solo

Peter Michael Marino has been directing, developing, teaching, performing & coaching solo shows and material since the ‘97 debut of his critically acclaimed cabaret spoof, “Lance Jonathan: All About Me!”, and its Bistro Award-winning sequel “More About Me!”. Shows include:

Mark Giordano’s MAD MAN @ The People’s Improv Theater

Amy Albert’s Delilah Dix & Her Bag of Tricks @ Edinburgh Fringe Fest, Dont Tell Mama, Second City

Amy Albert’s Delilah Dix: Showin’ My Business @ Laurie Beechman Theatre, Ars Nova

Alicia Levy’s CHICKAPALOOZA @ Ars Nova, The PIT

Sheila Head’s Head Games @ Ars Nova, IO WEST

Lori Hammel’s Margo Rose Reports Series @ YouTube

Elizabeth Whitney’s Wonder Woman! A Cabaret of Heroic Proportions! @ TADA

Alicia Levy’s Red Carpet Ride @ The PIT

Ellen Mareneck’s Twister Sister @ EST

Lori Fischer’s Cat on a Hot Tin Can @ The Duplex, Don’t Tell Mama

Alicia Levy’s I’m SO There @ The PIT

Adelaide Mestre’s Top Drawer @ Midtown International Theatre Festival

What stories and characters are you eager to share?

Peter Michael Marino honed his improvisation, character, and story-telling skills with Theatresports New York, where he and Sheila Head created Character Witness. This “improvised town” fostered the development of over fifty original characters and ran for two sold-out years. The show also led to the cult cable spin-off The Uncle Charlie Show, which enjoyed a national following, and the critically acclaimed Lance Jonathan cabaret shows.

In April 2010, Peter began teaching his award-winning “Flying Solo” classes at the PIT for actors, writers, comedians and improvisors looking to develop solo shows. He also taught his “Essentials of Comedy” and “Instant Improv” workshops at The Actors Centre in London for the past year.

In 2009, Peter was a Guest Artist at Buffalo State College SUNY, where he implemented and directed the Western New York premier of “Character Witness” where 25 original characters were created and performed for ecstatic late-night crowds.

Peter was an associate director for Kirsten Ames’ Solo Show Comedy class, where he directed and developed a number of new characters and monologues that led to Aspen and Montreal Comedy Festival callbacks and performances. He developed a dozen shows working with Tom Fontana (“OZ”, “St. Elsewhere”, “Homicide”) at The Writers Theatre. Peter has taught improv with Theatresports New York, as well as teaching acting at New York’s Professional Performing Arts High School.

As a featured member of the global smash STOMP for five years, Peter wordlessly (and rhythmically) utilized his improv and musical background to interact with crowds of up to 3,000 in theaters from Canada to South America. Peter is the conceiver and librettist of the musical “Desperately Seeking Susan” which featured the hits of Blondie. The show played on London’s West End and in Tokyo in 2009, with future plans for a European tour.

For more information on Peter, please visit his BIO page, his COACH page or

Whether you’re an actor, improvisor, comedian or waiter -- you have an original story to tell. But, getting a solo show or solo material off the ground can seem overwhelming and downright terrifying. If you’ve been concocting tales, jotting down ideas, dreaming up characters and winding up feeling stuck, you’re not alone. You just need help getting out of your own way ... and you’ve landed in the right place.

Peter is full of encouraging and useful feedback. He is kind, thoughtful, and very witty. He helped us hone our skills.

-- ANONYMOUS - LEVEL 1

For complete letters of recommendation and to download Peter’s resume & CV, please CLICK HERE.

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

EXPERIENCE

CO-PILOT

Having a co-pilot is a vital element of developing material before putting it out there. When working on new material, characters, and shows, we often feel trapped in our own little snow globes, and seeing beyond the storm can be a challenge. When you shake it up, the landscape becomes more exciting. A co-pilot will help move things around and take the controls, allowing you to exploring unchartered creative terrains.

We’ll get to the root of your story and help find story elements and hidden gems that you didn’t even know were there -- bringing your ideas to new heights. You’ll explore finding the truth in your tales and in your characters -- whether you’re playing them or talking about them. Together, we’ll make your characters accessible, fascinating and memorable. Creating effective work requires a process. Peter will make the process fun, so it’s more of an exciting journey, and less of a scary trip. And the result will be worth the ride.

Peter is a firm believer in the phrase, “It’s easier to do it, than to think about doing it.” How many times have you looked at that pile of laundry or stack of tax receipts and thought, “I can’t even deal with that”? But eventually you attack the stack, and an hour later, it’s all done. Your show isn’t going to write itself in your head, and it won’t happen in an hour. But, it will happen. It’s time for you to jump in and start doing it. And Peter is here to help you put pen to paper. You just need to start.

If you’re working on a monologue, an audition, a character, a viral or promo video, or an entire solo show, Peter offers flexible rates and 100% commitment to collaborating with you to bring out your best. Take a look at the testimonials below ...

RECIPIENT of 2010 & 2011 BACKSTAGE READERS CHOICE AWARD

FAVORITE COMEDY TEACHER (CLICK)

Your encouragement, analysis, observations and sense of humor made the class. You understood me, my strengths and weaknesses, and provided me with useful exercises. Peter understands fun and understands people.

-- STEPHEN L. - LEVEL 1

Fantastic! Your class was the jump-start that I personally needed to find courage on stage, confidence in myself, and trust in my words.

-- LEA R. - LEVEL 2

Class really changed me. It’s the first time in a very long time that I felt like an artist. Wonderful teacher.

-- CHARLES S. - LEVEL 2

The man is an inspiration, a genius and a mensch.

-- BRADFORD S. - LEVEL 2

This was the best class I’ve ever taken! I am shocked and amazed at how much I grew as a performance writer in just a short time!

-- CORA L. - LEVEL 1

A brilliant teacher and very thought provoking. He has an eye for bringing out the best. I would highly recommend him.

-- MIKE C. - LEVEL 2

A great environment to explore this new, scary idea of writing solo performance material. I felt like I could try whatever I wanted out without ridicule or judgement.

-- SARAH P. - LEVEL 1

An awesome teacher; he knew how to give us very constructive feedback.

-- MELISSA P. - LEVEL 1

Peter is one of the best teachers I have ever had. He gears his classes towards overcoming any weaknesses and more importantly fortifying their strengths as both a writer and performer. I really cannot write enough good things about Peter and I highly recommend his class.

-- SUE K. - LEVEL 1

Peter's class was great, really informative and in a very supportive environment. I'd love to work with him again in the future.

I would definitely come to learn from Pete again, his style of teaching, explaining and guiding me through the workshop was very inspiring.

Peter is so alive, fun and encouraging. I have already recommended him to friends.

This 2-day workshop has been extremely inspirational. We covered a great deal and were given supportive and constructive feedback.

Peter was engaging, extremely supportive and created a comfortable stress free atmosphere.

The tips and exercises for actors were incredible, it has affected what I will do permanently. Bring this man back!

Thank you for such a fun and encouraging class. Such great energy, everyone felt free to explore and gained inspiration.

Thank you for your approach to everything- you gave feedback and coached in such a positive and constructive way.

Brilliant course, fun and interesting. Learn such a lot. Loads of interaction, can’t wait to do another course with him.

Really enjoyed the course, very illuminating. Learned a lot about both acting and comedy. Peter was very positive and his enthusiasm was intoxicating.

Peter is inspiring, and a great teacher.

-- LIZ J. - LEVEL 1

Peter Marino is a wonderful, funny, insightful, dedicated instructor. I loved his class and would recommend it to many people.

-- JESSICA F. - LEVEL 1

Peter was a wonderful teacher who made us all feel comfortable

and supported. Great class and great teacher.

-- AMY H. - LEVEL 1

Feedback from students of Peter’s “Comedy Essentials Workshops” at The Actors Centre, London:

Feedback from students of Peter’s “Instant Improv Workshops” at The Actors Centre, London:

Pete made an extremely safe and extremely creative environment so we could experiment, take risks, learn and have fun. I hope he can come back before long. I learned a huge amount.

Peter should come more often. After so many years of acting, I learned completely new things that I hadn’t before.

I started terrified of improv after having developed somewhat of a block to the technique after a few failed auditions where it was required. But now I feel very confident again and am almost looking forward to my next audition.

Peter is a very good improv teacher. It was great fun. I want to do more.

Absolutely loved it! Learn a lot and was so pleased to meet such a lovely talented and funny guy.

At every stage he helps us and pushed us further so we could see and understand the results. I would take his classes again and thoroughly recommend them to any performer and for positive attitude to life!

I found the class very freeing!

Peter was very insightful in his comments about writing, rewriting, editing and performing my story. He is very adept at recognizing how to improve one's work and delivering constructive criticism in a way that instills confidence. I would recommend him without reservation.

-- ERIC S. - LEVEL 1

Peter’s charisma and positive energy was delightful. I had very little idea of a topic to elaborate on at the start of class, but Peter helped each one of us find our own specific story to tell.

-- FATI O. - LEVEL 1

There are some directors that can change who you are as a performer and allow you to grow in ways you could not imagine. Peter is this kind of director. He dedicates and invests himself thoroughly, making the environment safe, nurturing, and full of possibilities. Anyone who works with Peter will grow, and become a better-rounded performer.

-- ALICIA LEVY, Writer/Performer: Chickapalooza

Peter is an incredibly collaborative director. He helped me to trust my ideas and build on them. He is supportive and inspiring. His sense of humor is unique and infectious. He is deeply resourceful as an ideas person and in creating additional support for the project. I highly recommend working with Peter Michael Marino.

-- LORI HAMMEL, Writer/Performer: Margo Rose Ferderer

As a solo show performer working with your own material, you need someone who can work with you as a writer and performer. Peter has a way of supporting the things you do well, and also assists you in going to places that are more challenging. He creates a really safe space and he gets you to take risks to tap into your unrealized potential. I would recommend working with Peter to anyone!

-- ADELAIDE MESTRE, Writer/Performer: Top Drawer

Peter has an intuitive ability to know what needs to be done and a strong work ethic. He is completely invested every step of the way and I felt that I was working in a true partnership. He cares deeply about the quality of work that he helps to produce, and he throws incredible amounts of artistic energy into any project to which he commits. I am confident that he will bring his best to every project with which he is involved.

-- ELIZABETH WHITNEY, Writer/Performer: Wonder Woman

Peter is a very organized, deeply passionate director who understands how all the small details work to create the final large picture. His communication skills and ability to assist actors in building their characters is uncanny. Peter demonstrates a deep wisdom of humanity and the universal language of theatre. We have been blessed with a chance to work under such profoundly talented direction.

-- AMY TARAVELLA, Artistic Director ALT Theatre

Peter brings talent, passion and brains to whatever discipline he may be engaged in – directing, producing writing, everything. He is a true multi-talented theater artist who is a left and right brain thinker, bolstered by a personality that is both resolute and congenial.

-- CONSTANCE McEWEN, Theatre Alliance of Buffalo

INDUSTRY & ARTIST TESTIMONIALS

I always feel that Peter is driving me to achieve my full potential. As a student in his workshop, or with our performer/director dynamic, Peter has helped to make me a more disciplined writer as well as a clearer and more specific actor/comic. I feel more secure and confident in my work because of his guidance. I look forward to continuing our creative relationship and feel very fortunate to call him a friend. All the work he has done has exceeded my expectations...I haven't said that about anyone since I lost my virginity.

-- MARK GIORDANO, Writer/Performer: Mad Man

Pete’s Flying Solo classes will resume in Fall ’12