Doug Peruski: The Achilles Menu

Doug Peruski says that as good as the Greek restaurants are in New York, he is going to miss Achilles, the popular Greek restaurant in Duluth, Georgia where he has worked for the last four years.

When he first started working at Achilles, he says, he just needed a job. He had quit his job as a systems analyst at NCR in order to devote himself to acting. “I didn’t even like Greek food all that much,” he recalls with a laugh. “But then, I didn’t know much about it, either.”

It didn’t take long for Doug Peruski to become a convert to Greek cuisine. He has raved out the fare at Achilles ever since, and his enthusiasm got even stronger in the early months of 2014, when Achilles hired a new chef named Jimmy Kefalos.

Doug Peruski

“Jimmy is a New Yorker, but he lived in Greece for six years and really learned his stuff,” Doug Peruski says. He says that Kefalos emphasizes what he calls “New Greek Cuisine,” and places a new emphasis on ingredients and presentation. “He actually calls it home cooking,” Peruski says. “To be honest, I don’t know what he means by that. But he really takes it to the next level.” Kefalos, he says, has introduced a number of new dishes to the Achilles menu, including braised lamb shanks and plank-grilled prawns.

“There is also this thing he calls cracked potatoes that are cooked with coriander and red wine,” Doug Peruski says. “When I first tasted that one – well, I thought, maybe I won’t go to New York after all! Maybe I’ll just stay here and eat.”

Achilles is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.

Doug Peruski: He’ll Play Diesel

Doug Peruski says he is excited about the future. The next twelve months of his life, he says, may make or break him, and he acknowledges he is taking a huge risk. But he says that sometimes in life, you have to take risks in order to advance yourself or further your cause.

Doug Peruski says that his cause is acting and the theatre. He is one of the founders of The Square Peg Players, a popular theatre troupe based in Duluth, Georgia. He and a group of friends founded “The Squares,” as they call it, five years ago. After a false start with a poorly-received production of “Never Again!,” written by Squares founding member Thomas Forsythe, the group hit its stride with a string of popular plays, and in particular its popular “Improv Night.”

But that is all about to change. Peruski has decided to pull up stakes and take The Square Peg Players to New York no later than next spring. At that time he will also begin rehearsals for a new production of West Side Story. He recently announced that he is realizing a lifelong dream by being cast in a New York Production of the classic musical. He has the part of Diesel, one of the members of the Jets, a street gang who do battle with another gang called the Sharks.

Before he leaves, the Square Peg Players will revive “Not Again!”, a Thomas Forsythe play the troupe first staged five years ago. That first production was a flop, and the Square Peg Players nearly did not survive it. But Doug Peruski says that this time they are going to do it right. “I know there are critics out there who are hoping it will flop this time, too – just so they can write reviews that say something like, ‘not again with this play!” But that isn’t going to happen.”

Doug Peruski: Not Again!, Again

Doug Peruski and the Square Peg Players are nearly finished with their tenure in Duluth, Georgia. In what some theatre critics are calling the end of an era, Peruski is shutting down the popular theatre group and relocating it to New York sometime early next year.

Doug Peruski

But Doug Peruski and his cohorts says they are going to go out with a bang. They recently announced a revival of Not Again!, the first play staged by the group known affectionately as “The Squares” five years ago. While Doug Peruski received high marks from critics, the production itself was panned as an overblown farce.

“We still believe in ‘Not Again!'” Peruski said recently, in announcing the revival. “I think we rushed the whole thing into production that first time. I know Tom didn’t take it well,” meaning Thomas Forsythe, the play’s author. “He lost a lot of confidence. But I read the play again a few months ago, and was reminded of what drew me to it in the first place. I think it’s a great play that got bogged down with some bad decisions and bad luck in that first production. This time, we’re going to do it right.”

Doug Peruski says he will be reprising his role as Philip, the owner of a failing bakery who turns to gambling on horse races in an effort to raise money quickly. Square Peg Players veterans Brian Sugarman and Allyson Fielder are also reprising their roles. But the rest of the cast, says Peruski, will be all new.

Doug Peruski says he will be sharing directorial duties with Angela Forsythe, the wife of the playwright. Like Peruski, Angela Forsythe is a graduate of the University of Georgia Theatre Arts program and is also a founding member of the Square Peg Players.

Doug Peruski: Moving To New York

Doug Peruski is an actor who lives and works in Duluth, Georgia. He is in the latter stages of finalizing plans to take his improvisational theatre group, the Square Peg Players, to New York.

Doug Peruski and his friend Thomas Forsythe, the Georgia playwright, founded the troupe they affectionately call “The Squares” some five years ago, not long after Peruski graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Theatre Arts. The Square Peg Players have become a popular fixture in the Duluth arts scene, noted for its unpredictable “Improv Night” series of performances. But Peruski says the time has come for him to move on.

Doug Peruski

While he is planning on taking the Square Peg Players to New York, not all of the Square Peg Players will be making the move. Longtime members Brian Sugarman and Allyson Fielder are staying behind in Duluth: Sugarman says he is too old to make a major relocation, and Fielder is a tenured professor at UGA. Both say that they will miss Doug Peruski and the Squares.

Doug Peruski said he decided to pull up stakes and take the Square Peg Players to New York because the troupe had outlived its currency. “I need to grow as an artist,” he said, “and I can’t do that if I stay here.” He says he expects to finish shutting down the Square Peg Players after its current production, Thomas Forsythe’s No Rights Reserved, ends its current run. While no date for that has been set, it is expected to be no later than mid-November.

Doug Peruski: The Squares

Doug Peruski is an actor who currently lives and works in Duluth, Georgia. He spends many days and evenings waiting on tables at Achilles, a Greek restaurant. But his true calling is the theatre.

With his friend Thomas Forsythe, Doug Peruski co-founded the Square Peg Players, a theatre troupe that stages several productions each year. “It’s my baby,” Doug Peruski says of the Square Peg Players. “It gives me absolute artistic freedom – the chance to do almost anything that I want to do on the stage.” He and Forsythe established the Square Peg Players after graduating from the University of Georgia.

Doug Peruski

There are five actors involved with the Square Peg Players on a regular basis, Doug Peruski says. “That includes me and Tom.” To date, the troupe has put on five plays in three years, including several written by Thomas Forsythe. The Squares, as Doug Peruski refers to them, have also established an improv night that runs through the winter months.

The first play staged by the Square Peg Players was Not Again!, which was written by Forsythe and starred Doug Peruski as Philip, the owner of a failing bakery who starts gambling on horse races in an effort to save his business. The play, a screwball comedy, was largely panned by local critics, but Doug Peruski received praise for his performance.

Doug Peruski says that he and the Square Peg Players have already outgrown Duluth. He and Forsythe are planning to relocate to New York and continue their dramatic endeavors together. “We don’t want to be big fish in a small pond,” Doug Peruski says. “If you’re an actor, then New York or Los Angeles is where you have to be. And for me, it’s New York!”

Doug Peruski: A No-Brainer

Doug Peruski began his collegiate career at Kennesaw State University, where he studied acting and at The University of Georgia, and graduated from the latter institution with a BA in Theatre Arts. He minored in Computer Science.

Family members were surprised by Doug Peruski’s choice of Kennesaw State University, but he insisted that he wanted to go there. “My drama teacher at Peachtree Ridge recommended KSU,” Doug Peruski says, referring to his old high school. “She said it had a really good drama department.” KSU did indeed have a good drama department, and Doug Peruski says that he learned a lot while he was there. But as his sophomore year drew to a close, he realized that it wasn’t going to be enough. And so he transferred to the University of Georgia

Doug Peruski

“It was a no-brainer, really,” Doug Peruski recalls. “I mean, I really grew to like KSU, but sometimes situations force your hand.”

Doug Peruski enrolled in classes at UGA’s Department of Theatre and Film Studies, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. The Department of Theatre and Film Studies has twenty-one faculty members, four distinguished adjunct faculty members, three full-time staff members, and 36 graduate assistants.

Doug Peruski got himself involved in everything the department had to offer – or at least, everything that he could fit into his increasingly busy schedule. He says he really grew from the experience. “That’s when a career in Theatre first seemed really viable to me,” he says today. “I could feel it. I learned so much there and internalized it all. The experience was one-of-a-kind, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Doug Peruski: Three Miserable Years

Doug Peruski is an actor from Duluth, Georgia. But he says that he is making plans to move to New York soon. “It’s the center of the Theatre world in the United States,” he says.

For now, though, Doug Peruski is working as a waiter in a Greek restaurant, and taking what acting jobs he can find. Most of what he finds are roles in regional theatre, or in small local productions.

Doug Peruski

While he fully expects to be in New York in the near future, Doug Peruski says that he will always love Duluth and the State of Georgia. “I really love it here,” he says. He attended Peachtree Ridge High School, where he got his first real taste of the dramatic arts. “It was in an acting class I didn’t want to take, at first,” Doug Peruski says. “Miss Terrapin’s class. She gave me a scene from Flowers for Algernon. After I got over my butterflies – because I’d never been in anything like that before – well, I just came alive. I got the acting bug. And I’ve had it ever since.”

Doug Peruski went on to study acting at Kennesaw State University and at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he earned a degree in Theatre Arts, and minored in Computer Science. After college he spent three miserable years working at NCR, and then quit to devote himself to acting full time.

Since making the switch, Doug Peruski has had parts in Mirror Image and Five Actors In Search of a Cell Phone. He also played Philip in Not Again!, which he says is a screwball comedy. Not Again! turned out to be a box office flop, but Doug Peruski received excellent reviews. “We look forward to seeing more of this surprising and talented young actor,” wrote one critic.

Doug Peruski says he had no choice but to quit NCR for acting. “I had to do it,” he says. “I know it’s risky. But if I didn’t at least try, I knew that I would always regret it.”

Doug Peruski: Customer #3

Doug Peruski says that in many ways, his years as a student at the University of Georgia, Athens were the best years of his life. But he is equally sure that the best is yet to come.

Doug Peruski graduated from UGA with a degree in Theatre Arts. He minored in Computer Science. He worked at NCR for three years before deciding to quit and devote most of his energies to acting.

Doug Peruski

For now, Doug Peruski supports himself as a waiter at Achilles, a Greek restaurant in his hometown of Duluth, Georgia. He has found a series of mostly small roles in regional theatre. He has had parts in Mirror Image and Five Actors In Search of a Cell Phone, and he played Philip in Not Again!, which Doug Peruski describes as a screwball comedy.

Not Again! did not do well with the critics, who panned the play yet praised its cast. “Doug Peruski, a UGA grad with only limited professional experience, surprises with a star turn in the role of Philip,” wrote one reviewer in The Atlanta Constitution. “We look forward to seeing more of this surprising and talented young actor.”

Doug Peruski has also appeared in several TV commercials. In his first TV commercial, he played an exasperated dog owner whose dog didn’t like his dog food. He has also had bit parts in several television programs, including the role of Customer #3 in an episode of The Big Bang Theory.

“I love everything about the theatre,” Doug Peruski says, as he contemplates the future. “Believe me, I don’t want to wait on tables for the rest of my life!”

Doug Peruski: Loves Everything About Theatre

Doug Peruski studied acting at Kennesaw State University and at The University of Georgia, and graduated from the latter institution with a BA in Theatre Arts. He minored in Computer Science.

“I love everything about the theatre,” Doug Peruski says. He is an aspiring actor who has worked mostly in regional theatre in and around his home in Duluth, Georgia. In addition to his Theatre Arts degree, Doug Peruski has taken singing and dancing lessons privately for many years. As a singer, he says he possesses a fine baritone. But he admits that he is only passable as a dancer. “No one will mistake me for Fred Astaire,” he laughs. “I can do the basic steps – enough to get through a simple routine – but dancing is definitely not my strong suit!”

Doug Peruski

Doug Peruski says the coursework for getting his Theatre Arts degree was rigorous, but that he loved every minute of it. The required classes included Stagecraft, Costume Technology, Performance I and Performance II, Introduction to Dramatic Literature, and Issues in Contemporary Theatre.

But he says his favorite class was Fundamentals of Play Direction. The course involved the independent production of a play of the student’s choosing, although it had to be approved by his instructor. Doug Peruski selected Fourteen Miles Home, a one-act drama by the Irish playwright, Fearchar Flan. Doug Peruski recalls it as an exhilarating time. “We rehearsed for two months. Then the curtain went up.” He received an A for that production, and says it was one of the greatest learning experiences he had in the theatre.

After college Doug Peruski worked as a systems analyst at NCR for three years, but recalls it as a difficult time of his life. “I never really got into it,” he says. “My heart wasn’t into it. I wasn’t happy. My girlfriend left me. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because the pay was so good.” Finally, enough was enough, and Doug Peruski quit his job to try his hand at acting.

Doug Peruski: What a Systems Analyst Does

Doug Peruski is committed to a career in Theatre. He has a Theatre Arts degree from the University of Georgia, and has appeared in numerous plays in regional theatre and summer stock. He’s even had a few TV appearances. Doug Peruski is making plans to relocate to New York soon, to try breaking into acting in a big way.

But before this period of his life, he worked as a systems analyst at NCR, a position he held for three years. He says that while “systems analyst” is a familiar term for many, a lot of people have no idea what a systems analyst does.

“I didn’t really know myself, at first,” he admits. “The first few weeks there I had to do all this training – classes on COBOL and JCL. Most of the assignments after that were for support of existing systems. My first assignment was on a development team to replace the entire accounting and operating system for the company. There were a bunch of us on the project, divided into various sub-groups based on business functions, like accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory control, and stuff like that.

“I worked on the inventory control subsystem. My team consisted of another analyst with five years of experience, plus myself, and a full-time user, a guy named Ed. Ed had over twenty years with the company.

“After we started designing the inventory control system with Ed, I learned the true meaning of the words integrated system. The new system had to communicate with the other sub-systems. Anyway, to make a long story short, midway through development, the company decided not to build the system from scratch, but to buy a software package and customize it. Pulled the rug out from under us. We waited four months for the contract to be negotiated and signed.

Doug Peruski

“I also had other duties, of course. I was the data dictionary coordinator. I was the security request coordinator. I also had to give lots of presentations to other project teams, supervisors, and users. At first I was nervous about these public speeches. But then it occurred to me, this is just acting! And it’s what I want to do more than anything else!

“And that’s when I started to think about quitting NCR.”