 He enrolled in Boston University's School of Fine and Applied Arts as an undergraduate designer and director.He graduated as a director and actor and spent the next several years acting, singing and dancing with the Oregon and San Diego Shakespeare Festivals, the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and with the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, CT.

At Stratford, and subsequently at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, he became the Associate Artistic Director to Michael Kahn.He also met and married his wife Julia MacKenzie.