"The only place you find success before work is in the dictionary." M.B. Smith"

September 29, 2009- What's next? I'm playing the role of El Gallo in the beloved musical The Fantastiks, running November 20th-January 10th at the acclaimed Arena Stage in Washington, DC. This marks my second show with Arena Stage and I couldn't be more thrilled. Stay tuned, more details to follow...

September 28, 2009- The month of August was a hairy one and I mean that quite literally. I was cast as the sexy Spainard, Fernando in the independent feature film BearCity. BearCity is penned by Douglas Langway, who also directs and Lawrence Ferber. The film is being distributed by the folks who brought you Another Gay Movie and Chef's Special, starring Almodovar regular, Javier Camara (Talk To Her) tlareleasing.com. The film is due out summer 2010 after it hits the film festival circuits here and abroad. With the tagline: Romance can be hairy on IMDB.com, it's sure to be a lot of fun. The website, BearCity.com describes the film as, "Set in the New York gay bear scene and taking a cue from the popular HBO franchise, Sex and the City, BearCity follows a tight-knit pack of friends experiencing comical mishaps, emotionally sweet yet lusty romantic encounters and a cast of colorful, diverse characters, as they gear up for a big party weekend. When the distributers, TLA Releasing introduced the film to the industry in the Hollywood Reporter, it said this: "We are thrilled that BearCity is our inaugural film for the 2009/2010 production slate," says Derek Curl, TLA Releasing Production Executive. "With the combined efforts of our talented director, a recognizable cast and a strong production team, this New York-flovored, romantic comedy is going to be great entertainment." The ensemble cast includes Gerald McCollouch (Bobby Dawson on CBS' CSI:Crime Scene Investigation), newcomer Joe Cont, Brian Keane (NBC's Law & Order: SVU), Stephen Guarino (Confessions of a Shopaholic, LOGO's Big Gay Sketch Show), Alex De Dio, Greg Gunter, James Martinez (CBS' Numb3ers) and Sebastian La Cause (Ghost Town, Chicago), I don't know about you all but I'm feeling Oscar buzz...

September 26, 2009- Here it is almost a year since my last update and I have a lot to catch everyone up on. I was on the road with the 1st National Tour of A Chorus Line for six months. Playing Zach was really quite an incredible experience. I was blessed with a gifted cast that was truly a joy to work with and a whole lotta fun to be on the road with. I felt extremely proud of the show that six months. It was special. I finished my contract on May 3rd. I closed my run of ACL in Chicago and headed back to New York feeling reenergized and ready to move on.

First up was a Jerome Robbins Tribute Concert for the Hudson River Performaing Arts Center that reunited me with my old pals, director, Scott Thompson and musical director and arranger, Fred Barton. I teamed up with this duo back in 1997 in Austin Musical Theater's production of West Side Story at The Paramount Theatre. Scott wanted me to reprise my role of Bernanrdo for the concert and perform America with my, then co-star Donna Marie Asbury, who played Anita. I was happy to jump on board. I also played Gaby in the opening number from On The Town entitled New York, New York and sang the ballad I Have Dreamed, from The KIng and I. The concert was a blast and boasted the big Broadway talents of TONY nominee Mary Testa (Xanadu), Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid), Lisa Howard (9-5 The Musical) and Graham Rowat (Guys and Dolls).

Next up was a staged reading for off- Broadway's award winning York Theatre Company, for their acclaimed Developmental Reading Series. of a new musical called Spitits. This was a piece I had worked on at the York about a year ago. This time around we were going to record a demo of the music which was something I was very excited about. Spitits has a book by Ren Guyer and Jeff Harrington and music by Jeff Harrington with lyrics by Ren Guyer. The Press notes on Playbill.com describe Spirits as this: a violent crime affects more than just the victim in the original musical drama Spirits, where four people are drawn together one night to try and break a cycle of violence and revenge. The cast included Becca Ayers (South Pacific), Michael Hallig (A Tale of Two Cities) and Vanessa Lemonides (York's Oh Boy!). The director was Annette Jolles. I was thrilled to working with Annette for the second time and getting to hear Becca Ayers incredibley pure and seemingly effortless vocal skills was a treat. Check out her website beccaayers.com for more details about her album Baby Goes Bang which is availble on iTunes and Amazon.com.

I followed Spirits with another staged reading at the York, in the baseball themed, Once Upon A Pastime. However, this time I had the esteemed privilege of working with the TONY winning actor Len Cariou, who was not only starring in the piece but directing it as well. Len won a TONY for his work as the original Sweeney Todd in the acclaimed Stephen Sondheim musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opposite the exquisite Angela Lansbury. In OUAP, I played the very fun role of Charlie, a fallen god of baseball. The press notes on BroadwayWorld.com describe OUAP as this: Mac (Len Carious), a widowed ex-ballplayer, now a bar owner in a shabby Southern town, is having a bad day. Things become worse as he is confronted by ghosts from his past, an unhappy daughter, a dying best friend, an African-American singer named Whitey and threee travelers who may or may not be baseball gods. Some of the cast included, Dan Bogart (Les Miserables), Cole Burden (Applause: Encores!), Cheryl Freeman (The Who's Tommy) and a buddy I worked with on Take Me Out, Ikuma Fryman.

October 21, 2008- Well I'm into my second week of rehearsals for my new gig. I'm playing Zach in the 1st National Tour of A Chorus Line. This is such an iconic show with so much history. The soundtrack had a huge impact on me when I was growing up in Ohio. Having the chance to put my stamp on Zach is a dream. My opening in the show is election day, November 4 in Toronto. The tour has been out for six months already. I will be replacing Michael Gruber. Robyn Hurder (Grease) will be the new Cassie and Shannon Lewis (Sweet Charity, Fosse) is going in as Shelia. Rehearsals are going great. Baayork Lee is intense and fun and knows so much about the show. I love hearing her stories about creating the original production and she gives great background detail on all the characters.

WHAT: A CHORUS LINE (1st National Tour)

WHERE: TORONTO, ON -THE CANON THEATRE-

WHEN: 11/-4-11/30/2008

Visit www.achorusline.com for more details and future cities and dates.

October 8, 2008- The ABC actor showcase kicked ass! It was an incredible night. I couldn't have been more pleased with how the scene turned out and my scene partne, Shirely Moreca and I could not have done any better. What a great feeling. Performing in front of an industry only audience is already tough, for the obvious reasons; they've seen it all before, they've been at work all day...but we had them from the first moment to the last. The experience was already more than I had imagined. Anything that happens from here is just iceing.

October 3, 2008- Ghost Town opened September 19th to pretty great reviews. I am thrilled to be a part of this great film. Ricky Gervais is genius. All the leads deliver great perfoemances and can Kristen Wiig, of SNL fame, do any wrong? She is brilliant in this film. The director David Koepp penned the screenplay as well and he really got everything right. The way he shot Manhattan is quite beautiful. He captured the city's autumnal wonder with stunning results.

I am currently rehearsing for the ABC New York Diversity Showcase. Pretty cool. Who even knew there was such a thing? Kudos to ABC and Disney for producing an event that was generated to promote, showcase and champion new talent of multi-cultural backgrounds. That is just awesome! I was one of thirteen actors selected out of a pool of 600. The industry only showcase is this Monday night, October 6th! All the actors in the showcase are not only good-looking and beautiful and intersting but of course talented and just freaking cool. There is a great scene that features an actress with a hearing disability. It's both funny and moving and the signing is breath taking. We've been working with the top casting executives from both the L.A. and New York offices. They put us through quite an intense audition process. We basically camped out at ABC here in New York for about a week, all day long, reading scenes and getting paired up with different actors. It was like actor boot camp. By the end of the week there were only twelve of us left. They later brought in the actress with the hearing disability which brought the count to thirteen. The scene that I get to do is great. It's really funny but turns to a quite touching and moving conclusion. My scene partner is top-notch and my director is smart and just cool. I'm very greatful for this opportunity.

August 2008- Make sure you pick up a copy of the beautiful new book, BRAODWAY BARES: BACKSTAGE PASS, with a forward by Jerry Mitchell. It was just released last month by Universe Publishing. The book is a collection of stunning photographs from the past 17 years of Broadway Bares. I was lucky enough to be featured in the book along with all of your favorites from over the years. Of course, the proceeds help BCFA. It's all for a great cause. So go buy one!

Dancing In The Dark was quite an interesting experience. What an amazing opportunity it is, to get the chance to work on something new and to originate a role. The cast and creative team were so talented and fun. You realize what a dream working in the theatre is when you are surrounded with such a high caliber of talent. I don't know what's happening with the show at this point. What will the future hold? Or, if I will be involved. But what I do know is that the title has been changed back to The Bandwagon and that they still want to work on the book and that they want the show to have a life. Whatever happens, it was surely a challenging project that I was happy to be a part of. Now onward. To what? The million dollar question. I'm currently in audition/rejection phase. The, "character building," pit-stops along the way. Rejection is so crazy. I'm not sure if it ever gets easier. For me, it requires a constant conditioning of the spirit. I try to use it to propel me forward. Not always easy. But anything worth having in life is earned through sweat and tears!

December 2007- A lot of exciting stuff has been happening over the past couple of months. I finally was able to get some updates over to my site designers at Ntegrate, so there are new additions to The Recent Projects Page and The Recent Press Page. Be sure to check them out.

In January 2008 I will head to The Old Globe in sunny San Diego California to do a new show titled, Dancing In The Dark. This new musical is adapted from the MGM movie-musical The Band Wagon, which starred one of my idols, Fred Astaire and the sultry Cyd Charisse. It is penned by the TONY nominated writer of The Little Dog Laughed, Douglas Carter Beane and helmed by The Color Purple's director, Gary Griffin. It also stars the extrememly talented Beth Level, who won a Best-Supporting Actress TONY for her turn as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone. Beth and I worked together back in 97' at The Hartford Stage Company in Fascinating Rhythm.

I'm playing Paul Byrd, the modern-dance choregraphy genius who is brought in to choreograph a new musical written by Lilly (Beth Level) and Lestor Martin for has-been movie star Tony Hunter (played by Fred Astaire in the film) and mayhem ensues. It's a great supporting role that I'm excited to sink my teeth into. Below is the synopsis on TheOldGlobe.org:

"In Dancing in the Dark, Tony Hunter is a Hollywood star with a career on the wane. Jeffrey Cordova is a Shakespearean actor-manager with a taste for high art. Together they team up with a diverse assortment of theatrical personalities to create a new musical that’s strictly “entertainment.” With a score packed with classics like “A Shine on Your Shoes,” that quintessential ode to show business “That’s Entertainment!,” and the title song, Dancing in the Dark is the musical comedy that will have audiences dancing in the aisles."

WHAT: Dancing In The Dark

WHERE: The Old Globe, San Diego, California

WHEN: March 4-April 13, 2008

In October I worked on a Dreamworks film called GHOST TOWN. It stars LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE star Greg Kinear and the hilarious English comedic actor, Ricky Gervais, from the HBO hit series EXTRA'S. It's written and directed by David Koepp who also penned the new Indiana Jones's film, Spiderman, Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park and directed Stir of Echoes and The Trigger Effect. It was an incredible and exciting shoot for me. My scene is with the two stars of the film and it was so freaking cool getting the chance to act with them. It was a dream and it solidified my desires to act in film.

Speaking of films. The film I did with horror film start Betsy Palmer, Penny Dreadful, is now available on DVD. It did extrememly well on the Film Festival circuit, winning 10 awards including, Best Short Film- Thriller at The First Run Festival, Oustanding Achievement Award at New York Vision Fest, Best Actress for my co-star Emily Vaughan, Best Editing, Sound Design and Short at The Phoenix International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival and the Audience Award at Screamfest! How cool is that?! Congratulations to our director Bryan Norton and the talented cast and crew! Want a copy? Check out the Penny Dreadful MySpace page or Amazon.com or paste the link below into your browser:

http://www.cinemaimages.net/preorder%20-%20PENNY.html

You can view the trailer on Youtube. Just put Sebastian La Cause into the search engine!

I came close to booking my first Law & Order! I was up for a part on SVU. I was put on hold! But in the end I lost the part to a fat-black woman! Go figure. It's hard to beat out a fat black woman. Even I have to say that sounds more interesting. Television is a hurdle I've yet to really conquer. I've done some small Soap stuff but nothing with any meat. I'm auditioning well. I know this because I keep getting auditions and I usually go straight to a producer's session if it's a show that I've auditioned for before. But I have yet to have one stick. So here's to booking more television in 2008! I know it's coming.

All in all, I'd say 2007 was a great year, from starring in a show at The Kennedy Center, to shooting a scene in a Dreamworks film, to loosing a role to a fat-black woman! Who coould ask for more? This is my life.

I will contiue to strive towards success in 2008. Yet, what is success really? Webster's defines success as; "2 a: degree or measure of succeeding". Okay-which leads me to "succeed" which goes; "2 a: to turn out well b to attain a desired object or end". Okay- so really in those terms I should say- I will continue to succeed in 2008. And remind myself yet again, what a friend once told me, the journey is more important than the destination.

April 2007- I'm currently rehearsing a new play by A.B. Asher called, COMPETING NARRATIVES. Its the third play in a series being produced for a theater festival at The Barrow Group Arts Center, produced by Bruce Robert Harris and Jack Batman. I love developing new plays. It is invaluable experience that really feeds my creativity and helps me grow as an actor.

COMPETING NARRATIVES is a three hander about sexuality, race and identity. I think its a very interesting and original piece that I was drawn to on the first read.

Look for me in the April 2007 issue of Paper magazine. Its their annual beautiful people issue and I'm featured along side Grey Gardens' Matt Cavenaugh and Tony Yazbeck from A Chorus Line. We shot this while I was in rehearsals for Carnival in the very chic penthouse suite at the Soho Grand Hotel.

Janurary 2007- The start of 2007 finds me in a very creative place, exactly where I like to be found, in the throws of rehearsals for a revival of the classic musical CARNIVAL which will run at The Kennedy Center February 17 through March 11 2007, www.kennedy-center.org. "Based on the MGM motion picture Lili, this lovely musical follows a naïve young orphan girl who eagerly joins a traveling French circus. Falling for the troupe's manipulative magician, she also enchants a disillusioned puppeteer, who can only show his love through his whimsical creations. Colorful characters and puppets, wonderful dance sequences, and memorable songs like "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" make Carnival! a mesmerizing story about love in all its permutations." This production is helmed by director/choreographer Bobby Longbottom. This is my first time working with the TONY nominee. I play Marco The Magnificent, the ambitious magician. I've only begun to scratch the surface of this character. He's quite an interesting fellow. Here is a man who has worked as a magician all of his life in traveling carnivals that haven't exactly been at the caliber he has dreamed of. He believes himself to be a great talent and is. He has achieved stardom in his own world. His relationship with The Incomparable Rosalie, his assistant, played by the force that is Natascia Diaz, is the relationship of the masochist and the sadist. Marco relishes in inflicting the physical discomforts Rosalie endures performing the illusions in their act, as well as, the emmotional pain he dispenses in their personal lives. CARNIVAL is dark as it is light, which appeals to me immensely and is rare in musical theater.

December 2006- 2006 brought a lot of artistry. I was lucky to have had the chance to work on three new plays, a short musical and a revival at The Arena Stage. In early 2006 I found myself in EDENVILLE at Emerging Artists Theatre Company. working on a romantic comedy was challenging. Getting the tone right was key. I worked with a great young director named Tom Wojtunik. He guided the cast, which included my TAKE ME OUT castmate Gary Cowling, through this zaney world created by Gregory Fletcher. Jules was a great character because he was this leading man who seemed to have it all but was fumbling and flawed.

In the spring I had THE TIGER BY THE TAIL at The Wings Theatre Company. I joined this incredible ensemble cast that included Matthew Wilkas, for the drama directed by a ROCKY HORROR alum (assistant director to Chris Ashley) Jules Ochoa. This was an intriguing piece by Frawley Becker that tackled the issues of love and self-identity. I played a supporting character, Alfredo Esperanzo, a hot-blooded Latino, incarcerated for murder and rape. Fun! I honed my stage combat skills in a great cafeteria fight scene that my character initiated, of course. It was a nice contrast to EDENVILLE. Light then dark. Yin and Yang.

The hot summer months brought me back to The Ensemble Studio Theatre. This time around I was fortunate to have the experience of working on The One-Act Marathon that the theater is famous for. I was thrilled to have had the chance to work with Curt Dempster again, the artistic director and founder, before his passing in early 2007. Curt took the chance of putting in the marathons first ever musical, THE BUS TO BUENOS AIRES, written by Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore and directed by Carlos Armesto. It was haunting and beautifully written. This was a great opportunity for me to have the chance to sing a legitimate lead.

The onset of autumn brought the romantic thriller WINGMAN at Altered Stages. Again I was paired up with acting partner Gary Cowling. We played best friends. It's so great to get the chance to work repeatedly with someone you not only admire as an actor but trust entirely. We have great chemistry on stage. WINGMAN was a dark thriller, with some comedy, thank you Gary, written by Robert Cole and John Wooten and directed by Wooten. This was a fun piece because of the thriller element. Getting the tone right was challenging again. Finding that balance of pacing and suspense. When we settled into it the audience reactions were palable. I knew I had them when I'd hold the gun to my temple at the plays climax and I'd hear gasps. You can't beat that. It was great.

I closed out 2006 with my first big lead in a legitimate musical comedy, the womanizing cad, Steven Kodaly in SHE LOVES ME. The role that won Jack Cassidy a TONY back in the 1963 original production. What a dream experience this was. Amazing director, Kyle Donnely, talented cast, featuring star-in-the-making Brynn O'Malley (wickedly funny girl and grossly talented) and at a top notch theater, The Arena Stage in Washington, DC. I felt like I was begining to reap the rewards from the hard work and sacrifices made from the year and from years past. It felt good.

From SHE LOVES ME to CARNIVAL. What's next? I don't know. I have a new agent that I'm very excited about, Harden-Curtis and my manager kicks some serious ass and you can't get there on your own. Where is "there"? Well, I think about that a lot but I'm working on being present. "The journey is more important than the destination", the journey people, the journey. So, I will be back peddling my wares, as they call it. Pounding the pavement. Auditioning. I know more great opportunities are right around the corner. I feel more confident. I have a better sense of what roles I want. Things appear a little clearer. Being an actor is challenging and not for the weak of heart yet we are some of the most sensitive people, go figure.