David Cruse, technical director for the acclaimed St. George Theatre on Staten Island, recently opened a photography studio as part of his production company, Coastal Artists. Even though Cruse lives in Neptune City and works in Staten Island, he chose to continue his journey as a business owner in Ocean Grove.
Having experience and being an authority in absolutely every aspect of theatre and theatre production, Cruse decided to start a company that offers production and split it with a venture that follows his other main passion, photography. You would be hard pressed to find anyone anywhere that is as entrenched in the arts as Cruse is. He has begun to assemble a massive selection of theatre and concert gear so he can add a back-line company — a company that offers instruments, wiring, sound boards and the like — under his already impressive Coastal Artists umbrella.
When it comes to the living arts, he can act, produce, direct, take incredible photos, run and design lighting, control a soundboard and rewire an entire stage inside out and backwards. He knows every single aspect of every area he puts his interest. Most people with this many ideas throw them all out to see what sticks. Well, what happens when every single one of them stick? I sat down with the jack of all theatre trades to find out.
David, first of all, give is a list of all of your projects, positions and titles.
Something like that could possibly need its own Patch. Just to highlight, as you mentioned, I am the technical director at the historic St. George Theatre in Staten Island, NY. I am the founder and artistic director of Coastal Artists. Currently for Coastal Artists, I am a photographer, shooting whenever I can, most recently shooting the latest promo and online catalog for Killbrand Apparel. I am the head audio engineer for Coastal Artists. I am also producing, directing and playing a leading role in Barefoot in the Park for the company as well.
Can you share some of your most memorable career highlights with us?
Productions, plays, photo shoots, etc. Memories are pretty vast, from starting out doing musicals for the Monmouth County Parks System to directing and touring musicals for young audiences for 6 years, to running the St. George. I'd say my biggest highlight, as an actor, would be touring as 'Romeo' in Romeo & Juliet for the New Vic Theatre of London's US National Tour. From a technical aspect, everyone I have gotten to work with in concert production, from Tony Bennett, Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel to most recently in the past couple weeks, Diana Ross and Brett Michaels. As cheesy as that last one might be to some, I am not embarrassed to say that Poison was one of my favorite bands growing up as a kid on the Jersey bayshore in the 80s, so I was pretty stoked on that. And any work that I get to do with my good friends The Sixty-Six as they continue their journey toward musical stardom is a series of new highlight after new highlight. As a photographer, the things that stand out are getting my start working with Vogue Magazine's Jonathan Becker and working with Details Magazine, but mostly it's the people that I have met.
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The models, designers, actors and other photographers each give so much. My work with Killbrand is always a blast and every single time I assist my partner in photographic crime, Lucia Holm, on any of her shoots, I am completely blown away by the images that she produces out of my studios and out of her head, in general.
Do you find it difficult to be involved in so many things that are all so different but all in the same area of the arts?
To be involved in, no, absolutely not. To properly devote the amount of time to really be creatively and artistically satisfied in all of them— definitely difficult. I think artists are rarely truly satisfied with their work. So multiply that by everything I do and you'll find that I am rarely content with the work I've done. I'm still striving and trying to find out how to cram every ounce of creative energy into 24 hours as I can. I'm actually thinking of adding a 25th hour to every day and hoping nobody notices.
It seems you prefer to be behind the scenes running the show rather than in the show. Is this correct?
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I actually don't. If I had the time devote to being a full time actor, I would do it. But everything that I do thrills me. I dig it all. So, choosing to just be "in" it all that time, as opposed to picking that as my one thing, is far better way to spend my days. I get a tremendous kick out of seeing something that me and my crews and my company and my friends create from behind the scenes. I've never had the desire to be famous, to be a broadway star or a Hollywood actor... I just want to do it. I just want to be around it. And I am. I am so far into it, sometimes my family and my friends don't see me for a month.
Your position at The St. George Theatre is an impressive one. How did you acquire such a title?
Slightly by charm. Mostly by luck. I was on tour and brought one of my shows to Staten Island. The guy who was running the place at the time was impressed with my work and offered me freelance work as an audio technician for their summer concert series, being that I wasn't living too far away. But I toured in a few months later, with a different show, and he was no longer there, and this beautiful venue was just a wreck. I spent two days there with my show, and was bored in between performances, so I just started fixing things. They took my info. Eight days later I got offered the job. That was in May 2006 and I have been there ever since.
You have a long history of being involved in theatre. Where/when was your love of the arts first realized?
It almost wasn't. I remember being totally into seeing my brother in Grease when I was about 13 years old, and he completely stole the show. That was my first inkling, but I was a baseball player. My whole life. That's all I really cared about growing up. Baseball got cut short during my senior year of high school, and a buddy convinced me to audition for the high school musical, after previously convincing me to join the chorus, as a way to meet girls. So, my interest in pretty girls who could sing is where this whole thing began I guess. But the first time I walked on stage in front of an audience in that production of Guys & Dolls, I knew I wanted to do this forever. My actor teacher, John Bukovec, who now runs the theatre department at Brookdale College, taught me how to live and breathe it.
You offer a number of services through your company. What are they and what do they each provide to a potential client?
Photographically: Model portfolios, band & musician promo/press kits, live concert photography, actor headshots, boutique photos, event photography, pretty much anything you can think up. You can contact us to shoot with either myself or with Lucia Holm, and we'll create great photos and make sure you have a great time in the process. We offer live event support from audio enhancement and engineering to lighting and backline. We work closely with ACIR Pro out of Atlantic City and with several production companies in New York and New Jersey. We can provide labor and equipment for pretty much any live concert or event. My lighting designer is fabulous and my crew is top of the line. And in theatre/film/music, we offer you entertainment. We are an ensemble of artists, and our mission statement says that we hope to open our artists to professional and semi-professional endeavors. Currently, 2 of my former actors are appearing on Broadway and a good bunch more are making their living exclusively as performers. We offer actor training through The Acting Conservatory, located in Coastal Artists Studios at The Jersey Shore Arts Center. Anthony Jude's classes are first-rate and affordable, and you should study with him. Beyond that, we offer concert booking, currently working closely with the Music, Arts & Drafts series at both the Downtown, in Red Bank and coming soon to a new performance space within the St. George in Staten Island. In conjunction with those concerts, we are always looking for new artists (painters, sculptors, photographers) whose work will be displayed at the shows. We've also just acquired and are in the process of opening a huge costume rental house, where we'll be able to costume full musicals, or even your next theme party or Halloween bash.
Where in all of the theatre aspects you were handling did you birth a love and passion for photography?
It started on the road on tour, shooting mountain-scapes and architecture and pretty much anything I thought was beautiful. When I started at the St. George, one of my first days of work was a rental by Vogue magazine. I was blown away. With a little bit of help from the photographer, I found myself morphing into shooting models on the regular. It's just sort of blown up from there.
What is your favorite medium to shoot and work with as far as photography goes?
Digital. Film is just not possible for me from a financial or time conscious perspective. I shoot with Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses. But I'm not one of those Nikon vs. Canon photographers. If someone wants to buy my a Canon 5D, I'd be more than happy to shoot with it!
Are there any plays, shows or exhibits slated in the future that people can come to see your work?
Coming up on May 6 and 7 @ 8pm and May 8 at 3pm, catch Neil Simon's 'Barefoot in the Park' in the main theatre at the Jersey Shore Arts Center, at the entrance to Ocean Grove. Visit coastalartists.ticketleap.com for tickets! Do it! We're also working on permanent installations of photos in the halls outside Coastal Artists Studios in the JSAC.
Where can the public view your work and what you offer through the company?
You can see my photo/video work at www.coastalartistsphotography.com and Lucia Holm's work at www.luciaholmphotography.com ... Contact us through the contact pages and we will be in touch. Our main website at www.coastalartists.org is undergoing a major overhaul, but please continue to check in there for all the updates and what we have coming up! Also, "like" us on Facebook. Search for Coastal Artists Productions and when you visit us, check-in at Coastal Artists Studios.
