Jeremiah Milbauer: Renaissance Man, Literally By Kaley G Pillinger (The Observer Newspaper)

Jeremiah Milbauer, a 10th grader at Hunter College High School, has fostered an interest in theater from a young age.  “Like any kid, I think I was always interested in dressing up and parading around the house in costume, pretending to be some character from my imagination.”  It’s been a long and prolific journey between his first role as a sunflower in a play at day camp at age 8 and his current role as Giorgio Vasari, a young apprentice in the current production of The Faultless Painter, currently in rehearsal for the Strawberry One-Act Festival by the Riant Theater.

While this is Jeremiah’s first foray into professional theater, he’s participated in many productions both at school and his synagogue.  His favorite roles include: Fagin in Oliver!, Crank in Snow Angel, the title role in The Odyssey as well as the aggressive half of Caius Lucius in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.

The producer from The Faultless Painter saw Jeremiah as Odysseus and remembered his terrific performance when it came time a year later to cast the role of Giorgio Vasari. The characters in the play are all based on real historical figures.

Young Giorgio is apprenticed to the oft-overlooked Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto (played by Samuel Muniz).  The one act, which delves into del Sarto’s inner conflict between his love for his unfaithful wife, Lucrezia (Virginia Bosch), and his commitment to his art.  The interesting historical note is that Giorgio, who plays a seemingly insignificant role, turns out to become the real-life biographer of del Sarto and the first ever art historian.  “It will be interesting to see how I play the character who ends up being the storyteller,” Jeremiah commented.  But that’s not the only challenging part of his role: the entire play is in verse.

Jeremiah is faring well with his new environment, be it having his feet measured for Renaissance-style footwear, working with a cast of all adults, or spending hours discussing the history behind the characters and situation in The Faultless Painter.

But walking around in Renaissance shoes and a vest will be completely worthwhile, because “It feels great to be able to say to yourself, ‘Jeremiah, you are in an Off-Off-Broadway show.’”

The Faultless Painter will be performed March 1st at 9 PM at The Hudson Guild Theater, as part of Series B of the Strawberry One-Act Festival, 441 West 26th Street, NYC (between 9th and 10th Avenue)
Tickets are available at 1-646-623-3488
or http://www.therianttheatre.com/item.php?id=156