Meet Mike!

Meet Mike, he might have made your skin crawl in his realistic portrayal of Peter in Bug last fall, but we swear, he's truly just a nice quiet guy!  In addition to his wonderful acting work, he's also our resident playwright for 2013/2014. 

Meet:  Mike Aguirre

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Around one year

Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: Resident Playwright

Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: There is an amazing dedication to doing great work, and both Akia and Tim have been nothing but supportive towards work-shopping and developing new works.  When I have a new script that's ready to be read, they go out of their way to set up the time, people, and feedback that's needed to keep writing.

Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: I was fortunate enough to play Peter in a production of Tracy Letts' BUG last Fall, a production that was a part of the Hotel Suite.  I've never played a more intense and physically demanding role.  Every rehearsal was exhausting and every performance was thrilling.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: It's great to work with a company who's been around the city for so long.  You meet such a wide network of family artists and friends, it feels like a community.

Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: Hopefully mounting a new script that I've been developing with the ensemble...

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: Outside of RSPC, I teach GED courses (mostly math).  It's actually a great exercise for my brain because teaching math is the absolute OPPOSITE of theater (and let's face it: we need a little break from theater every once in a while)

Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: During BUG rehearsals, Akia and the cast went upstate to a beautiful cottage for the weekend to rehearse.  The city is so busy that it was almost therapeutic to have nothing to think about except the script and the story.

Meet Ryan!

Meet Ryan, he's better known as Cowboy Ryan or Duse around these parts.

His work in RSP's production of Fool for Love just recieved two New York Innovative Theatre Award Nominations! 

Slide up on partner, and get to know our boy from the Lone Star State a little bit better!

 

 

Meet:  Ryan Carter Dusek

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Around a year and a half.

Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: Actor and mischief maker.

Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: The team-work and family like atmosphere keep me with RSP. They are my home away from home.

Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: My favorite would have to be playing Eddie in "Fool for Love". I've always wanted to play him and have great love for the writings of Sam Shepard. The NYITA nominations that came later were certainly a bonus.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: More of the same, and helping our new faces find their artistic voice.

Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: HellCab! Hell yeah!

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: We have become a cohesive group where no one person stands out, but we as a group of artists stand as one.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I am an actor and bartender.

Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: I loved meeting for speakeasy rehearsals where we just sat and played poker. Now that's a great rehearsal!

Meet Elizabeth!

Meet Elizabeth Burke, if you don't know her already, you really should!
She's our longest standing ensemble member, best known for her work in Rising Sun's productions of Hellcab & The Crucible, she's been with the company since 2004.

 



 Meet:  Elizabeth Burke

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Since 2004 I believe. When I was but a child.

Q: What is your primary role with RSP?
A: I'm an actor, an ACTOR.

Q: Why is RSP your artistic home?
A: Because there is a level of community and support that is very difficult to find in NYC theater.  Here, theater companies come and go, so to be involved with the same group for 8 years is pretty great. I even left for a few years to work on a political campaign and was welcomed back with open arms.  Like family! I think that there is a safety that is created during rehearsals which allows an actor to feel free to explore their boundaries. That safety lends itself to creative thinking and risk taking I might not find as just an actor in a random play with a random theater company. It's the sense that we are all here for the same end, to stretch our abilities, to take risks, to freely speak up in the creative process and be able to have an actual impact on our art.

Q: What was your favorite RSP Show or Role? Why?
A: Oh wow, playing Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible was so challenging.  I loved being able to tell this love story of 2 real people caught up in a nightmare of lies and fear of that very specific time in our history instead of simply playing out the witchcraft story.(I really think this play is a love story and I'm sticking with that.)  I loved finding out more about John and Elizabeth and understanding why they loved each other so much. This tough love is what makes John's betrayal and ultimate imprisonment and death so terrible and pointless.  I also loved playing a psychopath in the one-act "Tell Me You Love Me", part of Hotel Suite. Being able to play such a deranged person who, on the surface, has no redeeming value. I liked the challenge of getting the audience on my side even as I tried to kill my husband with an axe. By the end of the play I have the audience’s sympathy while the man I am trying to kill has none, and that was remarkable. It was finding the subtle choices, believing in her humanity and finding out what drove her to make such extreme choices that made me want this play to continue as a full length.  There is so much more to her story and I want to know it!

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: More great concepts like Hotel Suite, a site specific show.  I have not seen this very often in NYC theater and doing it in a non-theater space was amazing.  I do want to do more heavy duty pieces like a few we have currently under consideration and this is the company with the balls to do it.  I also can't wait to re-start the creative process in writing a new play Henry's Wives.

Q: What are you excited about for Season 12?
A: Everything!  I can't wait to continue working on Henry's Wives, re-mounting Hell Cab for Christmas (because this is SUCH a Christmas story) and I am really excited for our Fall Mainstage show even though I don't know what it is yet!

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: Yes, I have seen RSP grow into a mature company and as one of the older companies in Indy theater , we have been intimately involved with the growth of NYC's Indie theater community.  We have more staff now, including a Literary Manager and our student internships have been a benefit to us as well as the students.  I have evolved as an actor I think!  I also like the idea of producing more interesting and disturbing original works.  But then, I'm not one for pretty plays with pretty people.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I write a regular political blog "Burke's Law" on the www.ClydeFitcheport.com website. Go, click, read, comment.   I have been politically active for years working on many campaigns as well as producing large scale events. But now I work full time as Sr. Coordinator, Global Strategies for Cardiovascular Research Foundation. It's time to settle down to a real job so I can act more.

Q: Favorite Memory or experience in RSP?
A: Well, it may go back to the first play I did with them, the Ghost of Greenbriar County. The whole premise of the piece is ridiculous especially since the writer has become some sort of dominatrix.  She also claims the story is about her family and true.  But then she is a dominatrix so I won't argue.  But the best  part is when our space got flooded and we had only a few days to locate a new theater that could do the show and was affordable and was in Manhattan and was available. That Akia and David Anthony were able to do all those things, finding a theater and saving the show made me realize I found the right company with which to work.

Meet Kervin

Welcome to our Meet the Company Series.
Over the next few weeks we will be posting interviews with Ensemble, Staff, Guest Artists & Interns to give you a chance to get to know us as a company a little better. 

Meet: Kervin Peralta

Q: How long have you been involved with Rising Sun Performance Company?
A: Almost a Year

Q: What is your primary function within the ensemble?
A: I’m an Actor

Q: Why is RSP your Artistic Home?
A: Everyone is passionate about theatre. You see the love in our work. What keeps me here is the fact that it’s a true ensemble. Everyone has your back.

Q: What was your favorite RSP show or Role? Why?
A: The one and only Mickey the shoes Profliano in this summer’s Shhh.. It’s a speakeasy.

Q: What are you looking forward to seeing/ experiencing with RSP?
A: I look forward to doing work that can help me flex my acting muscles, and continue to grow as an artist.

Q: How have you seen the ensemble, including yourself, evolve?
A: Yes, I see a more cohesive unit. As for myself, I’ve continued what I learned in study to free myself.

Q: What do you do outside of RSP?
A: I’m a puppeteer at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater

Q: Please share a favorite experience with RSP
A: Had a blast doing Mikey the Shoes, Hotel Suite was an awesome experience as well.

Learn more about our ensemble here