Travis Neighbor Ward

Largely considered Atlanta’s edgiest, most talented and sexiest actor, Daniel May likes his roles like he likes his lapsang souchong tea: dark. This month alone he’s wrapping up a role as Bubber Reeves in The Chase, in which he plays “a convicted murderer who escapes from a Texas state penitentiary and returns to his hometown to kill the sheriff that put him there.” Hard to swallow? Not for him. “I like to play a character that the audience will despise, but who absolutely believes he’s doing the right thing,” May says. “It’s our responsibility as artists, as storytellers, to shine light into the darkness.”

With that in mind, we can’t help but imagine May spending his spare time brooding and being generally disagreeable—yet the exact opposite is true. Mostly he’s home playing with his newborn baby girl, Harper. “My daughter is the most exciting and unpredictable thing in my life right now,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Just before we can say awww, May sinks his teeth into another shocking role with equal zeal: that of Eros in Georgia Shakespeare’s encore production of Metamorphoses, May’s “third opportunity to be naked on stage in Atlanta.” Playing off of Ovid’s myths, May and the ensemble cast of 10 (representing 80 characters) will frolic, fight and contemplate life while splashing around in a 3,330-gallon swimming pool—using 150 towels per run. And though baring it all publicly ranks high as a worst nightmare for most, May just shrugs it off with a laugh. The water, he says, “is almost like a costume.”

The Chase runs through May 13, 678.528.1500 or www.theatricaloutfit.org. Metamorphoses runs from May 23–June 3, 404.264.0020 or www.gashakespeare.org.

HOTS: Battlestar Galactica; John Fluevog shoes; www.homestarrunner.com and www.smugmug.com; real popcorn made in a pot and topped with melted butter… and a dash of Tabasco; films by South Korean director Chan-wook Park and Japan’s Satoshi Kon.

NOTS: Flip flops and clogs as fashion statements; reality TV; Web sites that require registration then spam you; the high-definition format war; celebrity worship.