Today we’d like to introduce you to Cornelius Boeder.
Hi Cornelius, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey started with music. In high school back in Germany I began producing electronic music, teaching myself piano composition and went on to study audio engineering. I was doing sound for short film productions when I found my way into volunteering as an actor as well.
That’s when I realized that always being reliant on a mountain of equipment and the quality thereof was taxing to me and I fell in love with the idea of needing nothing but words on a page to do my job. And as if that wasn’t enough of a change, I also chose to move to Vancouver to do so. There I studied and worked as an actor mostly in theatre and short films. It was always a dream of mine to take my career to New York in some shape or form so that’s what I did. I studied once more at the Lee Strasberg Institute and started working here in New York. This year two of my own creations (‘Fog Around August’, a short film and ‘Scissors’, a full-length play) have been produced. ‘Fog Around August’ is currently being submitted to festivals and ‘Scissors’ will be performed at the New York Theater Festival in November. Let’s see what’s next.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Thus far, I’ve been pretty fortunate. Obviously, the road isn’t always smooth -especially having moved around so much. It takes time to build a community of like-minded artists to collaborate with. Especially because I’ve grown to be more particular in choosing the work that I want to do but I’ve been so lucky to have found people that not only enable me to do so but improve upon it time and time again. There have been a lot of hard resets along the way but patience is key and I finally feel like I’m on the right track and it’s only the beginning.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I definitely gravitate towards a simple and naturalistic style to try to make the audience forget that they’re watching actors and let them focus on the story. When starting out, it’s not always easy to rely on that because you rarely get to perform truly great material. I realized that a lot of problems a new work has lie right at its inception -the script. So I simply set out to write material that good actors would want to be in. Easier said than done of course but I’ve been working away and was able to get my first two pieces of writing produced here in New York. What sets me apart, I think, would be my style of writing. I tend to choose the darkest, most absurd and depressive subject matter to then try to make it accessible through natural flowing dialogue, self-awareness and humor. The same approach can be found in my acting and when choosing my roles for sure.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I tend to look for inspiration in places that have very little to do with the actual thing that I’m trying to do at the moment. Usually, I gravitate towards other art forms or documentaries and music is my number one go-to – currently I’ve been getting back into some German artists like Nils Frahm, AnnenMayKantereit and Lambert. I also go on an occasional reading bender of plays by the likes of Martin McDonagh, Kenneth Lonergan, Gina Gionfriddo and books by Murakami. And of course, the streets of New York are always a fantastic resource.
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Federica Borlenghi Geetika Kumar Kristine Cofsky Kevin Johnson
