ACT: a new podcast series with host Dawn A. Westbrook about the craft of acting, the art of directing and embracing the process

Send a textGeorge Bernard Shaw once said, &quot;Don&apos;t wait for opportunity, create it.  Geoffrey Nauffts is a Producer, a Broadway and Television Actor, a Tony-award nominated playwright and television scriptwriter, and a director. He has worked as an actor on and off Broadway, regionally, and extensively in film and television. He’s directed plays by Kenneth Lonergan, Frank Pugliese, Theresa Rebeck, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Steven Belber’s critically acclaimed Tape in New York, LA, and London. His writing credits include; Baby Steps, an award-winning short film starring Kathy Bates, Jennifer, a CBS movie of the week, Political Animals, Greg Berlanti’s Emmy-nominated mini-series for USA, and 13 seasons for ABC as a writer/producer on shows such as: Brothers and Sisters, Grand Hotel, Nashville, and A Million Little Things. His critically acclaimed play Next Fall received the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award in 2010 for Best New American Play which was nominated for a Drama League, Drama Desk, and a Tony Award. He is currently developing an original new musical with the internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke and this month he is directing his best friend of 44 years, Michael Mastro (Season One, Episode One) in Michael&apos;s autobiographical one-man show called I WANNA BE GOOD - and I am seeing it next week.  I adore these 2 men and this conversation with Geoffrey was a delight.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did recording it.To learn more about ACT contact Dawn Westbrook by heading over to her website at www.dawnwestbrook.com

SEASON TWO Episode Eight: Geoffrey Nauffts whose successful career was no accident!

Send a textBorn in the small town of Lubbock, Texas, Steven Skybell knew at the age of 10 as Pavel the peasant boy in the local theatre version of Fiddler on the Roof that the stage was where he belonged.  A graduate of both Yale University&apos;s undergraduate and graduate theatre studies programs, in 1988 Steven stepped right off the stage at Yale Repertory and onto the boards at the Neil Simon Theatre for his broadway debut in Eugene O&apos;Neill&apos;s Ah, Wilderness! Classically trained in Shakespeare, ironically Steven does not think of himself as a musical theatre performer. But to everyone else? His performance as Tevye in the Yiddish version of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF directed by Joel Grey is a tour de force and the performance of a lifetime.  The show was sold out and seen by celebrities and politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Hugh Jackman, Baryshnikov, Lin-Manuel Miranda (to name a few).The production won the 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Revival, the 2019 Critics Circle Special Citation Award and Steven won the 2019 Lucille Lortel for Best Lead Actor in a Musical.  The show was the brain child of both Joel Gray and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene&apos;s (NYTF) Artistic Director, Zalmen Mlotek.  Steven has appeared on broadway in shows such as, Love! Valour! Compassion!, WICKED, and The Full Monty.  He and his husband, Michael Cole (who is Stephen Schwartz&apos;s personal assistant), live a couple of hours north outside the city in a little town known as Mahopac, NY.  They have 2 children &quot;fur babies&quot; named MacKenzie and Caleb both are Blue Merle Australian Shepherds.  If you ever find yourself on the lake in this lovely little hamlet, you might even see Tevye slaloming across the wakes and doing some tricks.I will tell you that that Steven is as lovely to converse with as he is on stage.  Honest.  Charming.  Kind.  Funny.  Interesting.  He says the trick to acting is If the thought is clear then the actor&apos;s message will get across.  Steven Skybell is truly a very rich man!To learn more about ACT contact Dawn Westbrook by heading over to her website at www.dawnwestbrook.com