In the Wings: Our Chat With Moon Cave Star Kevin Meehan

Philadelphia actor Kevin Meehan stars in Azuka Theatre‘s world premiere production of Moon Cave, written by another Philadelphian, Douglas Williams. We sat down with the performer to chat about how he taps into deep, dark secrets to prepare for his role, his crush on Martha Graham Cracker and that time he spooked John Leguizamo. 

Kevin Meehan (left) in ‘Moon Cave,’ with Taysha Canales.

My name is… Kevin John Meehan. I feel like most of my friends don’t know my middle name is John, but I got it from my great grandfather John DiFelice. He was fresh off the boat from Italy and had a horseshoeing stable right at 2nd and Delancey for a long while. This was long before the Headhouse area became bougie, of course.

I am… an artist, uncle, brother, son, friend, boyfriend, awesome roommate, one-time skydiver, want-to-be world traveler, hiker, biker, and camp fire-starter.

On opening night… I take a deep breath and brace myself to embark on the second part in the process of making a play. I just try my damnedest to listen to everything that’s going on around me and respond as honestly as possible. Then at the reception after, I usually try to avoid talking about the play all together.

My favorite moment in Moon Cave is… working with an incredible group of collaborators on a world premiere by awesome local playwright Doug Williams. This play has never been seen before and we get to bring it to life for the first time. Now that’s cool.

To get into character for Moon Cave, I… drum up all of the most awkward moments I’ve ever had in my life and smash them together with some deep secrets I’ll never breathe to another soul. Simple.

My first stage kiss… may have been as late as my sophomore year in college at Adelphi University. I think it was with my friend Geneva in a production of Refuge by Jessica Goldberg. But I feel like somehow this can’t be right.

The first play I was in was… the Living Stations of the Cross in 8th grade, and I played the apostle Peter. So, that’s right: I denied Jesus. Three times. Heavy stuff.

Kevin Meehan in ‘Moon Cave.’

My dream role is… to play Gene from Bob’s Burgers in a live-action adaptation.

My surprising celebrity crush is… Miss Martha Graham Cracker. She’s local and she’s beyond celebrity. She’s a star … scratch that—a supernova!

The most famous person I’ve ever met… John Leguizamo. I met John after one of his one-man shows and like a fool, I accidentally said “Macbeth” in a theater in front of him. Well, apparently he takes the superstition very seriously, because he made me go outside, spin around three times and spit … as he watched to make sure I did it correctly.

The last thing I binge-watched… Honestly, I don’t watch much of anything, but it was Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Before that, it was a combination of New Girl and Adventure Time.

To stay in shape I… sometimes go to the gym. But mostly I just bike everywhere when the weather is nice.

The last time I dined out in Philadelphia, I ate… the Pistola’s Burger from Jose Pistola’s. I had it a while ago and it was so good that I thought it must’ve been a fluke. So, I decided to try it again with my castmate Taysha. It did not disappoint.

The best show I saw in Philly recently… was The Metamorphosis at Quintessence Theatre Group. It was just a knock-out production of Kafka’s novella, full of physicality, humor, hope, and despair, brought to life by a group of artists I admire so very much.

The best thing about Philadelphia’s theatre scene is… it’s intensely supportive community of artists. Consequentially, we breed artistic excellence and innovation, so that translates to a wide variety of amazing events for theatre-goers. As Philadelphians, we’re really rather spoiled when it comes to quality and quantity of theatrical experiences. The theatre scene is so rich. It’s like having oysters and quail eggs with every meal.

You can see Kevin in ‘Moon Cave’ through March 22. For more information, click here.