Biography

International island boy

Aloha, and goddag!  I’m Thoeger.  It’s the English spelling of my actual first name, Thøger, an old-fashioned Danish name.  If you’ve known me for quite a few years, you’re probably used to calling me by my middle name, Iana.  Long story short, my hippie parents named me after their yogi, before the Danish authorities compelled them to give me a first name that didn’t sound like a girl’s.  The name “Iana” is based on a Sanskrit word, “jñāna,” which roughly translates to “knowledge.”

I’m from a little Danish island called Bornholm.  I first moved to the island of Manhattan, where I am now, at age four.  I lived here only briefly at the time, but since my freshman year of college, I’ve been a New York County resident the majority of my adult life.  During that same freshman year, I took a Thanksgiving weekend trip to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, duly fell in love with it, and ended up spending four summers there in my early twenties.  Oh, and the bulk of my childhood was spent on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu and Maui.  So it’s no exaggeration, to say that most of my life has been spent on one small island or another.

Early on in my professional life, the rising and falling tides tumbled up and washed away a variety of pursuits.  I’ve been a foot messenger, a bike messenger, a cinema projectionist, the first Director of Operations for a briefly famous internet startup during the so-called “dot-com” boom and bust, and more.  But the two main arenas for my creative output during my youth – the theater and the kitchen – have shaped my life.

Professionally speaking, I hung up my kitchen apron several years ago.  But I’m a regular in my home kitchen, often on the nocturnal dining schedule typical of many artists and hospitality pros.  And when you don’t find me on stage, breathing life into a playwright’s vision, you’re likely to find me behind a restaurant bar, crafting cocktails and making memories.  As I often say when I’m “behind the stick:” come for the drinks, stay for the show.  Cheers!