CAST & CHARACTERS

The more absorbed I become in this website and in my play, the harder it gets for me to differentiate between these actors and the characters that they're portraying.

  The first time I met Tom Shillue, I told him that I was looking for one person to play LBJ, JFK, Harry Truman and Kenneth Starr.  Without make up, costume or prior preparation, Tom instantaneously transformed himself, in face, voice and mannerisms, into all four of these public figures, one by one.  It made me seriously wonder:  Did I just happen to write about four people that Tom had already practiced impersonating, or was this man a true chameleon who was capable of becoming anyone that he was asked to be?  If I needed someone to play Billy Carter, Imelda Marcos, Babe Ruth or Mae West, would Tom be able to accommodate me with the same precision?  If I had to make a wager about whether the answer to that question was yes or no, it would truly be a tough call. 

Before I ever imagined that Kenneth Starr or Monica Lewinsky existed, I knew what Carl Kissin could do.  I'd been going to see Chicago City Limits on a fairly regular basis, for years, and I've watched Carl play dozens of public figures, as well as hundreds of original, improvised creations.  Of course, he initially told me that he was too busy performing and writing for his own comedy group to become involved in any new projects; that is, until I convinced him to actually sit down and read my play.  Since then, he's been there, one thousand per cent, and has given me invaluable advice and encouragement.    

Tom, Carl and Natalie were all part of the limited theatrical production  of Starr's on Broadway, at Time Square's Producer's Club, last year.  I didn't happen upon Christie or Michelle until  I was putting together a video, that a local producer made for me,  in a three camera television studio.  All the above images of the actors were captured directly from that video.  In other words, none of these pictures were posed for, and any similarities in gestures or facial expressions are merely illustrations of what I was saying about how these actors literally transform themselves into the real people that they're playing.  All the drawings you see above are of fictitious characters that were created for the play.  

If you want to know more about these actors, you can visit our Biographies page, and if you'd like to actually hear them, playing these roles and doing their dead on impressions of these public figures, please click on Audio.  Once again, thanks for taking the time to stop by.

                                                              Eric Zaccar

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