small talk with matt

I'm a Chicago actor. I like music (both listening and composing), playing pretend professionally, role-playing games (I always roll rogue), and other activities related to making things that weren't there before in worlds that may or may not exist. I've always wanted to start a web-comic, but don't worry -- this isn't that. This is just to keep anyone with an interest in my professional life updated. Feel free to do any of the things listed right below this!

[matt-edmonds]

Brief Update since last post!

So was a little worried to go Equity, but seems to be working out at the moment! Projects completed since last post: -Big River at Theatre at the Center -Murder for Two at Milwaukee Rep (which was my first official union contract since turning AEA; it was also just enough to put me over the edge for my first dose of Equity health insurance. Yay, I'm not gonna die!) I've got a couple of contracts lined up (one starts rehearsing in a couple weeks, though I'm not sure there's been a casting announcement yet, so I don't think I can put anything on social media), and one I just signed for the other day, so I definitely shouldn't talk about that. VAGUEBOOK ON TUMBLR.

[matt-edmonds]

As I'm about to close Ragtime over at Griffin Theatre, some other news y'all: recently decided to turn Equity for James and the Giant Peach over at Drury. Got some other big shows lined up for fall and winter, but don't think I'm allowed to say anything yet. :)

[matt-edmonds]

Past, Present, and Future

Been a hot second since the last update, and some exciting stuff has happened: PAST Checked another dream role off the bucket list. Played Mark in Rent under the direction of the incomparable Scott Weinstein. We got extended. We got UNEXTENDED because of the national tour and then REEXTENDED because producer Kevin McCollum (of the original Rent) got wind of the irony of a corporate production of Rent muscling out a storefront production and made some calls on our behalf. Was awesome. Rent got nominated for a number of Jeff Awards, including Best Musical and Best Ensemble, which is sweet. That happens 6/6. PRESENT Just closed Rent after a completely sold-out run. Have a free summer, and will be focusing on writing. I have a few things in the pot (two musicals and a play), so hopefully I can finish one of them by the end and maybe get a reading or workshop going. FUTURE Will be playing L.M. in Pump Boys and Dinettes over at Theater at the Center in Munster, IN come fall. Pretty excited! Never worked out there before, and never played keys in a show before, so it'll be a handful of firsts!

[matt-edmonds]

SEVEN THINGS

Have you ever played "Seven Things"? It's like an improv-y type game? One person gets told a category and they have to shout stuff in it as fast as they can and the group counts off loudly as they finish each one? Let's play. Matt! Seven things you did since your last website update, go! Oh! Me?? Uhh, ummm...Titanic got nominated for a whole bunch of Jeff Awards! ONE! Uh, I'm understudying four tracks in Hammer Trinity at the House Theatre of Chicago! TWO! Hammer Trinity got Jeff Recommended and four stars from the Trib and people like it a lot! THREE! I'm going on for closing! In a track that is not one of the four I cover! FOUR! wait what Yeah, it's dramatic! Umm, what else, I did a Four Loko commercial?? hahah FIVE! I...just performed in a one-minute play festival, which was weird but a lot of fun??? SIX! Oh! I got new headshots!! SEVEN! SEVEN THINGS!!! That wasn't quite as funny as a normal game of Seven Things, but it was way more informative if you're here and are like "Where the hell has Matt been."

[matt-edmonds]

Titanic opened! We got Jeff recommended! We got highly recommended by Hedy Weiss in the Sun Times! We got a four-star review (and I got a personal shout-out) from Chris Jones of the Trib! It's like finding and riding a unicorn! It's a good day. Come see! We run till 12/7. In other news, after Titanic wraps up, I've got something pretty cool on the docket, which I will hopefully remember to post about once all the business gets taken care of and contracts get signed and whatnot. But it's pretty much everything I've ever loved thrown into one production, so get excited.

[matt-edmonds]

Recap, Summer 2014

I'll spare you the apologizing for not posting in a million years, here's what happened and what's happening: -Last Five Years rocked, was a dream come true. -Seussical rocked, I went on for Horton for four shows, and they went very well. I've wanted to perform on Chicago Shakespeare Theater's stage since the first show I saw there when I was 17 (Merchant of Venice), so I was very excited. People seemed to like it. ;) -I booked and shot my first commercial! It's for Knotts Berry Farm (which during Halloween season, turns into Knotts SCARY FARM, which is an amazing choice). I got to have my thumb ripped off repeatedly, as well as scream in a scary basement as a mad dentist ripped teeth out of a dude. So much better than bite-chew-smile. -I'm currently in Size of the World at Redtwist Theater. I say a LOT of words. Check it out. -I will be doing Titanic at Griffin in the fall! I'll be playing the part of Charles Clarke, and a duet of his that had been cut from the original is going back in, so that's pretty cool too. I think that's it! I love you all, even though I have no idea who reads this.

[matt-edmonds]

Wait a second...is that...?

Yep, that's totally my name! 2014 Jeff Award Nominees

[matt-edmonds]

Couple o'things

So it's been a while. Brief recap of the last several months:

Was slated to be in Provision Theater's Taming of the Shrew as Tranio!

For reasons that exist, Provision Theater's Taming of the Shrew was cancelled. Womp womp. They aim to put it back up next season with the same team, so I'm staying optimistic.

But it's ok, because I'm slated to appear in a dream role of mine, Jamie, in The Last Five Years out at what seems to have become a second home for me, Metropolis Performing Arts Center! Rehearsal starts in like a week, so that's NUTS. It runs from mid-May to mid-June; check it out.

Fast forward to this past week: I just agreed to understudy Horton in Seussical at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, which will be directed by my good friend, classmate, and sometime director Scott Weinstein (who directed me in All-American, and seems to be doing something new and famous every time I turn my back on him for ten seconds), and music directed by my comparatively newer friend but equally dismayed former Shrew cast-mate, Michael Mahler (composer of many things including Hero, which was recently at the Marriott, and music director of MANY things, most recently CST's Road Show).

So normally I don't broadcast things I'm merely in consideration for, because what if I don't get it? Then the whole internet will know I'm WORTHLESSSSSSSS. But I'm gonna make an exception, because I actually just had my very first audition for the BroadWAY yesterday, and that's an exciting milestone. It was for future replacements for Beautiful, the Carole King musical. I managed to get a callback, which was earlier today and went very nicely, and starting now, I'll never speak of it again unless I get cast, because omg.

[matt-edmonds]

Quick update

Double-reprising my role as Young Scrooge over at Metropolis in their yearly production of A Christmas Carol! Come see! I've also got some other stuff lined up for the next few months that I'll let y'all know about soon. MYSTERY.

[matt-edmonds]

So big news: as of two days ago, I am now exclusively represented by Shirley Hamilton Inc! The folks over there seem really...well just overall awesome in a number of ways, and I'm excited to waltz down this new life path alongside them. Ok, that imagery got a little weird. But speaking of inept poetry, my performance as Simon the 19-year-old philosopher-poet will finally see real-people eyes tonight; Signs of Life at Victory Gardens has its first preview. Come see! $15 tickets for previews (9/18-9/22) with the secret and clever codeword "previews". Pretty sweet deal since the tickets for the actual run will run you $45-65. Good week, good week. Let's do this thing.

[matt-edmonds]

All-American doin' gooood

So some good news; I'll keep it brief, 'cause I gotta go to call in a few minutes: -All-American at Redtwist Theatre has been Jeff recommended. Badass. -A couple of reviews are in and seem to enjoy me pretty much. See my press page for excerpts and links to the full reviews! Yay!

[matt-edmonds]

Signs of Life

Hey ladies and gents, contracts are signed, rehearsals start in three weeks: Matt will be performing as Simon in Signs of Life, which opens over at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre on 9/25 (previews start 9/18). A snippet from the show's website: "Signs Of Life, a new drama with music based on the true story of the Czech ghetto Theresienstadt, tells one of the most fascinating and least known stories of the Holocaust. Originally founded by the Nazis, Theresienstadt was specifically designated for the academic and artistic Jews of Europe. In an attempt to deceive the Red Cross and sway public perception, the Nazis decided to "beautify" the ghetto and commission a propaganda film. Signs Of Life shows the struggles of the captives of Theresienstadt as they try to expose the truth through art and music--and in doing so, discover the humanity they all share." The show revolves around Lori, a young artist, who is a new arrival in the city. At first, she's convinced to do whatever it takes to survive, but things start to change as she spends time with the residents, many of whom (including the charming young philosopher Simon) are trying to find an effective way to rebel. Interestingly, the show was originally commissioned by a woman named Virginia S. Criste (who is also the major producer of our incarnation), whose grandparents spent their last days in Theresienstadt. Check out the full story here if you're curious; it's pretty cool. Anyway, I'm pretty pumped; both the role and the show as a whole are spectacularly crafted. In short, I couldn't be more excited. In other news, I'm about to open All-American on August 3rd (which is going extremely well; please come see it!), and I've got a handful of promising callbacks coming up over the next few days, so hopefully I'll have more good news soon!

[matt-edmonds]

Hey look, I'm posting BEFORE something happens!

So I just started rehearsals for All-American at Redtwist Theatre (look, I'm even there on the site), and it's gearing up to be a great show! Runs 8/3-8/26, and it's in their offnight series (Sat 3pm, Sun/Mon 7:30pm), so you can see it even if you're a famous theatre person who's already doing a show. It's a really delightful/hilarious/heart-wrenching show about a female high school quarterback whose dad was in the NFL and her transformation from a dedicated, Seventeen magazine prodigy to a girl who just wants to be in high school and how that affects the family, which includes her substantially less talented twin brother Aaron (<--this guy). Come see! Other big news on the horizon that I'm awaiting a contract for...so get excited.

[matt-edmonds]

Next to Normal and Indie Films

Hey y'all, Just got home a few days ago from the lovely Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I just closed an INCREDIBLE production of Next to Normal (click for a sweet review) at TheatreSquared, which was honored by the American Theatre Wing as one of the nation's ten most promising emerging professional theatres. I played Henry, which knocks out one of my top several dream roles I wanna play before I hit 30. I met some amazing people, and now am aching to take a trip out to NY for a reunion with the rest of my castmates, all of whom get to spend as much time as they want with each other. Currently, I'm about halfway through a shoot for Like Father, Like Daughter, written/directed by Allie Loukas. It's my first feature film (woot), and I play Gustav Hammerstein, a dude with multiple personality disorder, but in a haha way. It's lookin' pretty sweet so far.

[matt-edmonds]

A brief recap of the last 6 months

So it's been a while; lemme bring everyone up to speed:

Got my first SAG-AFTRA job in voiceover. Watch the video to see!

Began working with Child's Play Touring Theatre as a substitute music director. I taught a summer camp and have performed in two of their shows now.

Around July, I began submitting on Actors Access in order to get comfortable in the film world. Since July, I've been cast in two independent films, five student films, and a web series. I'm trying to get a reel together, so hopefully I'll have that up for you soon. I'm loving working on camera, and the folks I'm meeting are a kick. The pic above is from 'Midway,' a short directed by Joe Kosty from DePaul.

I was cast as an understudy in You Never Can Tell at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, which is opening in about an hour at the Greenhouse Theatre, right off the Fullterton Red Line. It's been a total blast, and it's an absolutely delightful show. Everyone should come see.

I'm taking part in a concert reading of Carousel, in which I'll be playing Jigger. More information here.

And finally, I'll be music directing John Guare's Rich and Famous over with Jackalope Theatre Company in early 2013. If anyone knows any banjo players or otherwise bluegrassily talented people, please lemme know.

It's been a crazy few months, but I'm pretty proud of the work I've done. If any agents happen to be reading this right now, keep an eye out for my submission, 'cause it'll be coming around soon. To everyone else, I love you and goodnight.

[matt-edmonds]

Like, State Street State Street??

Yes, that one, the one in the city in which I -- and perhaps you -- reside. I have been secretly keeping you out of the loop, and I shall pretend that it was on purpose. I've been in super-secret rehearsals for a super-secret show called State Street over at City Lit Theater. Which I couldn't divulge until now for super-secret reasons that I definitely have.

It runs May 29th-June 24th, with previews May 25th-27th (click for showtimes). Come! It'll be a kick in the pants, and its like a 2-minute walk from the Red Line (see map at bottom), so it's amazingly accessible. Though they don't seem to be available online at the time of this post, you can try clicking here for tickets in case the City Lit box office has updated their site.

Things That Are True About State Street, Some Of Which Are Paradoxical

a List, by Matt Edmonds

It takes place right before and during Chicago's whole oops-we-lit-our-entire-city-on-fire thing.

It is a comedy.

For a hot second, a reference to Young Frankenstein was directed into the show.

Sheldon Patinkin directed it.

My character, John Drake, has a line about it taking a week to save 10 dollars.

My character, John Drake, saves up 500 dollars over the course of this show, 50 of which are without me leaving the stage.

This show takes place over the course of several days, if that.

This is a good show.

I'm playing one of three romantic leads -- and yep, City Lit's marketing picture perfectly indicates what I mean

It doesn't actually.

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[matt-edmonds]

After increasingly thinking that I don't, I did manage to embed my tumblr in the news section of my website. I reposted all of my former, manually-done html posts in tumblr format, so that none of my priceless witticisms were lost. In addition, I'm still figuring out how to format said embedding, so if some stuff looks weird, give it some time, and I'll restore it to my delightful aesthetic that all my faithful readers have come to know and love. Also some updates over on the media page, though still working out some kinks over there too. Enjoy!