Peter Basch – Actor

From College to 1996 – New York

Back at Columbia, I majored in Physics (they didn’t have a theater major then). I was in the theater club, the Columbia Players, where I was Hysterium in A Funny Thing… and in the Barnard Gilbert & Sullivan Players, where I was the entire baritone section of the chorus. I went to grad school at Berkeley in Astrophysics, but got waylaid by a production of Ben Jonson’s Epicœne or The Silent Woman, in which I played Sir Amorous LaFoole (and got to wear a magnificent red wig from La Comédie Française!). I dropped out of grad school to be an actor.

Back in New York, I did Shakespeare on E 4th St (Peter Quince in Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gonzalo in The Tempest). I got into AFTRA by doing radio spots and soaps, sometimes with French and German accents (thanks, German dad and French-Canadian mom!). Then I got involved at the Manhattan Punch Line Comedy Theater where I was in plays by David Ives, Laurence Klavan, and many others. We cold-read new plays every week and I wrote for their sketch comedy group, Another Fine Mess. Ten blocks uptown, I started working with the Ensemble Studio Theatre and their sketch group, Hell’s Kitchen Sink.

One sketch morphed into a short play, English (It’s Where the Words Are) that was chosen for the EST Marathon of One-Acts in 1996. It got a very nice review in the NY Times (thanks, Mel Gussow!) and I got a production at the HBO Workspace in Los Angeles. I left New York for LA.

Since 1996 – Los Angeles

When I arrived in LA in 1996, thanks to Sarah Finn, who casts the Marvel movies (I’m available, Sarah! I could be Scientist #5 or Prof. Rodchenko), I did a read-through of Paulie: a Parrot’s Tale. Cold readings are one of my strengths, and the director asked if I’d like a small role. Yes! I am credited as Graduate Student #1 (I’m #1!). But I had just met my (future) wife in an interview lunch at Ca’ Del Sole in Universal City (Universal paid the tab). Ellen and I got married and I felt that depending on acting would be irresponsible since I now had two stepkids and a mortgage. So I leveraged my fancy Columbia Physics B.A. and became a technical writer. I’m in my 14th year at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, doing my bit for the Space Program.

But I could never get far away from the stage. I took the Upright Citizen’s Brigade improv classes (Yes, AND!), all four levels, twice! I helmed EST/LA’s playwright’s group and acted in readings, including the very funny We Used to Be Fun by Carole Real. Just before the pandemic, I did a play by Nick Ullet, How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall, in which I played a butler. I sang in An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer at Caltech.

Then, COVID… I was working at KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida on the Perseverance rover project (my signature is on the rover), right when the pandemic hit – masks, toilet paper shortages, angry Floridians… I came home on the NASA jet (ask me to tell you about it) and a year in isolation passed. And I really wanted to act again.

I remembered that Risa Bramon, the GOAT casting director (and EST member), had an acting studio, the BGB Studio. I took her 8-week Advanced Master Class. It was great, so I signed up for Syd Walsh’s ongoing on-camera scene study class, which is where I practice weekly.

I’m not represented but I am in AEA and SAG/AFTRA, so I go on Equity Principal Auditions and I submit myself through Actor’s Access, Backstage, and Casting Network.

I have just shot a short film called The Art Thieves by the very talented Nosayaba Annmarie, directed by Gracie Giffune. I think it will be great! Will post news when I have it.

Reel… some quite old!

Fish

Short silent movie from around 1990 with Martha Plimpton and David Eigenberg.

Paulie, a Parrot’s Tale (1997)

I did a LOT of cold readings of plays in NY. Just good at reading. Sarah Finn, who knew me from EST, asked me to do a reading of this screenplay for the director (John Roberts) and the screenwriter (Laurie Craig). John asked me to play a small part in the movie. I still get (small) residuals for this!

The Artistic Direction by Roger Hedden

I did this part in this play back around 1990 when I was 34… much too young for the role. Now I’m the right age, so I brought the scene into class. Now, I know, I’m not supposed to use class videos publicly. I’ll replace it as soon as I can. In the meanwhile… (reading with me is the wonderful Alessandra Mañon)