Follow Spot - April 2008

Follow Spot

by Michael Portantiere

A BODY WITHOUT A HEAD

No, it's not the title of a new splatter film playing down at the multiplex. A Body Without a Head is a much more lyrical, non-violent entertainment, a "theatrical fable" written and directed by George R. Carr. Running April 28-May 2 at Manhattan Theatre Source, the piece is a staged presentation of poems by Carr that were originally published in a collection with sketches by his brother, the late Zack Carr III, who served as right-hand-man to living-legend designer Calvin Klein for more than 25 years.

The poems were written during a trip to St. Tropez and were inspired by the island's namesake, Saint Torpes, a Roman gladiator who was beheaded for refusing to renounce his spiritual beliefs. Set on "a moonlit beach where 12 souls...find comfort in the darkness and each other," A Body Without a Head is said by the author to be intended for anyone, anywhere who at anytime has lost his head to love.

Although the Torpes character doesn't appear until the final few moments of the hour-long show, Carr felt it imperative to have a magnetic, beautiful presence in the part -- and he was understandably shaken when the actor originally cast had to bow out due to another commitment. That's when the gods of the theater smiled on the company.

"Last year," Carr relates, "I was introduced to an actor named Brandon Ruckdashel, who was in a play called Ascension Off-Broadway. I saw him in that, and he was wonderful." Carr made it a point to keep him in mind for future projects, but Ruckdashel soon moved to Los Angeles and became so involved in building a career there that he was unavailable for New York theater work. Or so it seemed...

The story of Ruckdashel's career arc is as interesting as any play or musical -- and, in fact, calls to mind the plots of several plays and musicals. Less than a year after coming to New York at age 22, he was cast in Ascension as Lorenzo, a teenager who may or may not have been sexually abused by a Catholic priest. That tiny-budget production's scheduled three-week run was extended -- and its ticket prices tripled -- in response to the frenzy that was created when Anita Gates of The New York Times raved about Ruckdashel's acting, wrote that he possessed "the intense blond good looks of a young Brad Pitt with a soupçon of James Dean," and also happened to mention that he had a full-frontal nude scene in the show.

Flash forward one year: Following critical acclaim for his performance in the title role of the L.A. premiere of the musical Twist, Ruckdashel has lately been in the thick of indie film and television work. His highest-profile project thus far is a featured role in HERE! TV's gay vampire series The Lair, in which he'll be seen this fall. George Carr wanted him for A Body Without A Head in the worst way, but friends patiently pointed out that Ruckdashel would almost certainly not be available to fly to New York on very short notice for a one-week run in an Off-Off-Broadway showcase. Carr made contact anyway -- and Ruckashel's first words to him were, "When do you want me there?"

The cast of A Body Without a Head also includes Courtney Allen, James Edward Becton, Sarah Doudna, Matt Drago, Olivia Julien, Brian Karim, Catherine Kjome, Terrence Michael McCrossan, Barbara Mundy, John Van Ness Philip, and Steven Seidel. The piece is very much an ensemble effort, but Ruckdashel's role can be seen as its emotional center, and Carr is thrilled at this completely unexpected casting coup. "What a wonderful happening it is to have Brandon as our Torpes," he enthuses. "It's a gorgeous part, and he owns it." For more information, visit www.theatresource.org.

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EDGE Magazine April 2008

Taking Risks with Brandon Ruckdashel
by Kay Bourne
EDGE Contributor
Friday Apr 11, 2008

Brandon Ruckdashel (Source: Marton Varo)

When Brandon Ruckdashel made his off-Broadway debut two years ago in the comic drama "Ascension," he got the kind of notice from the New York Times any young actor would envy. "The 23-year-old Mr. Ruckdashel is making his Off Broadway debut and it is a stunning one. This is partly because he has the intense blond good looks of a young Brad Pitt with a soupçon of James Dean.

"But Mr. Ruckdashel’s performance," the review continued, "is also noteworthy because his Lorenzo vibrates with the smug and nonchalant power of youth."

In the play it wasn’t long before his character was seducing a priest with the words "God’s not here now. It’s just you and me," and taking his clothes off. (Full-frontal.) Yet such edgy roles are typical for the actor, whose next is opposite porno superstar Jenna Jameson, who is making the move to legit films in such titles as "Zombie Strippers" in theaters next Friday.

Currently the photogenic Ruckdashel’s in front of the cameras for the part of Riley, a new character for the popular cable series "The Lair," seen on the subscription cable network heretv. Edge reached him by phone in L.A., home to the studio for the show.

Set for the most part in a private gentleman’s club operated by vampires who lure gorgeous young men to their lair for a feeding frenzy -- and other delicious moments -- the story-line follows a young journalist’s investigation into the horrific discovery of bodies drained of their blood buried in shallow graves near the small town where he works.

The Riley episodes - and there will be more than one show devoted to Ruckdashel’s character - take the "Lair" story to a different locale. While Ruckdashel was sworn to secrecy about the details, the initial episode begins on a lonely highway where Riley has stopped to chance a belt on his car. Along comes a hitchhiker, Jan.

Controversial roles have dogged the easy-on-the-eyes Ruckdashel, even back as far as when he was a junior in high school when he was cast as Judas Iscariot in a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Lynchburg, Virginia. The role came to the young actor at a time when his family had just moved the city in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, (coincidently Lynchburg was the hometown to late Carl Anderson who won awards for his portrayal of the character on Broadway and in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical.).

The small city, as it happens, was also home to Jerry Falwell who led a mega church there. The late evangelical Christian pastor and televangelist expanded the Moral Majority to the Moral Majority Coalition which opposes, among other things, state recognition and acceptance of homosexuality, the Equal Rights Amendment, and abortion.

Falwell was also opposed to the story-line in "Jesus Christ Superstar" on a convoluted theological basis which more or less complains that the plot characterizes the indecisive Judas as a pawn of God. Anyway, Falwell tried to shut the show down by discouraging attendance, however, his admonitions would seem to have had the opposite effect, as, according to Ruckdashel, the musical played to packed houses for two weeks in an auditorium that seats 1,400.

Ruminating back on the hoopla, Ruckdashel says that it dawned on him at age 16 that by giving audiences a chance to evaluate philosophical arguments for themselves, art provides checks and balances in a society.

It’s also freed him as an actor to leave things up in the air when portraying a character. For example, when he played the young seducer of a priest in "Ascension," people sometimes asked him afterwards whether his character was going to go on to live a gay life, a query he’d suggest they decide for themselves.

"I felt it was important to let the character’s future be completely open to their interpretation," he explained.

Having grown up in a Minneapolis suburb, his family moved to Utah his freshman year in high school, and the next to Lynchburg, where at a suggestion of a high school drama teacher, he spent a summer at the North Carolina School of the Arts intensive acting program. "That summer was the most amazing summer of my life," he wrote on his web biography. "I had finally found my home."

Senior year in high school, Ruckdashel was awarded "Best Actor in Virginia 2000" for his performance in the title role of "Pippin" the popular Stephan Schwartz musical. By now, firmly committed to acting as a career, Ruckdashel entered East Carolina University as a musical theater major. Four years later he headed to New York.

He hadn’t been there but three weeks when by chance he met and spent an evening with Schwartz, whose theatrical genius and knack for reinvention Ruckdashel greatly admires.

The young actor had been invited to the press night of the new version of the satirical review "Forbidden Broadway" by a friend. That led to his going to the after party at show’s creator Gerald Alessandrini’s apartment. While mixing and mingling, Ruckdashel noticed a man sitting off to one side by himself and asking who he was, learned that it was Mr. Schwartz. After introductions and a bit of conversation, they ended up planning to meet for martinis the next week.

Schwartz’s Broadway sensation "Wicked" was nearing its 1,000 performance mark, when the young hopeful and the legend sat down for drinks. Two years later, the composer’s observations about "approaching art as organic and ever changing" stay fresh in Ruckdashel’s memory. For example, long after "Pippin" was a successful Broadway show, Schwartz had seen a regional theater production outside London which revised the ending. He liked the innovation so well, he wrote an alternate conclusion to "Pippin," leaving it up to directors to decide which ending they wish to use.

"It’s a sign of a really intelligent artist to let other artists work their magic, and it’s also a sign of supreme confidence," comments Ruckdashel.

The young actor found Schwartz to be "very much a listener," wanting to know about Ruckdashel’s experiences in the theater. Mr. Schwartz advised him "to keep pushing because it’s never going to be easy."

Initially in New York, Ruckdashel found work in films appearing in such titles as Ivan Reitman’s "My Super ex-Girlfriend." He also played the lead Virgil, a naïve young man caught up in the decadent 1920s Parisian demimonde, in the feature film "Virgil" by German director Maria Beatty. In a change of pace, he played the lead Young Charly, a troubled young American soldier in Vietnam in Reeves Lehman’s biographical film "The Landscaper’s Daughter." He also has a prominent role in the upcoming feature film "One Of My Kings."

During his New York stint he ventured out to Hackensack, New Jersey playing the lead character Hotdog in a new show which spoofed beach parties. "Surf’s Up" inaugurated the New Teaneck Theater’s 10th season.

Back in the city, he began to work with photographers, among them famed Latino fashion and celebrity cameraman Jo Lance, who at that point in time was hot off of shooting the cover of "Cosmopolitan." Brandon also worked with Charles Beckwith, Reed Massengill, Derek Von Oss, Troy Phillips, Tony Jones, Ken Jones, Jon Malinowski, Jonathan Whitney, and Rick Shellhouse.

What does a established photographer gain from having newbie Ruckdashel as his muse? "You show up and allow him to create his art around you without complaint."

Ruckdashel said that his interest was the skill he’d gain; "I realized early on that part of the business is image based. Being in front of the camera, acting in movies, you have to understand the shot you’re doing and vary your performance according to how they’re shooting."

Having relocated to Los Angeles, Brandon found his first role on the West Coast on the stage, as the title character in the musical drama "Twist" at the Avery Schreiber Theater, which ran the month of this past December. Again the actor got excellent critical response. The show interweaves Victorian erotica, dark comedy, and gender bending into an extension of Charles Dickens’ novel "Oliver Twist," re-imagining Oliver as the classic tale plots his hazardous childhood searching for love, but also driven by physical desire.

"This is not your mother’s ’Oliver Twist,’" Ruckdashel told Frontiers Magazine at the time of the show’s opening. "I think most people think of Twist as a child. My Twist is a budding young man exploring both his dark and light sides ... There is bondage, kink, ad, of course, a bit of an exploration of Oliver’s masochistic side. But what I’m drawn to most about this character is that he is still exploring and finding out who he is as a person, a position I also find myself in."

Alexandra Billings, a transgendered actress and cabaret singer played Fagin. One reviewer called it "good, dirty, campy fun," but went on to praise the show for being in the spirit of Dickens.

In the next few days Ruckdashel begins shooting on "National Debt" with porn icon Jenna Jameson. Ruckdashel describes the 3-character film (Brandon, Jameson, and another woman) as "a webepisodic comedy." Beyond that skimpy description he couldn’t go -- he hasn’t seen the script yet!