Post Classifieds
Theater alumnus shares accomplishments
By Joseph Losito
On April 26, 2012
Peter Marino's life in theater has been shaped by a wide variety of successes and one particularly
notable failure. A 1987 graduate of the theater department at Buffalo State, Marino chose not to
limit himself to one aspect of theater, instead pursuing a wide variety of opportunities. Through
the years, he has worked on writing his own productions, performing solo shows, voicing
commercials and even taking time to teach current theater students.
One of Marino's largest endeavors was writing a musical based on the movie "Desperately
Seeking Susan." When the musical premiered in London's famous West End Theatre in 2007,
the crushing negative reviews forced the show to be dropped after a month. One year later the
show opened in Tokyo to wonderful reviews.
Marino took the lessons learned to create his latest venture, titled "Desperately Seeking the
Exit." This new performance is a funny look at his time working on his former show. Instead of
a big production he says this new venture will be a solo show of him in front of the audience to
make it a more intimate setting.
"I kept a blog of the whole four-year experience of the musical," Marino said. "Then I turned the
blog into my one-man show. Even the headline comes from the title of one of the bad reviews."
Marino says he is taking his one-man show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland this
summer. The Fringe is commonly called is the world's largest arts festival, spanning 25 days and
featuring performances of more than 2,000 shows from over 60 nations.
"The Fringe festival is the premier festival in the world for that kind of work," said Shaun
McLaughlin, theater department lecturer and former Buffalo State classmate of Marino. "I'm
proud to know him and at the same time I'm jealous of him. I think the show is going to do really
well at Fringe."
After graduating from Buffalo State, Marino said he landed many roles, including one of the
players in the show "Stomp." "Stomp" is a traveling show that takes everyday objects such
as garbage cans and push brooms, and turns them into makeshift musical instruments. The
production he was with performed in 56 cities across the country and select shows in South
America.
"It took me about a year and a half and several auditions before I got the spot," Marino
said. "But 'Stomp' was definitely one of the greatest experiences I've had. I got to see the
world."
Not only was he able to visit many cities, but he was also able to make it onto a certain late night
television program to show off his talents.
"A few of us from Stomp went and did a skit on the Letterman show," said Marino. "The skit
had us inside of a nice restaurant, which we basically tore apart trying to do our act from the
show. David Letterman himself was very nice."
Not to be typecast as strictly a live performer, Marino said over time he started to branch out into
voiceovers. He is paid to enter a studio and record voices for different products and commercials.
After the initial recording, actors will also collect residuals from the work they have done,
allowing them to seek out other theater work in the meantime.
"One of the most interesting voiceover campaigns I did was for Celine Dion," Marino said. "I
did all of the radio commercials for the 'Titanic' soundtrack, then I was chosen to be the voice
of her new perfume. It was pretty funny to go her show in Las Vegas and hear my commercial
playing constantly in the gift shop."
Along with Celine Dion, Marino says that he apparently has the perfect voice for those suffering
from the flu. He has done voiceover work for commercials featuring over-the-counter cold
medicines, necessitating eight to ten straight hours of studio time.
"This past winter I was the voice of the talking Nyquil and Tylenol bottles for their
commercials," Marino said. "That was a lot of fun because I had to have a real stuffy nose while
speaking. Ironically, four years ago I was the voice of Robitussin."
Marino has also made trips back to Buffalo State to help theater students. His last trip had him
conducting workshops in the theater department teaching students how to create a solo-show. At
the end of the course, students performed in front of peers and faculty.
"This was all his idea in working with a small group of students," said Donn Youngstrom,
department chair and associate professor in the Buffalo State theater department. "I saw the
final performances after his workshops which were very impressive. It's very important for our
students to be in contact with our alumni."
For comments on this story, contact bscrecord@gmail.com.
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