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Acting and improvising

Gary is an accomplished actor and improviser with experience doing voice-over and stage tech. He performs in plays and in improv shows in the Portland/Vancouver area, teaches improv workshops and develops scripts and sketches. Not only is this labor of love personally fulfilling, but it provides innumerable ideas for team-building workshops and keeping long meetings fun.

Gary first hit the stage in 2002, taking improvisation workshops and performing shows at ComedySportz in Portland. In 2003 he began writing and performing sketch comedy. He expanded his work into semi-improvised dinner theater in 2005, then played his first stage role with New Century Players in 2006. Gary has now performed in nearly 200 improv shows, seven mainstage plays, and numerous staged readings with various area theater companies. He also teaches improv workshops and has developed two full-length stage plays, two of which took the stage in 2010 in addition to a pair of one-act plays.

In the stage arena, Gary’s stage services include:

  • Improvisation workshops
  • Developing scripts and sketches
  • Acting and improvisation
  • Script development
  • Murder Mystery Dinners
  • Using improvisation as a writing tool
  • Play production
  • Sound, lighting, and tech

Recent Acting work

A Talent for Murder

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 6:36am — portermaker

The relatives of an internationally successful mystery novelist wouldn’t mind killing her to get their hands on her art collection. The banter between the novelist, her savvy Indian butler who uses words like "chutzpa" and her live-in doctor provides comic relief from the mayhem being planned by the family. A mystery with twists and turns that will leave you guessing!

A Talent for Murder
Role: 
Lawrence McLain, 42 year old son of main character Ann Royce McLain
Author: 
Jerome Chodorov and Norman Panama
Director: 
David Roberts
Production Company: 
Magenta Theater
Venue: 

Magenta Theater, 606 Main St., Vancouver, WA

Dirty Work at the Crossroads

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 6:59pm — portermaker

Gary played evil villain Munro Murgatroyd in Bill Johnson's "Gay '90's" classic Melodrama that inspired a generation of Saturday morning cartoons. Directed by Melinda Leuthold, the play opened May 6 at Loves Street Playhouse in Woodland, WA.

Dirty Work at the Crossroads
Role: 
Munro Murgatroyd (villain)
Author: 
Bill Johnson
Director: 
Melinda Leuthold
Production Company: 
Loves St. Playhouse
Venue: 

Loves Street Playhouse, Woodland, WA

The Odd Couple

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:06pm — portermaker

Can two divorced men - Oscar Madison, a disorganized, casual, honorable slob, and his best friend Felix Ungar, an uptight, neurotically neat control freak - live together, and survive the experience? A Neil Simon classic that inspired the hit TV series.

The Odd Couple at North End Players
Role: 
Oscar Madison
Author: 
Neil Simon
Director: 
Cassie Thompson
Production Company: 
North End Players
Venue: 

Bert Mann Theater, 7600 N Hereford St, Portland, OR

The Seven Year Itch

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:13pm — portermaker

While his wife and son escape the brutal New York summer heat, Richard just might have to scratch that Seven Year Itch when a beautiful young girl moves into the apartment upstairs. But what is wife Helen up to in Maine?

Seven Year Itch at North End Players
Role: 
Tom McKenzie
Author: 
George Axelrod
Director: 
Tim Luke
Production Company: 
North End Players
Venue: 

Bert Mann Theater, 7600 N Hereford St, Portland, OR

Wit

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:20pm — portermaker

Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., expert on the brilliant and difficult metaphysical sonnets of John Donne, has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. During the course of her illness, Vivian comes to reassess her life and work with a profundity and humor that are transformative.

wit
Role: 
Dr. Kelekian
Role: 
Mr. Bearing
Author: 
Margaret Edson
Director: 
Dorinda Toner
Production Company: 
Slocum House Theater Co.
Venue: 

Slocum House Theater, 605 Esther St, Vancouver, WA

24-Hour Plays

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:25pm — portermaker

Four writers, four directors, and 30 actors create, rehearse, and perform four one-act plays in 24 hours.

Role: 
Husband
Author: 
Patty Arbelt
Director: 
Patty Arbelt
Production Company: 
CoHo Productions
Venue: 

CoHo Theater

Good Citizen

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:31pm — portermaker

On a cold Friday night in March, Minoru Yasui tests the constitutionality of a curfew imposed on all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. "Good Citizen" follows Yasui’s story, and reverberates with the history of a national policy that imprisoned 70,000 U.S. citizens – men, women, and children – without due process. A staged reading as part of the 2010 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works.

Role: 
Various
Author: 
George Thompson
Director: 
Valory Lawrence
Production Company: 
CoHo Theater (Fertile Ground Festival)
Venue: 

CoHo Theater

The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa

Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:34pm — portermaker

An immigrant family struggles with assimilation and cultural identity in a California border town.

“Gary Corbin's cameo as a police officer makes the humor in this 45-year-old play seem fresh.” - Allison Hallet, Portland Mercury

La Jura in The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa
Role: 
La Jura (The Policeman)
Author: 
Luis Diaz
Director: 
Olga Sanchez
Production Company: 
Miracle Theater
Venue: 

Miracle Theater