After graduating from Emerson College in Boston, where he followed a thoroughly physical approach to theatre, Marcus appeared in several very underground productions in the Washington DC area – most notably a (probably illegal) production of Sam Shepard's The Tooth of Crime at the now defunct WGNS recording studio. Later he earned an MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre's Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University.
Between these degrees, he sang and played guitar in the The Most Secret Method, with Ryan Nelson and Johanna Claasen. The band released two EPs and two full length albums while touring the United States and Europe between 1996 and 2002. In that time they had played on the stages of thirteen countries.
Since graduating from the Academy, his acting credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Folger Theatre, The Wars of the Roses (Henry VI pts 1-3 & Richard III) at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Intimations for Saxophone at Arena Stage, The Winter's Tale at Center Stage, Othello, Pericles, Much Ado About Nothing, and King Lear at the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, One Good Marriage at Metro Stage, Shear Madness, and the title role in Cyrano in the Kennedy Center's Theater Lab. He played the suicidal
Walton in the film portion of Bob Massey and David Wilson's multi-media opera The Nitrate Hymnal. At Round House Theatre, he had the rare opportunity (for a younger man) to play the Old Man in Ionesco's The Chairs, thanks to director Alain Timar's exciting punk interpretation of the play.
Marcus and artist friends founded the Taffety Punk Theatre Company. Operating a bit like a band, and a bit like a theatre – hoping to bring the best of these two worlds together – they began with several shows at the Black Cat nightclub, and a very successful production of Gwydion Suilebhan's Let X, directed by company member Lise Bruneau. Since then their productions have included world premieres of Cardenio Found, The Phoenix and Turtle, and The Devil in his Own Words. In 2008 they were given the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the Helen Hayes Awards. They continue to produce new and challenging work. Click below for updates.
