Founding Artistic Director of Green Room Projects and Naked Stages, Mark Cabus is a graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory and the British/American Drama Academy at Oxford University. With over 37 years in the performing arts, Mark is an accomplished actor/writer/director/producer, working in film and television as well as Off Broadway, regional, and children’s theater.
A skilled, classically trained actor, Mark appeared all over the US and Europe. He’s recognized locally for his work with the Tennessee Repertory Theater (WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF; INHERIT THE WIND), Mockingbird Theater (GROSS INDECENCY: The THREE TRIALS of OSCAR WILDE), and the Nashville Shakespeare Festival (OTHELLO; MACBETH) as well as Green Room Projects (HAMLET; ANIMAL FARM) and Naked Stages (I AM MY OWN WIFE, A CHRISTMAS CAROL). Mark’s film credits range from THE CLIENT and HBO’s AGAINST THE WALL to the Nashville-produced cult musical, EXISTO. He and his screenwriting partner, Will Akers, have three short films to their credit: HOMECOMING (Nashville Film Festival ’05), BREATHE (NFF ‘06), and SCARE ME.
Mark’s critically acclaimed, original solo adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a Nashville favorite, running for the past eight seasons. His abridged, one-hour version of the Holiday classic has toured throughout the state and has been seen by over 9000 Tennessee students. He’s written and directed his own adaptations of Madeline L’Engle’s A WRINKLE IN TIME (Nashville Children’s Theatre), Henrik Ibsen’s A DOLL HOUSE (Nashville Shakespeare Festival/Mockingbird Theatre), Bertolt Brecht’s THE CHALK CIRCLE (Tennessee Governor’s School of the Arts), and Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and HAMLET (Green Room/Naked Stages). The latter operated under the conceit that all eight actors take turns portraying the title role. Mark conceived and directed CONJURE WOMEN: A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC, MOVEMENT, AND MOUTH, Tennessee’s first festival for women in the arts.
The Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s (TPAC) Education Department and the H.O.T. (Humanities Outreach Tennessee) program have commissioned two works from him: H5X5, freely adapted from William Shakespeare’s HENRY IV and V and performed by five actors, and George Orwell’s fable, ANIMAL FARM, for which he won the 2004 Tennessee Williams Fellowship from the University of the South. Both plays were produced by Green Room Projects. The summer of 2008 will see Mark adapting and directing CORIOLANUS for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s 20th Anniversary production. Naked Stages is co-producing.
Mark has distinguished himself around the Southeast as an educator of merit. He’s established SHAKESPEARE WITHOUT FEAR, a practical classical training course for actors. Specializing in teaching teen artists, he has lead seminars and workshops for the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, the Tennessee Young Writer’s Workshop, the Nashville School of the Arts, the Nashville University School, Stageworks, and the Vanderbilt University School for Gifted Students. In 2003, Mark joined the TPAC Education ArtSmart Teaching Artist faculty. Currently, Mark is a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Film Department.
He created and developed PROJECT: 1317, an interactive arts program offering teens free drama, music, and visual arts classes and founded on the principles of the Forum, an issue-based theater arts curriculum based on the principles of service learning, experiential therapy, and the pioneering improvisational work of Brazilian playwright/activist, Augusto Boal. This program has been established at the Oasis Crisis Shelter, My Friend’s House, and the Alternative Learning Center of Williamson County.
As a recipient of the Ruth Sweet Acting Scholarship for Continuing Education, Mark attended, in conjunction with programs at Julliard and UCLA, the British American Drama Academy at Oxford University. He is also the Tennessee Arts Commission/Ingram Industries Individual Artist Fellow for 1992. Mark is currently a Senior BFA student in Theatre at Belmont University; he graduates in December of 2008.
