The Arts

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Actor goes from shy guy to er... 'organist' extraordinaire

By: Kevin Prokosh

28/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Binning: no longer bashful (HANDOUT)

WHEN musical theatre student Rich Binning started college in Pittsburgh he was a painfully self-conscious teenager too bashful about his naked body to use communal showers.

That all changed when Binning took up residence with six other male students and got an education that wasn't on the curriculum of Point Park University.

Theatre preview

Puppetry of the Penis

7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30

Burton Cummings Theatre

Tickets: $46 & $36

"Living with a bunch of dudes kind of got me out of my shell," says the 24-year-old star of Puppetry of the Penis returning to the Burton Cummings Theatre for one night Friday.

One of his buddies was Christopher J. Cannon, then a 17-year-old, who discovered the art of genital origami at a Puppetry of the Penis performance in Portland. He immediately hit the books, pulling an all-nighter studying the how-to handbook he had purchased after the show, and quickly taught himself five of what are politely called "installations" which involve him twisting his private parts into recognizable shapes.

Soon Cannon became a party favourite and Binning sought a private lesson as to how to do the show-stopping hamburger maneuver.

Following graduation he naturally moved to New York City. He and Cannon, 22, made their professional debut in early August off-Broadway at the Bleeker Theatre and their run was extended twice until earlier this month before they headed out on the road to the west coast.

"At first I was nervous and wondering how it would effect my career as an actor," says the Ohio-born Binning over the telephone from Portland. "I'd rather take this job and not work for Disney in the future. I'm not worried about putting this on a resumé. In fact, it's a great conversation-starter in an audition room."

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 28, 2009 D3

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