Brian Damage
07-05-2010, 07:58 AM
http://advanced.jhu.edu/registration/may-2009-masters-degree-ceremony-keynote-speaker/
Mr. Astin is currently a Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins University where he is Director of the Program in Theatre Arts & Studies and has initiated the University Theatre on the Hopkins Homewood campus in the historic Merrick Barn. Occasionally Mr. Astin performs on stage with his students, and he is still active in film, television and the theatre. For six years he performed a one-man show on Edgar Allan Poe to critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences across the U.S., Ireland and Australia. He hopes the play will enhance and deepen interest in and respect for Poe’s brilliance and versatility. Astin said recently, “I feel that Poe, through his own tortured existence, gained deep insight into the nature of the universe, along with an intense love and appreciation for life itself. Through this play I want to share that impression with others.”
Mr. Astin is, of course, best known as Gomez Addams, television’s lovable, slightly crazed patriarch of the original Addams Family series, the myriad repeats of which have led to the frequent reference to Mr. Astin as a “pop-culture icon.” Gomez remains a favorite among his hundreds of TV characterizations, along with Buddy Ryan in Night Court and the title role in Evil Roy Slade.
Mr. Astin is currently a Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins University where he is Director of the Program in Theatre Arts & Studies and has initiated the University Theatre on the Hopkins Homewood campus in the historic Merrick Barn. Occasionally Mr. Astin performs on stage with his students, and he is still active in film, television and the theatre. For six years he performed a one-man show on Edgar Allan Poe to critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences across the U.S., Ireland and Australia. He hopes the play will enhance and deepen interest in and respect for Poe’s brilliance and versatility. Astin said recently, “I feel that Poe, through his own tortured existence, gained deep insight into the nature of the universe, along with an intense love and appreciation for life itself. Through this play I want to share that impression with others.”
Mr. Astin is, of course, best known as Gomez Addams, television’s lovable, slightly crazed patriarch of the original Addams Family series, the myriad repeats of which have led to the frequent reference to Mr. Astin as a “pop-culture icon.” Gomez remains a favorite among his hundreds of TV characterizations, along with Buddy Ryan in Night Court and the title role in Evil Roy Slade.