Gary Sloan Actor/Director/Author/Full Professor/Prison Practitioner AEA/SAG-AFTRA http://garysloan.net/Gary_Sloan/Home.html
The Catholic University of America [Aug 2020] 994 Lehigh Drive Department of Drama Yardley, PA 19067 Washington, D.C. 20064 202-904-6841 [email protected] [email protected]
Professional Profile Teaching • The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (2001 - 2020) Rank: Professor • Visiting Fellow – Queens University Belfast, Fall, 2017 • The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC/LA (1998-2001) • Ball State University, Muncie, IN (1995) • Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX (during MFA training)
Acting • Regional theatre, Off-Broadway in New York, Los Angeles and throughout the U.S., the CZ Republic and Vienna, Austria. • 30 Shakespearean productions alongside contemporary credits ranging from Arthur Miller to David Mamet, Shaw to Pinter, Tennessee Williams to Keith Glover, Lillian Hellman to Jacquelyn Reingold and Brecht to Ken Ludwig. • Appeared on stage opposite such recognizable names as: Sigourney Weaver, Stacy Keach, Peter Gallagher, Pat Carroll, Mary Beth Hurt, J.T. Walsh, Fritz Weaver, Lynn Redgrave, Michael Learned, Stephen Spinella, Tom Hulce, Robert Prosky, Kathleen Chalfant, Dennis Boutsikaris, Rosemary Prinz, Tony Todd, Lea Michele and Hal Holbrook. • Recurring roles on daytime television shows including The Guiding Light, As The World Turns and General Hospital in New York and Los Angeles. Directing Productions at the Catholic University of America, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and Los Angeles, the Woodbourne N.Y. Correctional Facility and SCI Chester near Philadelphia, Off off Broadway showcases, waver theatre in LA, CUA Industry showcases NY/DC Online Virtual Presentations 2020; King Lear with Stacy Keach; Macbeth with Patrick Page for #Playsinthehouse
Author In Rehearsal – In the world, in the room and on your own. Published by Routledge Ltd., Dec 2011 U.K, January 2012 U.S. “Could easily become the modern bible for our beginning theater actor today.” -Janet Zarish, Head of Acting, Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting - NYU
Social Service/Applied Theatre • Prison Arts Foundation visiting artist – Belfast, Northern Ireland, Fall- 2017 • Rehabilitation through the Arts (RTA) fall 2013, spring 2014, spring 2016 at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, Woodbourne, N.Y. RTA was founded in Sing Sing in 1996. Today, RTA works in five New York State prisons with innovative programs in theatre, dance, creative writing, voice and visual arts. RTA is dedicated to using the creative arts as a tool for social and cognitive transformation behind prison walls. • Director, Scene Study – directed Scene Showcase with 14 prisoners Dec 21, 2013 • Production of Macbeth – director, costumer and lighting designer, June 2014 • Acting Workshop – three-week improvisation workshop on the craft of acting and how it relates to collaboration, job interviews and problem solving, Spring 2016 • Currently – Workshops and Directing 12 Angry Men (on hold); SCI Chester, Philadelphia • Theatre of the Oppressed intensive - workshop with Julian Boal – NYC, Spring 2017 – “Forum theatre” Administrative • Head of the M.F.A. Acting Program, 2003-2010 / Co-Head of M.F.A. Acting Program, CUA, 2016-2019 Restructured curriculum, supervised full time performance faculty and adjuncts, recruiting incoming company every three years, producing third year industry showcase as well as producing and directing CUActing tour to area high schools, homeless shelters and assisted living facilities. Teaching/advising/evaluating current M.F.A. candidates in the Acting Program. • Executive Director, Preservation Association for Tudor Hall (PATH), 1992-1996 PATH was dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the historic homestead of Junius Brutus Booth, Shakespeare’s birthplace in America. Board development, fundraising, finance, community/public relations, and events programming, including an Award ceremony and various educational colloquia
Producing Experience related to PATH • The Discovered country – 1995 Colloquium concerning America and our Classical Acting Tradition – featuring “What Dreams May Come” Starring Lynn Redgrave • Macbeth Doth Come – A performance evening starring Stacy Keach • The Edwin Booth Award honoring Hal Holbrook (LA)– Key Note Speaker • Thirty minute video on Tudor Hall – narrated by Stacy Keach
Education Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Wheaton College Wheaton, IL. Southern Methodist University Freshman Class President Dallas, TX. Bangladesh Brigade, relief work Director’s Colloquium participant All American Swimmer TCG National Audition Finalist
Current Position / Professor - The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. [Accepted early retirement incentive to relocate to the Philadelphia area for family reasons. - Contract ends August 2020]
Graduate level courses:
DR 631 Graduate Acting II Stanislavski methodology utilized for scene preparation, which involves analysis of text to determine the actor's given circumstances, actions and objectives. It is the study of the playwright's work, exploring the actor's job from page to stage. The actor will continue to develop a personal rehearsal process, utilizing contemporary texts.
DR 638 Performance Studio 1 Collaboration. The first year company of actors, directors and playwrights re-examine their creative impulses using improvisation to develop original material as a laboratory for increased freedom and collaboration during rehearsal. It is a course that will practice the art of rehearsing toward an actor’s independence, a director’s exploration of different techniques and a playwright’s skill to create within an ensemble.
DR 639 Performance Studio 2 Building on the experiences of Performance Studio 1, this course emphasizes rehearsal techniques and procedures, specifically during the development of new play scripts. The elements of protocol and communication between playwright, director and actor are further explored, through the use of practical exercises and the creation of company-developed text.
DR 670 Portfolio Evaluation Directed Study Designed for students entering our graduate degree program with considerable prior professional experience in the theatre who seek specific course credit for knowledge gained in their extra-institutional work. The student presents to the faculty a portfolio that provides comprehensive evidence of the skills and knowledge for which academic credit is being requested. The head of the program evaluates the portfolio and customizes a curriculum suitable to the professional student’s needs and also to fulfill the remaining credits toward the degree. DR 730 Graduate Acting 3 Modern drama and the rehearsal process: students continue developing their rehearsal process and script analysis as they explore the actor's actions and objectives from a broader range of monologues and scenes that are chosen from modern dramatists such as Chekhov, Strindberg and Ibsen.
DR 731 Graduate Acting 4 Modern Drama and the rehearsal process: students continue developing their rehearsal process and script analysis as they explore the actor's actions and objectives from a broader range of monologues and scenes that are chosen from modern dramatists such as Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter and Albee.
DR 738 Performance Studio 3 Styles in performance. The class will explore the presentational and representational performance with classical texts. It will introduce Greek Tragedy and continue into Shakespearean characterization utilizing Shakespeare’s sonnets, monologues and scenes.
DR 739 Performance Studio 4 Restoration Comedy and Moliere. A continuation of Performance Studio 3 concluding the Shakespeare sequence and introducing the heightened style of performance necessary in Restoration comedy and Moliere. This work culminates in touring local high schools with a devised presentation for assemblies and class rooms.
DR 838 Performance Studio 5 Solo performance: students will develop a one-person show, first by exploring existing solo performance projects and then entering research, rehearsal and production of their own performance piece.
DR 839 Performance Studio 6 Internship and preparation for NY/DC showcase. Professional internship/understudy or acting job at a greater Washington, D.C. area theatre. Showcase preparation will involve experimenting with contemporary works by emerging American playwrights. Selected scenes will be rehearsed and produced as a "First Look" CUA Showcase in D.C., and New York City.
DR 937 Audition Workshop The business of acting. This class concentrates on choosing contemporary and classical monologues best suited for an audition. It explores the audition process itself, how to find work and insights into the day to day workplace of theatre, television, film and commercials. The class will rehearse cold readings, creating showcases, voice-over techniques, agents, regional theatres, pictures and resumes, mailings and in general, life as a professional.
Undergraduate level courses: • Undergraduate Acting 1 -Self-awareness: improvisation, monologue, rehearsal approaches. A mirror image of Graduate Acting 2 but a more basic approach with Stanislavski methodology utilized for scene preparation, which involves analysis of text to determine the actor's given circumstances, actions and objectives. It is the study of the playwright's work, exploring the actor's job from page to stage. The actor will continue to develop a personal rehearsal process, utilizing contemporary texts. • Undergraduate Acting 2 – Characterization; contemporary scenes and Chekov. A mirror image to Graduate Acting 3 with Modern drama and the rehearsal process: students continue developing their rehearsal process and script analysis as they explore the actor's actions and objectives from a broader range of monologues and scenes that are chosen from modern dramatists such as Chekhov, Strindberg and Ibsen. • Undergraduate Acting 3 – Shakespeare, an introduction, utilizing sonnets, monologues and scenes.
Conferences Adjudication/Coaching • Regular workshop leader at Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF) Regions II, III, IV • Irene Ryan National Acting competition; Finalist Judge of KC/ACTF Regions III, IV Semifinalist judge Region IV. • KC/ACTF Respondent, Region 2 (as requested) – attend, adjudicate and offer independent responses to University productions; recommend productions for KC/ACTF regional festival participation, 2002-2019 • Helen Hayes Awards Judge 3 year term– adjudicated approximately 30-50 professional productions per year in the Washington D.C.-area for region’s theatre awards • Shakespeare in Prison Practitioner Conference, Notre Dame University, Participant, 2014, 2016 • Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group book proposal reviewer, evaluator 2015- present
NY/DC Graduate Acting Showcase Director and Coordinator Director of showcase and also, research on behalf of graduate acting company for third year and post-graduate professional opportunities
Amphitheater Committee (current) Heading effort to coordinate architecture school and university development toward an outdoor theater space on the hill next to the Hartke theatre.
Committee for Advancement and Promotion (CAP) Arts & Sciences • Evaluation of all promotions in school: Assistant, Associate and Full professor votes
CUActing Tour • Director and producer for full length plays touring area high schools, nursing homes and shelters.
St. Genesius Ceremony • Producer of annual graduation ceremony and presentation of St Genesius medals to seniors and MFA graduates in Acting, Directing and Playwriting.
SAG/AFTRA Award Nominator and Voter “For Your Consideration” • Receiving up to 45 films to evaluate for nomination or in the case of voting, receiving up to twenty films for individual award consideration and voting to be presented at the SAG Awards.
Search Committees For: Head of MFA Playwriting Program, Head of MFA Directing and Assistant Professor of Acting
Awards & Promotions • Award for Achievement in the Creative Arts, 2009, The Catholic University of America; presented by Dr. James F. Brennan, Provost • 2005 – Promotion to Associate Professor • 2008 – Receipt of continuous tenure appointment • 2012 – Promotion to Ordinary Professor
Professional Acting
International Play Role Theatre Director HAUNTED PRINCE Edwin Booth Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, NI Richard Schoch Opening night for The British Shakespeare Association Conference, 2018 THE PRICE Walter The English Theatre, Vienna, Austria Robert Prosky DEFIANT REQUIEM Narrator Concert at Terezin, CZ Murry Sidlin Symphony Concert/theatre piece focused on Rafi Schächter and the Terezin Chorus; featured the CUA Chorus and Symphony and the Prague Symphony; part of Holocaust Assets Conference
New York/Off-Broadway KING LEAR Oswald Roundabout Theatre Co. Gerald Freedman Featured Hal Holbrook DANTON’S DEATH Camille RAPP Theatre Jack Stehlin LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST Berowne The Acting Company Paul Giovanni WILD OATS Jack Rover Classic Stage Company Chris Martin FAUST I & II Faust Classic Stage Company Chris Martin DANTON’S DEATH Herrault Classic Stage Company Chris Martin BALLOON by Karen Sunde Franklin Classic Stage Company Chris Martin
Regional Theatre Chronological Play Role Theatre Director TWAS THE NIGHT Sir Guy of Gisborne Adventure Theatre (DC) Jerry Whiddon BEFORE CHRISTMAS World Premiere by Ken Ludwig ENOCH ARDEN Narrator Virginia Chamber Orchestra Emil de Cou Recitation w/ music SHAKESPEARE’S Prospero CityDance Ensemble (DC) Paul Gordon SONNETS Emerson Recitation, Modern Dance HAUNTED PRINCE Actor/Booth National Portrait Gallery Stephen Fried Solo performance Washington, DC DIARY OF ANNE FRANK Otto Frank Round House Theatre Rebecca Taichman ELIZABETH THE QUEEN Sir Walter Raleigh Folger Theatre Richard Clifford GALILEO Pope Urban VIII Studio Theatre David Salter ART Serge Syracuse Stage Melissa Kievman DARK PARADISE Doc Holliday Cincinnati Playhouse Keith Glover/Ed Stern
CRUCIFER OF BLOOD Inspector LeStrade Berkshire Theatre Festival Chris Renshaw
HEDDA GABLER Judge Brack Hudson Guild/LA Casey Biggs DANCE OF DEATH Kurt Arena Stage/DC JoAnne Akalaitis A MONTH IN THE Michel Rakitan Arena Stage Kyle Donnelly COUNTRY TWELFTH NIGHT Orsino Arena Stage Doug Wager THE ODYSSEY Antinous Arena Stage Doug Wager HAMLET Hamlet Shakespeare Theatre/DC Michael Kahn Alternated w/ Tom Hulce JULIUS CEASAR Marc Antony Shakespeare Theatre Joe Dowling HENRY VI (I, II, III) Suffolk Shakespeare Theatre Michael Kahn KING LEAR Edgar Shakespeare Theatre Michael Kahn MACBETH Macbeth Folger Theatre Michael Tolaydo ARMS AND THE MAN Bluntschli Virginia Stage Co. Chris Hannah SPEED-THE-PLOW Charlie Fox Indiana Repertory Scott Wentworth KING LEAR Oswald Great Lakes Shakespeare Gerald Freedman Featured Hal Holbrook Fest.
ROMEO & JULIET Mercutio Shakespeare Theatre/DC Michael Kahn LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST Berowne Shakespeare Theatre Paul Giovanni THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Stanley Huntington Theatre/MA Ben Levit AWAKE AND SING Moe Axelrod Huntington Theatre Ben Levit CYMBELINE Iachimo Huntington Theatre Larry Carpenter MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Dr. Caius Huntington Theatre Eddie Gilbert
MEASURE FOR MEASURE Angelo The Alley Theatre Gregory Boyd K-2 Harold Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Ken Jenkins
THE GLASS MENAGERIE Tom Stage West Timothy Near ROMEO & JULIET Tybalt Long Wharf Barry Davis CYMBELINE Caius Lucius Hartford Stage Mark Lamos CYRANO DE BERGERAC Valvert Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Jon Jory
Leading roles at the Dallas and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals
Television
The HISTORY CHANNEL: The Duel: Hamilton vs. Burr with Richard Dreyfuss The fateful encounter between Alexander Hamilton (Gary Sloan) and Aaron Burr (John Lescault). Hosted by Academy award winner Richard Dreyfuss. THE DUEL features a wide-ranging discussion in which Dreyfuss, novelist Gore Vidal, biographer Ron Chenow, journalist Richard Brookhiser, historian Joanne Freeman and other Burr-Hamilton experts debate the many facets of the deadly exchange.
The GUIDING LIGHT, AS THE WORLD TURNS, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, and GENERAL HOSPITAL. “Recurring” roles on these day- time television shows. My characters figured into the main story-line of each show. Recorded in N.Y. and L.A.
Film
MINEVILLE (filmed in upstate N.Y.) Portrayed the head of an Irish family struggling in Ogsburg, NY during the great depression. An independent film starring Michael Sorvino and featuring film star, Paul Sorvino.
WITCHCRAFT (filmed in L.A.) Leading role in horror film featuring AnatTopal-Barzilai
Directing
Macbeth by William Shakespeare Virtual Livestream for #Playsinthehouse, New York/London Featuring Patrick Page, Hannah Yelland, David Yelland, Ty Jones, Maurice Jones Howard Sherman, Donna Bullock
King Lear by William Shakespeare Virtual Livestream on Shakespeare’s Birthday, 2020 Featuring Stacy Keach, Ed Gero, Dan Southern, Sabrina Proffit, Karolina Keach and St Andrews Players
Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose (2020) -On hold Chester State Correctional, Philadelphia The Diary of Anne Frank (adapted by Wendy Kesselman) Acting Naturally, Langhorne, PA. Macbeth by William Shakespeare Woodbourne Correctional Facility, N.Y. Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare The Catholic University of America (DC) As It Is in Heaven by Arlene Hutton “ The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonaugh The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (NY) 3rd year Company showcase production A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (NY)
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard “
The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein “
Royal Gambit by Hermann Gressieker “
Shooting Stars by Molly Newman “
Moonchildren by Michael Weller The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (LA) Journey to the Day by Roger Hirson “
Hamlet by William Shakespeare The Globe Theatre (LA) Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit Wheaton College The Miracle Worker by William Gibson NW Bible Church, Dallas, TX
Stage Combat Choreography
Cymbeline Hartford Stage Company Mark Lamos, Director Hamlet Classic Stage Co. Chris Martin
Fight Captain: Richard III Oregon Shakespeare Festival David Boushey, Chor. Romeo and Juliet The Long Wharf Theatre B.H. Barry Cyrano de Bergerac Actors Theatre of Louisville David Boushey Cymbeline The Huntington Theatre David Leong The Crucifer of Blood Berkshire Theatre Festival Allen Suddeth The Odyssey Arena Stage David Leong
Professional Readings and Benefits (Selected)
To Moscow by Karen Sunde – at The Players Club NYC – role of Anton Chekov The Bridge of San Luis Rey (adaptation) by Thornton Wilder directed by Derek Goldman – Camino Real by Tennessee Williams–(Casanova opposite Kathleen Chalfant). The Tennessee Williams centennial Festival, Washington, D.C Moving the Chains, the Daryl Hill Story by Michael Olmert. DC’s historic Lincoln Theatre An Evening with Robert Prosky and Family...Theatre J. Washington, D.C. [Excerpts from Arthur Miller’s The Price]. King Lear by Edward Bond – (role of King Lear).Washington Shakespeare Company Haunted Prince – the Ghosts of Edwin Booth (One person show). MD Cultural Arts Council My Antonia by Willa Carter, adapted by Scott Schwartz with music by Stephen Schwartz. Ford’s Theater, Washington, D.C. Bus Stop by William Inge, directed by Nick Olcott to be broadcast by NPR Radio and recorded at the Voice of America (D.C.) LA Theatre Works The Best Man by Gore Vidal Featuring Marsha Mason (“Goodbye Girl”) and Senator Fred Thomson-. Broadcast on NPR & recorded at the Voice of America (D.C.) LA Theatre Works Last Dance -- A New Play by Marsha Norman (Pulitzer Prize winner) Leading role-- Directed by Wendy Goldberg and Marsha Norman. Arena Stage. The Red Badge of Courage Adaptation by Joe Sutton for The Seattle Children’s Theatre. Kennedy Center New Vision/New Voices Festival New Dramatists (N.Y.) An American Girl by Barry Kaplan Elegy for Lonely Guys by Itamar Moses Dark Paradise, The Legend of the Five Pointed Star by Keith Glover Golden Boy by Clifford Odets--A New Musical Adaptation -- Lyrics by Keith Glover. Music by Charles Strouse (Annie)
Talent Agency Affiliations Current: KMR (NY)-designated Agent: Tracey Goldblum
Professional Affiliations Actors’ Equity Association (AEA); Screen Actors Guild (SAG); American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); Episcopal Actors Guild (life member); The Players Club-Actors Club in NYC originated by Edwin Booth (hiatus); Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (Washington, DC).
Notable Reviews
“Gary Sloan in the title role of Berowne, whose splendidly passionate and clever performance is alone worth the price of your ticket . . . he is an actor you should see and a performance you will be thrilled by.” Love’s Labor’s Lost at the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger in D.C. Mikel Lambert WETA –FM Washington, D.C.
“ . . . the best performance in the play. Sloan’s characterization is powerful and incisive. He dominates the stage with his deft portrayal...” Awake and Sing by Clifford Odets at the Huntington Theatre in Boston - Debbie Forman
“ . . . Wonderful, debonair, insouciant, and humorously self-referent a la mode d’Errol Flynn, all flourishes and malappropriate daring do, yet behind the ridiculous posturing lurks a man of kindness, integrity, a performance that, like the play is more than it seems.” Wild Oats by John O’Keefe at CSC Repertory – NYC Faber – The Village Voice “. . . with Sloan in the lead role, the production transcended some of the problems that casting and direction inflicted upon it. Sloan, alternating . . . but had the production been built around Sloan it might have been better in all ways, the lucidity and power of his performance tended to focus issues.” Hamlet at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. H.R. Coursen – Marlowe Society of America Newsletter
“ . . . Gary Sloan’s Michel, who at first seems merely weak, turns out to be the strongest character on the stage, a man with a ruthless, rather awful, capacity for self- knowledge. Sloan combines 19th c. manners and reticence with a ferocious emotional depth.” A Month in the Country at Arena Stage – Washington, D.C. Lloyd Rose-The Washington Post
“As Stanley, Gary Sloan is perfectly ambiguous: now a daft misfit, now a frightened victim, confronting, maybe fighting his fate. To the actor’s credit, Stanley remains an object of concern through our wavering sympathy.” The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter at Huntington Theatre– Boston Nancy Leonard –The Boston Record
“ . . . Gary Sloan’s character is played with an enthusiastic vigor that is at once alarming in its depravity and fetching in a charismatic vitality.” Speed the Plow by David Mamet at Indiana Repertory - Charles Sutphin-Indianapolis
“The true spark in the production, however, is a surprise –one greater, perhaps than the solution to the play’s central mystery; a murder that has the effrontery to be committed in the same room as Holmes. As Inspector Lestrade, Gary Sloan is a brilliant study in physical humor. Bumbling with the dexterity of Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clousseau (but never stealing from Sellers), Sloan is a hilarious specimen of puffed-up self-importance who is always in danger of deflating and always trying to recover his shaky balance an instant too late at every stumble.” The Crucifer of Blood by Paul Giovanni at the Berkshire Theatre Festival Ralph Hammann of Williamstown – The Advocate
“Otto Frank, played faultlessly by Gary Sloan, was a consummate diplomat, the father determined to protect his family and keep them together, yet unselfishly aware of the needs of others who sought sanctuary.” The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman at the Round House Theatre. Denise Pringle--Washington Theater