Sword fighting!

Just got back from a tremendous six days of stage combat training with MACE including their Advanced Combat Intensive, run by Drew Fracher and Chuck Coyl, as well as the annual SAFD-sanctioned Winter Wonderland Workshop. Fighting and acting all day long every day, including SPRs (Skills Proficiency Renewal) with a recommended pass in both sword & shield and quarterstaff. This was my first big SAFD workshop and I could not have asked for more. Can't wait for the next. I am now current in six weapons, with a recommended pass in rapier & dagger and single sword, plus a basic pass in broadsword and unarmed.

Update (2/5/14): Check out a few of the photos from the week in the Stage Combat page on the menu.

First booking back in Chicago

Off to St. Louis this weekend to shoot a commercial for SSM Health Care, my first booking since returning to Chicago. Had a few callbacks and put on avail twice, but nailed this one.

In theater I have understudy auditions at Victory Gardens and Goodman. Waiting to hear from them.

Back in Chicago!

Susan and I are back in Chicago and I am rarin' to get to work. It was a ball driving that truck all the way, though I could have passed on trying to back into the alley.

 

Before I left I had a great day of shooting on "Killing Kennedy" with Nelson McCormick directing and Will Rothhaar playing Lee Harvey Oswald.

CAESAR Reviews!

Off to a great start with JULIUS CAESAR in RVA with Henley Street Theatre.  Great reviews so far.  Here are the highlights.

"Shakespeare’s most complex character from Julius Caesar, Brutus...is performed with nuance and distinction by Dan Stearns. Stearns aptly portrays Brutus’s inner conflict and dignity as he is unwittingly drawn into Cassius’s scheme to overthrow the honorable Caesar, his best friend. His quiet monologue, followed by the poignant interplay with Portia, is wrenching".--Susanna Wu-Pong, Richmond Family Magazine

"Brutus is played by Dan Stearns who also appeared in God Of Carnage, and here he is the soul of the state. Stearns’ brutal honesty and sensitive portrayal gives a strong focus on the rebellious senators and his performance is great to watch."--John Porter, WCVE Public Radio

"In my favorite moment in the play, Brutus, played brilliantly by Dan Stearns, summons his servant, Lucius to sing to him as he goes to sleep. Brutus, struggling with the difficult choices he faces, is lulled into a calm slumber."--Julie Clayton, GAYRVA.com

"The top-flight actors in Henley Street’s production hammer home this grim landscape of unstable allegiances and shifty-eyed bravado by delivering Shakespeare’s script in bold, natural American accents.--Tony Farrell, Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Though the play might bear Caesar's name, it's fundamentally about Brutus' decisions and their consequences. As Brutus, Stearns skillfully portrays the character's inner conflict, struggling to reconcile his love for Caesar with the duty he feels toward his country."--Rich Griset, Style Weekly

"As the conflicted Brutus, Dan Stearns weaves a thread of exhausted decency through his performance, even in the iconic moment when he joins in on the murder of a man he once called his friend."--Liz Jewett, Richmond.com

Winter in the Hamptons

After a thrilling time performing Claudius in the bootleg Hamlet with Henley Street Theatre, I am settled in Sag Harbor, NY for two months. We begin rehearsals next weekend for Macbeth with Round Table Theatre Company and Academy in East Hampton.

Here's the info:

Macbeth by William Shakespeare
at LTV Studios, 75 Industrial Rd., Wainscott
Directed by Tristan Vaughan

        Preview: January 10, 2013
        Performances: January 11-20, 2013
            Fridays & Saturdays, 8 pm
            Sundays, 2 pm
        One school performance TBA

LTV also plans to record the production for broadcast.

Round Table Theatre Company and Academy is a new production and teaching venture founded by Morgan Duke (Sturges) Vaughan and Tristan Vaughan to bring a renewal of classical theatre to the Hamptons. This will be their first full-length production. They currently offer Shakespeare classes, workshops, and readings at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

A big win!

My fellow castmates and I from God of Carnage won the Ernie McClintock award for best ensemble at the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards last night!

Keep an eye out for my Bob Evans commercial, which will run again for one cycle, and my Harris Bank spot, which has been running for almost a year now.

Had a callback for the role of Eddie in the Kennedy Center production of Shear Madness. Keep fingers crossed.

big stuff at the end of August

Shot an industrial this week for Southern States, that will be shown at the opening of their annual managers' meeting. Got to hang around with some nice folks on a farm in Dabneys, VA and admire their polled Herefords.

Got news that our production of "God of Carnage" at Virginia Rep (formerly Barksdale Theatre), was nominated for an award for best ensemble by the RTCC.

Had a great weekend of fight combat, led by fellow ACA grad, Matt Wilson. I passed all four SPRs I attempted (renewal of my skills proficiency, as judged by a fight master of the SAFD).  Basic pass: unarmed and broadsword.  Recommended pass: rapier & dagger and single sword.

Not least to mention my third anniversary and my wife's birthday.  Great times!

August is here

August is here and the weather is drying out and cooling off (a little) in the Great Valley of Virginia.

We had big, energetic audiences to close Merry Wives at Richmond Shakespeare.  Very successful run of that play.

Last week I shot an industrial for the Army War College, prudced by Will Interactive.  Excellent folks there.  Easy to eork with and thoroughly professional.

Still working on Macduff and can't wait to get started.

The reviews are in!

Four more weeks to see God of Carnage at the Barksdale in Richmond, VA.

 

"…this spryly acted quartet of seething adults evenly balances the physical, vitriolic leaps and lunges with Reza’s spitfire critiques on social etiquette."

 

GAYRVA.COM

 

"Dan Stearns slides easily into the lizard skin of a cold and cynical capitalist."

 

"As deft as they are with the language…these four are fearless in their commitment to physical comedy."

 

Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

"...I am in love with this cast. I think all four actors do a remarkable job."

 

John Porter, WCVE

Now available in Virginia!

Susan and I relocated to Staunton, VA so she could take a position as assistant professor of history at Mary Baldwin College. 

Since arriving I have auditioned and been called back at Chesapeake Shakespeare, Cadence Theatre (Richmond, VA), and Barksdale Theatre (Richmond, VA).  At Barksdale I will play Alan in their production of God of Carnage, directed by Bo Wilson, Feb. 3-Mar. 11 at the Willow Lawn Theatre.  Check it out here.

I am available for on stage, on camera, and voiceover work in the VA-DC-MD area.

National commercial spot

Just shot a spot for BMO Harris Bank today, that I believe will be a national spot and may even get play in Canada.  I was Taft-Hartleyed for SAG on this, so I am now eligible for both SAG and AFTRA (I was a Taft-Hartley for AFTRA on "The Playboy Club").

 

They recast my role in "The Playboy Club."  I gues they wanted someone who REALLY looks like Hugh Hefner, and not just sort of, as I do.  And they want someone who can do the voice.  Let's hope they will have something else for me.

The Playboy Club!

"The Playboy Club" has been picked up by NBC.  Keep your fingers crossed that they keep using me as Hef.

You can see me for a couple of seconds at 2:37 in the trailer for the show:

http://www.nbc.com/the-playboy-club/video/an-american-icon-is-born/1327501/