How'd You Get Into Theatre?

My parents were always ones to see theatre (Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Jekyll & Hyde, Phantom) and they took my twin sister and I to see our first show on February 6, 1999...BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with Toni Braxton and James Barbour.

My sister despised the show, and my mother automatically assumed that I did as well. So it was 8 years before I saw my next show, RENT. From there, I started seeing shows on a more regular basis and became hooked on Broadway theatre.

I actually celebrated my Silver Anniversary (25th) show today with THE BOOK OF MORMON.

I started taking drama and acting in high school when I dropped my journalism elective and it turned out to be the only course left open. I took it and fell in love from there (and I still perform in my school's musicals despite no longer being a drama student).

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I found it in Jan Maxwell's bag. :)

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It's kind of a long story, but I'll try to abridge it, as best as I can.

Growing up, no one I knew was into theatre. I mean... NO ONE! From a very young age, however, I took a strong liking to it. I was fascinated by every little production I saw. I also watched my VHS copy of Peter Pan over and over again, until I had it memorized... then I watched it some more. My dad took me to see the national touring production (with Cathy Rigby), when I was seven years old. I was completely mesmerized.

When I reached my tween and teenage years, I (unfortunately) denied my liking of musicals, plays, and the like. For whatever reason(s), I was far too self-conscious about it, especially since no one I knew shared the interest. Then, in high school, I finally broke free and am an even bigger fan today (and I'm never going back).

Through door.

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I did every single musical at my church when I was little, and I also always sang in the children's choir, so I guess my need to perform was always there but I wouldn't figure it out until later.
In the third grade, my mother told me she didn't want me to sit at home all summer so she signed me up for dance class. Again, I was a performer but at that point I wanted to be a professional dancer, not an actress.
In the fifth grade, my friend Ally convinced me to join the school band. She said that I should play the drums with her and I already owned a snare drum because my brother was in percussion, so I joined band and would later become a percussionist for four years. My friend Ally however, never joined, but I still thank her for helping me learn music early.
After my parents took their first trip to New York, they brought home a Wicked CD. I was twelve and I was hooked (I mean, c'mon. It IS a gateway musical). I saw the national tour, walked out of the theater and said "That's what I want to do." and I've been possessed ever since. My love of acting, singing, and dancing all coming together and making perfect sense.

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I was a "victim" of cicumstances.

My local jr. high used a small group of elementary school kids in one number in their musical (which happened to be Bye Bye Birdie when I was in 2nd grade). The second grade teachers each chose 2 or 3 kids that could afford to miss class for rehearsals. That was me.

The next year they used MORE kids so I got to go again.

In 5th grade, I was requested to perform a solo in the jr. high christmas concert. They sang, I danced. (Does anyone else remember a Christmas carol entitled The Magical Toy? I was the toy.) Applause for me directly. I was hooked.

I am the luckiest person that my passion in life is a part of my life nearly everyday. And I get paid for it!

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I used to watch The Kids From Fame TV series when i was younger (1m 32 now) and used to sit there wanting to be a singer, dancer and actor. I bugged my mum enough until she let me go to a theatre school. I got TV work through that but hated it (sitting around doing nothing for hours is so not my thing) so i focused on theatre and worked really hard dance.
I started at college studying dance, choreography and theeatre but saw an audition come up for the touring cast of Fame, i went and i got it......i was a kid from Fame lol.

I kept doing musicals on Tour/London/Abroad etc then gave up to start up my own theatre production company. I now direct, write and produce and sometimes get back on the stage. I love it

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I first got into theatre in 6th grade for a middle school production of Annie Jr. But, I first got hooked on theatre in 9th grade in a production of Annie Get Your Gun. I was so excited but there was one problem...I didn't know how to dance. I was horrified . I ended being cast as a featured dancer and I learned to ballroom, and the feeling was amazing! I love to dance now (along with acting and singing) and year by year I have been getting better and better, being cast as a featured dancer in all the musicals :)

I was always into "weird" sh*t. Loved old movies, especially silent movies, and old tv shows. I was the weird kid...it actually started with going through a Natalie Wood phase and seeing the movie versions of West Side Story and Gypsy, and LOVING both. Somehow I got ahold of the OBC of these shows, and that was it. I was maybe 8 or 9 at the time. I'm 26 years old now.

I got teased a lot in school, needless to say, so much that I dropped out sophomore year at age 15 (I did get my GED). I was always teased in school, but bullying was taken to a new level in high school, especially when rumors began swirling that I was a lesbian (I have no idea how those rumors started because I wasn't out to anyone at that point, I was never a butch or even a tomboy so I didn't "look" gay...good gaydar on those bullies, LOL!)

Anyway, the day my mother signed me out of school, I went to playbill.com and found a job listing to usher at a prominent off-broadway theatre. Was hired on the spot, and from there, basically networked like crazy. I've worked at all the major theatres, onstage, off-stage, on broadway, off broadway, WAY off Broadway, etc. I loved my ushering job, and it is what you make of it. I made some very good connections there.

ANYWAY...fell in love and moved to another state 4 years ago, 4 hours away. I was working on a Broadway show at the time. Now I work in a boring office. In retrospect it was a stupid, impulsive decision to move, but I am happily married to a great wife and HAPPILY we are both moving to NYC in the next few months. I.CAN'T.WAIT. I do visit monthly to see family/theatre.

So kids...what have we learned?

1. Drop out of school
2. If you're working on a Broadway show, um, don't leave it for a boring office job four hours away, no matter how in love you are, otherwise you too will end up being a crying mess at the next revival of Follies. Make them move to YOUR state right off the bat.

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Performing in my school production of Godspell.

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Ok, I am as big a geek as I sound: I got into theatre through my freshman year of high school marching band halftime show. It was a music of (stay with me) Andrew Lloyd Webber, feature 3 medley's of his shows Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express (the drum solo with crazy moving formations) and ending with Phantom (which was coincidentally my first professional show, which I saw in Cleveland the following year).

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I still have no idea how it happened. I grew up in a provincial area in the Philippines where there were no theatrical productions. Then I moved to the USA when I was 13... in San Antonio, Texas. So, liking the theater isn't exactly a popular thing to be interested in. I missed the music in the Philippines, so I downloaded a bunch of songs from Filipino artists, including Lea Salonga. I listened to two songs from Miss Saigon, and I became curious. I eventually figured out what Broadway was without having seen any plays or musicals. I used to think that Broadway was something like Carnegie Hall: basically a prestigious concert hall. I had no idea it was a bunch of theaters. And when YouTube came around, I saw the Tony performance of "Defying Gravity." Besides, I was also frustrated with the popular music at the time, and I really like songs with stories. To date, I've only seen 2 professional productions. I have seen all productions at my college, though. I'm still dreaming that I could move to NYC... or at lease Houston or Dallas where touring productions go by with a higher frequency than they do at San Antonio.

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