10 Questions
Take Ten: DAN CRANE
This week’s Take Ten finds DAN CRANE longing for his Elizabethan soul mate, dreaming of Lear, and reveling in his love for the collaborative artists of the Taffety Punk Theatre Company – “every damn one of them.” Catch him in the famed Stephen Wadsworth adaptation of Moliere’s Don Juan through April 21.
1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?
I was in the 5th or 6th grade and my older brother was in the orchestra for a high school production of West Side Story, so my family dragged me to see it. I remember crying my eyes out in the dark of the audience because 1. Tony was dead (spoilers! sorry) and 2. I didn’t want the play to end. I wanted more.
2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?
The very first play I ever did was a church pageant titled Three Wee Kings. (I know, right?!) I was maybe 8 years old and cast as…the middle king! I memorized every bit of it, every line, every song, and everyone’s blocking. I think it’s ready for a revival.
3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?
My favorite play is always whatever play I am currently working on. Is that a cop-out answer? So right now I am head over heels in love with Stephen Wadsworth’s adaptation of Moliere’s Don Juan. To be fair, I have been in love with this particular play ever since I heard it 12 years ago.
4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?
I spent a few months working at a liquor store in Ithaca, NY. The owner and manager were racists, it was in a crappy isolated little strip mall, and there was a steady flow of sadness coming through the doors. Yikes!
5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?
I messed up a quick-change and went on stage with my fly down and my belt undone. The fly down, you can mask that, but the dangling buckle of an un-done belt is a whole other level of truth.
6) What are you enjoying most about working on Don Juan at Taffety Punk Theatre Company?
I love the people I work with! I truly love every damn one of them. Marcus (Kyd) and the Punks, this phenomenal cast of old and new friends, the uber-talented design, artistic and production teams, we create this art together. I love love love the DC theatre community!
7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?
Easy. John Harington, godson to Queen Elizabeth I. He was punk before punk, a rebellious writer, inventor, and smart ass. He invented the flushing toilet, so not only was he innovative, he was also tidy. These things are important when hitting the town with an Elizabethan.
8) What is your dream role/job?
I currently have my dream role/job. I am the Resident Teaching Artist at Shakespeare Theatre Company and a Company Member at Taffety Punk. I make my living surrounded by artists and educators who are actively trying to make the world a better place through the art we believe in.
9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?
I have to go with the first public performance of Shakespeare’s King Lear. I’m currently reading James Shapiro’s fantastic book The Year of Lear and am completely captivated.
10) What advice would you give to an 8-year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?
To the 8-year-old I would say, “That’s awesome! Theatre skills are life skills. Collaboration, compassion, craftsmanship. Go make art!” To the MFA student I would say, “That’s awesome! Theatre skills are life skills. Collaboration, compassion, craftsmanship. Go Make Art!!”
DAN CRANE is a Company Member with Taffety Punk Theatre Company, for whom he directed An Iliad, and appeared in She Rode Horses like the Stock Exchange, Phaeton, Inheritance Canyon, Hamlet the First Quarto, Charm, Bloody Poetry, The Rape of Lucrece, Twelfth Night, Oxygen, and every Bootleg Shakespeare but one. Additional directing credits include Arden of Faversham for Brave Spirits, Twelfth Night for Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Strachey’s Tempest for Historic Jamestowne, and Romeo & Juliet for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Young Company at Festival International de Companias de Teatro Juveniles in Parla, Spain. Washington D.C. Area acting credits include Romeo & Juliet, The Beaux Stratagem, and Richard III for Shakespeare Theatre Company, Cyrano (Helen Hayes Award Nomination, Ensemble), Hamlet, and The Winter’s Tale for Folger Theatre, Birds of a Feather at Hub Theatre (Helen Hayes Award Nomination, Ensemble), The Four of Us for Theater J, and Hamlet for Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. Other regional acting credits include work with companies across the United States, including Idaho Shakespeare Festival, PCPA Theaterfest and Portland Center Stage (Oregon) to name a few. Dan is the Resident Teaching Artist at Shakespeare Theatre Company. He trained at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts, holds a BFA from Ithaca College and an MFA from the Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University.
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