performed in a showcase style, all introduced by an MC. The scenes ranged from classical Indian myths to modern farce to completely new works developed by the actors. The show was reviewed by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volFour/eleven/musical.html
Wonder is a Wonder is a Wonder
February, 1998, J.E.T. Theater, New York City.
Directed Off–off Broadway production at J.E.T. Theater. The play was a surreal farce in which Woman of Wonder visits Gertrude Stein. Woman of Wonder's Writer inserted comic–book bubbles into the scene and Alice B Toklas ran around hunting for an elusive pigeon to cook for dinner. The show emphasized the struggle women have being taken seriously as artists and as leaders, especially on the front edge of ideas and creativity. The production was reviewed by OOBR: http://www.oobr.com/top/volFour/nine/jet.html
