I played Matthew Cratchit for one year and Peter Cratchit for two while I was in middle school, back in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Man, it's been a while! Since then I graduated with a Bachelors and then Masters degree in computer science from the University of Michigan. I'm now living in San Francisco and working at Fitbit (with my twin brother!) to help make the world a healthier place.
From 1989 - 1998, I performed every male child role in A Christmas Carol except for Matthew Cratchit. I never got to say “The potatoes are bubbling! The potatoes are bubbling!” It is one of my greatest regrets. However, I did get to say “Not BLOODY likely!” at the top of my lungs at age 4. So you win some, you lose some. I grew up backstage at Meadow Brook Theatre with my father Terry Carpenter as head stage manager and my mother Linda working in the costume shop. I was, I hope, a very cute and constant presence on and offstage during my childhood, hanging out with actors in their greenroom, in the rehearsal room, and outside while they chain smoked. Or inside while they chain smoked. It was the late 80s and 90s. But those 9 fall/winters of performing in A Christmas Carol alongside Booth Colman, Mary Benson, Paul Hopper, Tom Mahard, and countless others who came through year after year cemented my love for the theatre and the direction of my life and career.
From 2003 - 2007, I attended Hope College in Holland, MI where I received a BA in Theatre with a dual focus in Acting and Lighting Design. Upon graduating, I returned to Meadow Brook Theatre as an acting intern for the season and performed in my 10th year of A Christmas Carol, this time as an adult. So still no bubbling potatoes for me.
In 2008, I was accepted to the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, FL. In three years I received my MFA in Acting. I had also met my to-be wife Alicia. We were in the same class of 11 people and saw each other for roughly 16 hours a day. So really it was a lack of options and time to see other people. We graduated and got married in the spring of 2011, and moved to New York City that summer.
Since moving to NYC, Alicia and I have worked with several different theatre companies including Project: Theatre, Smith Street Stage, High-Five Productions, Titan Theatre Company, and the Pearl Theater both on and offstage. I do lights. Alicia takes care of props. We love when we get to work together.
For the past 7 years Alicia and I have been part of Our Bar (www.ourbarnyc.com) as writers, performers, and directors. Our Bar is Dive-Theatre - original site-specific theatre for less than a shot and a beer. This November Our Bar celebrates its 10th Anniversary. If you live in NYC, come check us out and/or like us on Facebook and Instagram @OurBarNYC. Our Bar performs the first Wednesday of every month, tickets are $10. And you get a beer. It’s been the same price, same deal for 10 years. Not many companies in NYC can say that.
In 2018, Alicia and I welcomed our first son Kieran to the world. He is a charmer, but not yet destined for the stage. He only says, “Hi!” “Bye!” and “Car!” so we’re still a couple years away from “Not BLOODY likely!” on command.
Meadow Brook Theatre and “A Christmas Carol” will always hold a special place in my heart. And my nightmares. The only “actor’s nightmare” I ever have takes place on the set of “A Christmas Carol,” ...and I can never remember the line, “The potatoes are bubbling! The potatoes are bubbling!”
Between 1997-2002 I played the roles of Tiny Tim, Matthew Cratchit, Peter Cratchit, Boy Scrooge, Turkey Boy and also appeared as a Fezziwig Guest & Londoner along with some of those roles in any given year.
Since finishing my time at MBT, I graduated from North Farmington High School in 2006 and joined the US Navy, graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 2010 with a Bachelors Degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Since graduating the Naval Academy and being commissioned as a Naval Officer, I finished flight training and received my Naval Aviator wings in 2012, training to fly the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. I have been stationed in Lemoore, CA since 2012 flying the Super Hornet and deployed aboard the USS John C. Stennis in 2016. I’m now a tactics instructor pilot and am set to deploy again in 2020.
I married my beautiful wife Katherine in 2016, who is no stranger to the stage - she is a professional opera singer with a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance.
I was in Scrooge as a Boy and both Matthew and Peter Cratchit in different years. I later graduated from the University of Michigan with honors in 2005. I was a founding member of the band "Tally Hall.” I studied screenwriting and had planned to enter the film/TV zone when our music video for “Banana Man", a Video Art II class project, went viral via Albino Blacksheep et alia in the pre-YouTube era, garnering millions of views, thus, among other factors, thrusting the band and me into the music industry.
Since Tally Hall went on hiatus in 2011, I have established two new music projects: ミラクルミュージカル (Miracle Musical) and a self-promotional hip-hop/hop-hip type thing 'devoidish' of compunction.
In 2013, I attended graduate school at the University of Miami in Florida for a semester but postponed my MBA to work with a transportation company called AmericanElectric®; among Superfly and other inventions, this company will one day build a teleportation device with reference to and reverence for quantum physics.
Today, I am back living in the Detroit area. A car collision has rendered me relatively inert for the remainder of 2019.
I enjoy hammock camping, plant/fungi-based foraging, inner & outer space, sports, transportation, the internet, swimming, etc. I chronicle nightmares & dreams when they are memorable.
About Us
Contact Us
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
378 Meadow Brook Rd.
Wilson Hall, Rm 207
Rochester, MI 48309
Meadow Brook Theatre's season is supported in part by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
© Meadow Brook Theatre 2016
