In brief: Brian, 46, can be seen at Theatrical Outfit in My Name Is Asher Lev, an art versus religion coming-of-age story in which he plays four characters including Asher’s father and mentor —complete opposites. (Through Sept. 16. Tickets HERE or at 1.877.725.8849.)
Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.
Lives now: Sandy Springs, with wife Carrie, their 13-year-old son, their 10-year-old daughter and Fella, a lab-shepherd mix who can impersonate either breed. Moved here in 2010, for Carrie’s job as VP/Communications at the Southern Company.
Where you’ve seen him: Most recently as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Serenbe Playhouse; as the dim and very scientific Dr. Givings in In the Next Room … or the Vibrator Play at Synchronicity Theatre; in Shrew — The Musical, Loves Labors Lost, King Lear and The Tempest at Georgia Shakespeare; and in The Albatross, a couple of seasons back at Actor’s Express.
The resume: MFA from the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program. Two decades performing around the country at Lincoln Center, Pearl Theatre Company and the Directors Company in New York; at the Falcon Theater, Mark Taper Forum, Theatricum Botanicum, Hudson Guild and 24th Street Theatre in Los Angeles; and at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Milwaukee Repertory and the Alabama and Utah Shakespeare festivals. He was executive director of the Alabama Film Office for a time, does TV and film work and is co-producer (with writing partner and Asher Lev castmate Lane Carlock) of Nancy Creek Productions, which does stage, TV and film projects.
Favorite role to date: “This one, without a doubt.” He plays Aryeh Lev, Asher’s seriously devout and disciplined father; Yitzchok Lev, Aryeh’s gregorious older brother; the Rebbe, the revered leader of the Ashers’ Hasidic community; and Jacob Kahn, Asher’s artistic mentor.
Role he’d kill to play: Shakespeare’s Richard III, Hamlet and Macbeth.
First time onstage: At camp in upstate New York when he was about 10. The role: emcee of a biblical Academy Awards, in which he did in his best Howard Cosell.
On theater: “I think when you’re in the business as long as I’ve been in it, it’s just not standing on a stage and saying somebody else’s words. You are part of the artistic expression. Theater, to me, is an act of faith. You have to believe that the stories you’re telling impact people in a profound and positive way.”
Plugs: He’s in Fly, a drama about the Tuskegee Airmen, opening Jan. 30 at Theatrical Outfit.
Don’t mess around: He was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at James Madison University in Virginia and competed on the U.S. Greco-Roman Wrestling Team, with a Top 10 ranking. In the world.
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, covering or working in the performing arts for most of her life. Please email: kathy@atlantametropub.com.
