That seemed a fitting first line, because it’s almost guaranteed to be the first thing you hear me say. My wife would agree. I’ve been in Chicago since 2013, and I moved to the UK in April 2025.
I’ve had many jobs, but in my heart I’m a Performer, a Singer, a Thinker, a Tinkerer, and a Friend.
There are three avenues for browsing this website:
ACTING
I made my way as an actor in Chicago for twelve years, where I’ve had the pleasure to play on some of Chicago’s best stages, some regional theaters, and even a couple cruise ships.
See more about my acting experience here.
WRITING
I’ve always been writing; stories, haikus, songs, sonnets. I’m on a short story kick right now.
Read them here.
MR. ZACH
In 2023 I started Mr. Zach’s Beatbox Factory, my one-man live-looping improvised show. There’s nothing quite like performing on the street, where the only way I can be discovered is by real people, in person, deciding they want to stop and share their time.
Check out Mr. Zach’s Beatbox Factory here.
What excites me?
Being HERE, with YOU, RIGHT NOW.
I’m passionate about characters and stories that make us feel the greatest joys, or ask the biggest questions, or face the most uncomfortable truths.
I often think about the how vast the universe is, and how much power there is in finding meaning in the everyday. I’m pretentious as hell but I love fairytales and camp. I love being challenged and working with people who make me see myself differently. I love plays and musicals, cameras and stages, comedies and tragedies, all of the above, always in search of connection.
I’m desperate to collaborate, which must be why I find myself at home in a theatre, because every element is a collaboration. Writers work with directors who work with actors to find unique characters, who play on sets designed and built by carpenters and painters and electricians, to be heard and seen in a theater with audio engineers and lighting designers by an audience who comes to share in the experience. There’s nothing passive, nothing unintentional.
This place, this work, these people, they are the source of my professional gratification. If any of this means something to you, I already want to work with you.
Tech, yeah!
To me, creativity and technology have always gone hand in hand. The sounds we make and the stories we tell are bound with the tools we have to make those sounds and tell those stories.
I spent years designing what I called my “Busking Box”, a portable live performance setup with built-in power and amplification. Sometimes I worry that I had more fun building this system than I do using it, which I don’t think is true, but the fact is that I’ve spent way more time doing the former than the latter, and I have to start all over again now that I’m in the UK (because 120V just isn’t gonna cut it anymore!).
Creative Lab 5
Odds are that you’re here from my Google Creative Lab 5 application. I have so many ideas for how my brand of music and live performance could meld with a technological hub like Google. I’ve used every AI tool I could get my hands on, including all the major LLMs (except Grok, sorry not sorry), Google’s MusicFX lab, and my personal favorite, Notebook LM (which was instrumental in my UK Visa application!).
I’ve experimented with different Loopers, including multiple loop pedals, apps, and desktop software, with a range of buttons, MIDI controllers, keyboards, and touch screens, all in an effort to find the right tools to match my creative flow.
All these tools provide something; none of them provide the creative puzzle piece that I’ve been dreaming of, but they’re so close. I am buzzing at the mere notion of getting to try and make it real with a team who understands a world of engineering I’ve never been able to fathom.
Gratitude
I aim to fuel everything I do with gratitude. Every day is a gift. So with that:
Thank you for being here. There’s a lot of world out there, and I don’t take your attention for granted.
Hit me up. I’d love to talk about the Simulation. Contact me here.