|
|
Michael Martin
Vocal Range: tenor · Height: 5'7" · Weight: 140 · Hair Color: gray · Eye Color: hazel · Hometown: Minneapolis
^Indicates new work. ~Indicates lead role.
[CH] In Chicago. [NO] In New Orleans. Other cities noted by name.
RH = Rhinoceros Theater Festival. 4H = Four Humours. GB = Great Beast.
AS ACTOR
Geronimo^ Mr Huk~
[NO] NO Fringe Fest, main tent ('09)
The Night of the Iguana Nonno
[NO] ...Read More
^Indicates new work. ~Indicates lead role.
[CH] In Chicago. [NO] In New Orleans. Other cities noted by name.
RH = Rhinoceros Theater Festival. 4H = Four Humours. GB = Great Beast.
AS ACTOR
Geronimo^ Mr Huk~
[NO] NO Fringe Fest, main tent ('09)
The Night of the Iguana Nonno
[NO] Four Humours at Backyard Ballroom ('09)
The Joys of Armageddon^ Antoinette LaFite
[NO] MadHapPy at Backyard Ballroom ('09) Written by Mike iLL
Love’s Labour’s Lost King of Navarre~
[NO] Lost Soda Prod at Marigny ('09) Directed by Ryan Bruce
The Health Benefits of Orange Soda^ Michael
[NO] New Orleans Repertory ('09) Written by Jared Gore; directed by Josh Simpson
Bourbon Street: A Family History^ Dr Mason
[NO] Backyard Ballroom ('09) Written by Otter
No Longer a Rock in this World^ Charles~
[CH] RH at Acme Art Works (‘09) Written & directed by Beau O’Reilly
Krapp’s Last Tape Krapp~
[NO] 4H at Flava (‘09) Directed by Ed Bishop
Uncle Vanya Vanya~
[NO] 4H at Backyard Ballroom (‘08) Directed by Kathryn Talbot
Mona Rogers in Person Mona Rogers~
[NO] Four Humours at Flava (‘08) Written by Phillip-Dmitri Galas; directed by Agnes de Garron
The Inspector General The Sergeant
[NO] Cripple Creek at Rampart Ctr (‘08) Directed by Andrew Kingsley
The Third Degrees of J.O. Breeze J.O. Breeze~
[NO] 4H at Hi-Ho Lounge (‘07) Written by O’Reilly; directed by cast
Finding the Enemy^ Boy~
[NO] Anthony Bean Theater (‘07) Written & directed by John Grimsley
The Papaya Man^ Mr. Cohen
[NO] Anthony Bean Theater (‘07) Written by Phyllis Clemons, directed by Anthony Bean
A Christmas Carol for George Wallace^ George Wallace~
[NO] 4H at Hi-Ho Lounge (‘06) Written & directed by Andrew Vaught
Now She Dances! Lane~
[NO] To Do Productions at Marigny Theater (‘06) Written by Doric Wilson; directed by Steve Patrick
Krapp’s Last Tape Krapp~
[CH] Irish American Ctr & RH (‘06) Directed by Beau O’Reilly
Evan on Earth^ [part of “Ardor” below] Man~
[CH] GB (‘01) Written by Robert Patrick; directed by Michelle Power
2 Doors Down from Tip-Top^ Number Two~
[CH] Curious Theatre Branch (‘01) Written & directed by Mike Hansel
Julius Caesar Cassius~
[CH] National Pastime Theater (‘00) Directed by Laurence Bryan
Bedroom Set^ [omnibus] various
[CH] GB (‘97) Written by various; directed by Ryan C LaFleur
Love Diatribe Dennis
[CH] GB (‘97) Written by Harry Kondoleon; directed by Dawn Marie Galtieri
Let the Dolly Do the Work^ Wood
[CH] Curious Theatre Branch (‘94) Written & directed by Beau O’Reilly
AS ACTOR FOR FILM
The Price of Flowers Gas station clerk
[NO] Independent film (‘09) Directed by Ashley Charbonnet
12 Black
[NO] Student film UNO (‘09) Directed by Brooke Lynn Wright
High Definition Arguing Man
[NO] Independent film (‘07) Directed by Michael Minden Ward
The Champ The Coach~
[NO] PSA (‘07) Directed by Denny Juge
The Visiting Artist The Chef~
[CH] Student film SAIC (‘02) Directed by Greg Edwards
Blood Orgy of the Damned Longshank
[CH] Independent film (‘01) Directed by David Hayes
AS ACTOR & WRITER
Pity Sex^ Nicky~
[CH] RH w/Jillian Erickson (‘03); [NO] DramaRama w/Veronica Russell (‘04)
AS PERFORMER & WRITER [solo shows]
The Bachelor in New Orleans^ [adaptation]
[NO] 4H at Hi-Ho Lounge, Pirate’s Alley, Voodoo Mystere (‘07-08; year-long run);
[CH] Red Line Tap (‘08) and RH (‘09);
Bryant Lake Bowl (Mpls, ‘08);
TORCH: The Bearer, Where No Wood Is^
[CH] RF (‘07)
The Bearer: Specific Performance^
[CH] RF (‘05)
The Bearer: My New Piece^
[CH] RF (‘03)
The Bearer^
[CH] Theater of the Catbird & RF (‘02)
You’ve Been Great^ [short, in “Love and Sin” omnibus]
[CH] The Steppenwolf Garage (‘02)
Hinckley on Foster: The Hearing^
[CH] Clove Productions (‘02);
Acadia (Mpls, ‘02);
The Refuge [NO] (‘03)
Holiday Spirit^ [short]
[CH] Ian’s Dog & Pony Show (‘99), Sweetback (‘00)
Quentin T Do Amateur Night at de Apollo^
[CH] GB (‘99); The Kraine (NYC, ‘99);
Bryant Lake Bowl Theater (Mpls, ‘99)
The Dump^ [short, opening for Barrie Cole]
[CH] Horsesense Productions (‘98)
“Justine Bateman”^
[CH] GB (‘97); Kahoots (St Paul, ‘97)
Pattern Recognition^ [short]
[CH] RF & Live Bait Theater (‘96)
AS WRITER
The Fey^
[CH] RH (‘05) directors Brian Golden & Dana Friedman
Frrreaks^ [co-adaptation]
[CH] Sweetback Productions (‘02) director Kelly Anchors
Dominium^
[CH] GB (‘96);
The Kraine (NYC ‘07) director Russell Dobular
AS DIRECTOR & WRITER
Thee^
[CH] RH (‘06)
Smokers^
[CH] RH (‘00)
AS DIRECTOR
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
[NO] Four Humours at Ballroom ('09)
Bourbon Street: A Family History^ by Otter
[NO] Backyard Ballroom (‘09)
Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon [NO] 4H (‘08)
Brewed^ by Scott T Barsotti
[NO] 4H (‘08)
The Erect Pronoun by Robert Patrick
[NO] 4H (‘08)
Out Comes Butch by David Schein
[NO] 4H (‘08)
Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
[NO] Williams Fest competition,
scene only (‘08)
Steeped^ by Bridget Erin
[NO] 4H, DramaRama (‘08)
The Third Degrees of J.O. Breeze by Beau O’Reilly
[NO] 4H, (group direction, ‘07)
Kennedy’s Children by Robert Patrick
[NO] 4H (‘07)
The Observer^ by Mark Chrisler
[CH] RF (‘06)
A Babel Fish for Charlie Brown’s Mom^ by Rory Jobst
[CH] Lunar Cabaret (‘02)
Robert’s Rules of Ardor^ by Robert Patrick
[CH] 4H (omnibus, directed two ‘01)
Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon
[CH] 4H (‘00)
Ready for the River by Neal Bell
[CH] 4H (‘99)
Howlers by various
[CH] 4H (‘98)
Harbor^ by Robert Patrick
[CH] 4H (‘97)
AS HOST/ORGANIZER[festivals & cabarets]
The Little Death Show [NO] Voodoo Mystere Lounge ('08)
Esoterotica [NO] Voodoo Mystere Lounge (‘08)
And Then I Wrote^ [CH] 4H (‘01)
Cordelia was The Fool^ [CH] 4H (‘01)
The DeathFesta^ [CH] 4H (‘97, ‘99)
Beast Women^ [annual] [CH] 4H (‘97-’01)
Yeats was Right, Dammit! [CH] Red Lion Pub (‘99)
AS CREATOR [+ indicates productions I directed and/or hosted]
Verbatim Verboten Bryant Lake Bowl+ (Mpls ‘06, 3-mo run);
Jewel Box Theater/Historic University
Theater+ (Seattle ‘05-’06, 5-mo run);
The Fez/The Elbow Room, produced &
directed by John Pinckard (NYC ‘04, 4-mo
run);
[NO] DramaRama/Funky Butt/True Brew+
(‘04, 4-mo run);
[CH] Royal George, produced by Vicki
Quade (‘04-’05, 14-mo run); (GB) (‘98-’01,
various venues/runs)
AS MANAGER/PROMOTER
The Voodoo Mystére Lounge^ [NO] (‘08)
The Rhino in Winter^ [annual] [CH] 4H (‘95-’96)
The Rhinoceros Theater Festival^ [annual] [CH] 4H (‘94-’96)
AS COMPANY MEMBER
The Curious Theatre Branch [CH] (1995, 2008-present)
AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Four Humours Theater [NO] (2007-present)
Great Beast Theater [CH] (1996-2001)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
Highly Recommended, Chicago Reader: Hinckley on Foster: The Hearing, Krapp’s Last Tape
Highly Recommended, New Orleans Times-Picayune, WYES, Ambush: The Bachelor in New Orleans
Critics Choice, Chicago Reader: Pattern Recognition, Smokers, Verbatim Verboten
Big Easy Awards nominee, Lead Actor Drama: A Christmas Carol for George Wallace
Marquee Awards nominee, Lead Actor Drama: A Christmas Carol for George Wallace
Ambie Awards nominee, Lead Actor Play: Finding the Enemy
SELECTED CRITIC REMARKS, AS ACTOR
[W]hat Hal Holbrook might be like playing Mark Twain while drinking Sazeracs. Dressed in foppish finery, declaiming ornamental language from another era, he’s an aristocratic barfly, a John Barrymore in his later years, when his self-mocking, crazily courageous comic performances would rise above his circumstances.
[H]is performance…has become heightened, funnier, and much more assured. …It’s a bravura turn that requires the guts of a burglar. A 90-minute monologue is tough enough to put across on the stage. Performing in a bar, interacting with customers who can be unpredictable, requires a special set of skills. Think matador and bull.
…It’s a performance of extremes. A quiet, well-mannered politesse can turn into a Shakespearean roar; Lear against the elements. Martin wages this battle with garrulous good humor and quicksilver mood changes, adapting his approach to a constantly changing human landscape. It is this that gives the piece and his performance a certain stature. He is on the high wire and could fall at any moment, but somehow manages to keep his balance.
[David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune, 2008]
Martin gives an energetic performance in this demanding hourling laugh fest. He convincingly portrays le charme malefique…
[Dalt Wonk, Gambit Weekly, 2/19/08]
[B]y the time he finally appeared onstage, his mane of gray hair as disheveled as his ill-fitting black trousers and vest, his incongruous white shoes polished to a Sunday-school gleam, he’d mastered this heartbreaking buffoon. Shuffling stiffly to an enormous desk covered with an ancient reel-to-reel tape deck and a dozen battered boxes of tape spools, he lowered himself into a chair with arthritic care, placed his hands neatly before him, and let out a tiny sigh, which left him as limp as a deflated balloon.
…Krapp rummages around in his desk, eats a banana (slipping on the peel, of course), fumbles with his tapes, exits to tke swigs from his bottle backstage (the audience hears only a dainty pop as he uncorks it), and finally listens to his former self ramling on about seemingly nothing—though it gradually becomes evident that the tape may recount how he blew his one chance at true love. …Martin plays the scene as a very funny grumbling clown routine. Each tiny accomplishment—finding the right tape spool or feeding it into the player—brings a fleeting moment of joy even as the accumulated weight of a squandered life squashes the rail-thin Krapp farther down in his chair. As Martin sits motionless listening to the tape, his expression by turns contemptuous, sly, forlorn, defeated, childlike, and empty, he creates a pitiful and absurd old man, someone who sees that his effort to create a brilliant chronicle of his life has fallen tragicomically flat.
[Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader, 2006]
Martin’s one-man piece is a tour de force of desperate, Dostoyevskian fury…a minor masterpiece in the grand tradition of the overliterate madman, concealing layers of truth beneath its ravings, swinging assuredly between persuasive and preposterous. …But what really sells the piece is Martin’s wryly self-deprecating performance as the angry but resigned Hinckley, whose pretense of recovery is gradually broken down by invisible tormentors. Memorizing this drifting, looping, hour-plus monologue alone is a feat, and Martin was virtually flawless the night I attended, navigating the emotional ebb and flow of the slowly splintering Hinckley with unassuming genius. Since Martin is moving to New Orleans in the spring, this may be the last chance to see his amazing work for some time.
[Brian Nemtusak, Reader, 2002]
Martin proves again that he is one of our best character actors as Mr. Cohen, whose “horse doesn’t circle the whole track.” He is funny, sincere…
[David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune, 2/2/07]
Martin played the crippled troll creature, the J.O. Breeze of the title, with a controlled agility and a well-conceived idea of this strange role. He created an athletically demanding character who bounced from desktop to chair to stage floor with kinetic intensity. In the scenes in which just by sitting on his desk in the glow of a red light, wearing a frayed clown collar and ghastly makeup, he established a remarkable and theatrically effective stage presence. …And when one considers how he managed to keep his legs folded against himself when he hopped around the stage, one cannot help but appreciate his awesome stagecraft.
[Patrick Shannon, Ambush, 7/17-30/07]
Michael Martin has become one of our most influential performers, a talent with an original edge and a furious urge to succeed.
[Al Shea, Stepping Out, WYES, 2008]
What a remarkable, courageous, eccentric, flaky actor Martin is; what a valiant performance he gave both nights. He’s like a magician, explaining when a trick hasn’t worked, but also explaining when it has.
[David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune, 1/16/09]
|