Greg Takoudes launches "Shout at the Thunder," with Gardiner Comfort

Greg will be joined by actor and writer Gardiner Comfort for a reading, conversation and Q&A, followed by a reception and signing.

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Twelve-year-old Holly Toast has Tourette’s syndrome, making her mind feel like a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. When her family moves for the summer to a crumbling estate set to become a state park— her mom the new ranger, her dad an eccentric inventor— Holly steps into a forgotten world: a decaying mansion, overgrown gardens, an abandoned zoo, and echoes of the wealthy family who once lived there. With the park still closed, Holly has the place mostly to herself— until she finds hidden notes left by Belle, a girl who lived there eighty years ago and felt just as trapped and misunderstood. As Holly uncovers Belle’ s story, she begins to see herself reflected in the past. But with demolition crews closing in, time is running out. To find out who she really is and where she belongs, Holly must unlock Belle’ s secrets before they vanish forever.

Greg is a writer, filmmaker, and professor of film studies based in New York City. Greg graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in English and Film and moved to Los Angeles.

There, he took his first job on the set of James Cameron’s Titanic, and also worked on the creative team of Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. Greg moved to New York City to focus on his own books and movies. He is the director and co-writer of two feature films, including the SXSW award-winning Up With Me (distributed by IFC Films). Greg is also an adjunct associate professor at The New School, where he teaches undergraduate classes on directing, screenwriting, film production, and cinema studies.

Greg is the author of the critically-acclaimed young adult novel When We Wuz Famous, published in 2013 by Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and in 2015 by Square Fish/Macmillan Children’s Group in paperback. The book was a Junior Library Guild selection and an American Library Association pick, and Greg received the prestigious annual Muriel Becker Award for Literary Excellence given by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. Greg was also commissioned by Routledge Press to write two non-fiction books on filmmaking: The Collaborative Director and The GoFaSt Guide to Screenwriting.

Greg lives in Brooklyn with his wife (a cookbook editor at Phaidon), two children, and an Aussie-Collie. He and his family are avid travelers and enjoy exploring the United States and other countries. He has completed the New York City Marathon several times and is a seasoned backwoods camping enthusiast.

As a kid growing up in Tribeca, my mom (choreographer Jane Comfort) introduced me to downtown theatre and dance venues like PS 122, HERE, and Dance Theater Workshop by bringing me along to rehearsal. She sometimes threw me into her shows!

I studied acting at Skidmore College, SITI Company’s Summer Intensive, and the British American Drama Academy in London. I continued my training at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab, and got my MFA from the American Repertory Theater IATT/MXATT at Harvard University (also known as ART).

I’ve done lots of movement oriented experimental theatre with companies like Mabou Mines and Hotel Savant and worked with groundbreaking companies like The Civilians, 13P, and Richard Maxwell’s New York City Players.

In recent years I’ve developed several original theatre projects, namely two solo shows. The first, YOU’RE NOT TOUGH, a collection of monologues in the style of Eric Bogosian, Danny Hoch, and Sarah Jones (all major influences on me as a teenager), which I performed at HERE and Dixon Place in New York.

The second show, THE ELEPHANT IN EVERY ROOM I ENTER, is about my life with Tourette Syndrome, a much misunderstood neurological disorder that I credit with giving me my unique acting abilities. My collaborator, the director Kel Haney, and I created the show in Mabou Mines’ Resident Artist Program in 2014.

And recently I produced, and acted in, my first original film! It is a short based on a full length play I wrote called Battle Rattle.

Otherwise, I am an avid runner of several marathons and ultramarathons, a devoted outdoorsman, and a licensed New York City tour guide.

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