Ep 8: “Be In The Moment” featuring actor, director, and producer Craig Butta

New York native Craig Butta is an actor, director and producer. He has been a fixture in the independent film scene in New York for the last decade.  Born and raised in Staten Island, he has spent most of his adult life banging around the borough of Brooklyn, in the neighborhoods his family emigrated to earlier in the 20th century.  An Italian American with one foot stuck in the old neighborhood and one foot stuck in the bohemian art world of New York City, his life and work have examined this struggle.   Originally intent on a life in the theatre, Craig learned to hustle down in Coney Island during the turn of the century.  A college graduate undercover as a carny hustler, he spent his summers working the microphone on games at the decaying amusement park.  He saved that money to study acting under the great, and recently deceased, Bill Esper at The William Esper Studios, where the methodologies of Stanford Meisner became a backbone his his life’s philosophy of “being in the moment” and “listening and then responding.” Craig molded his experiences down in Coney Island into a one man play that never saw the light of day. He was in the midst of a decade long run as a high school math teacher in a now defunct Brooklyn Catholic High school and felt like he was burning the candle at both ends, teaching high school during the day and working  theatre at night. He felt that not enough people were seeing his work, so he transferred his stage show to a short film which later premiered at the SXSW film festival and helped him forge a lifetime of friendships with like minded young artists. Since his initial short film, he has gone on to act, direct, and produce numerous regarded feature films and documentaries that have taken him around the world. He currently lives in Ft Greene with his partner and daughter.