His theatrical interests began with an audition for Guys and Dolls at Avon Junior-Senior High School in Avon, NY. But J.R. has made a career out of dramatizing the lives of real people. Many of them tortured souls, whether because of hideous choices they made or horrible tragedy that befell them.

When J.R. isn't producing theatre, he’s teaching it, as an adjunct instructor at the theatre department at the College at Brockport, State University of New York.“The work that I do is often based on the ideas of new theatre and theatre of testimony,” he says.

He carved out his dramatic niche while attending Nazareth College of Rochester, NY, in 2000, where he founded Bread & Water Theatre (BWT), and has continued as its artistic director ever since. The theatre company's productions are typically staged at the New Life Presbyterian Church at the corner of Rosedale St. and Monroe Ave. in Rochester.

J.R. tends to gravitate toward productions that are as politically provocative as their sets are understated. Perhaps it’s the intensity of the characters—and the dialogue—that truly paint the setting.

“It's definitely based on many simple storytelling concepts,” J.R. says. “And about the interaction between audience and actor with very simple technical aspects.”

J.R., who lives in Rochester's Highland Park neighborhood, also writes for the stage. He adapted Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince for BWT stage in 2003, and authored That Kiss, which debuted at 2004’s Rainbow Theater Festival, an annual theatrical series that focuses on gay and lesbian themes.

Charlotte (Marcy J. Savastano) and John (Carl Girard) in The Yellow Wallpaper, based on the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, staged by Bread & Water Theatre in 2003 at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester.At the moment, BWT is in the midst of producing Nijinsky’s Last Dance, a play about famed Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and his struggle with mental illness. The production is part of the Rainbow Theatre Festival. 

The 2011 season is already in the works as well, J.R. says, although next year's productions are yet to be announced.

Other than that, what’s J.R.’s next act?

“I’m developing a one-man show based directly on the writings of Samuel A. Mudd, the doctor who was convicted of treason for setting the leg of the assassin of Abraham Lincoln,” he says.

Can’t get much more political than that.

The title, of course: “My name is Mudd.”

 

See more: www.BreadandWaterTheatre.org

Say hi: jr@breadandwatertheatre.org