I was raised by theatrical parents, my father a set designer and theatre educator, my mother a playwright, director, actress, and acting teacher.  I was born in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in Beverly, MA. I made my Shakespearean debut at the age of 12 in a college production of King John at Boston University, playing the demanding role of Prince Arthur, who pleads with a servant for his life and ends up jumping off a wall to his death.  In my teens, my mother, Mickey Coburn, established a theatre company and school called The Acting Place, Inc. where I received much of my early training—singing, dance, mime, acting—and roles on stage in plays and musicals.  I left high school two years early and attended Simon’s Rock, an early entry college in the Berkshires.  While earning my A.A. degree at a time when most teens were getting high school diplomas, I became actively involved in the theatre program and directed and acted in plays by Shakespeare, Wilde, Moliere, Beckett and Strindberg.

I began my four-year course of study in the theatre program at Boston University with a strong foundation.  It was a demanding and highly competitive acting program, but I graduated with honors and received an award for artistic excellence at commencement.  I began my professional career close to home, working in the Boston theatre scene, with such companies as the Huntington, The Lyric Stage, and Worcester Foothills Theatre.  It was also in Boston that I launched my cabaret career, collaborating with director Mike Oster on the outrageous Bacall: By Herself, in which I played the venerable musical theatre and film star Lauren Bacall.  This show took me to New York, where producers of the new hit Off-Broadway revue, Howard Crabtree’s Whoop-dee-doo, spotted me. I was offered the job of understudy to all nine performers in the show including a specialty as Lauren Bacall when Tommy Femia, who did a Judy Garland number, was out.  I jumped at the opportunity to move to New York, and for the next several years, developed a high profile career as a cabaret artist.

My impersonation of Marlene Dietrich brought me acclaim and awards in many of New York’s legendary nightspots, and at clubs throughout North America and in Germany. I created three cabaret pieces for Marlene, Queen of the World, Black Market Marlene, and Marlene! Alive at the Café de Paris.  

 

 

As a singer, I also created a revue of the music and lyrics of Leslie Bricusse, entitled Crazy World, which I performed with singer Goldie Dver and musical director David Maiocco and for which we won the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs’ MAC Award for Revue of the Year in 2002.

 

In 2003, I decided to retire from cabaret work and dedicate myself exclusively to my acting career.  I had worked throughout my years in cabaret in the regional theatre, but I really wanted to sink my teeth into the classics.  To strengthen my work and to refocus my skills for classical repertoire, particularly Shakespeare, I attended the MFA program at the Academy for Classical Acting in residence at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.  This unique and relatively young program is an intensive one-year immersion in classical acting with a stellar faculty including artistic director and former Juilliard Drama Department head Michael Kahn. The training launched my career in a new direction.

The training I received brought me opportunities to shine and I made important inroads in the industry.  From the spring of 2005 through fall of 2007, I appeared in As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, The Henry VI plays, Richard III, Cymbeline and the title role in Macbeth with such companies as Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis and the Kennedy Center.  A fortuitous series of events landed me directly from the world of classical theatre back into musical theatre in 2007, when I was brought in as a last minute replacement in the glittering leading role of Albin/ZaZa in La Cage Aux Folles for the Ogunquit Playhouse Diamond Jubilee, playing opposite Maxwell Caulfield and directed by BT McNicholl.  It was a truly memorable production and I am happy to continue my association with the talented BT, who is currently Associate Director of Spamalot.  Spamalot marks my debut in a Broadway National Tour and I am delighted to be playing a role originated by David Hyde Pierce.  I am scheduled to be with the tour through December of 2008.

My goals for the future are many.  I plan to continue to work at the highest levels of the industry as a performer, and of course playing on Broadway is a big goal.  I would love to be a part of the development of a new show.  There are roles both in the classical and contemporary repertoires that are on my wish list to play.  I would also like to do more directing and producing, perhaps creating a company of my own.  I have a screenplay in progress that I plan to complete writing, as well as ideas for two others.  For me, a life spent in creative pursuits amongst talented and wonderful artists is living the dream.