ONCE A THEATRE KID...

A student-funded high school production of the musical Titanic. Staged in the basement of a one-hundred-and-sixteen-year-old middle school. With low ceilings and nothing but a handful of chairs for a set. 

The ingredients above, when strung together, sound like a recipe for disaster. So, you can imagine my surprise when I recently found myself with tears in my eyes while sitting in the creaky metal seats of the Professional Performing Arts High School basement as their young voices struck the first harmonies of that glorious Maury Yeston score. How could artistic success have come from these seemingly impossible circumstances? 

To put it simply...?

Theatre kids. 

They're scrappy. They're emotional. They're resourceful. Help build the set? Sure. Help sew the costumes? You bet. Help assemble the programs? Of course. There doesn't seem to be anything a theatre kid can't do. 

I'll admit that for this specific production of Titanic I had a close connection. I spent eleven weeks last fall with the PPAS sophomore musical theatre majors breaking down Broadway's history into three categories: the shows, the theaters, and the humans. We went year by year, decade by decade, examining the different shows that helped shape the art form of the Broadway musical.

From there we broke out of the classroom for field trips on my tours to explore each theater. (That section ended with a visit to the Shubert Archives at the top of the Lyceum Theatre which might've been my favorite day of teaching...)

And for the final section we explored Broadway's unions, the jobs, and the money. I pulled a Broadway budget for them to examine line by line in hopes that they'd understand where every dollar goes when mounting a show. We did a stage management workshop where they worked with a light cue deck to call cues from a working Broadway musical script. And through all of it they were invested, interested, inquisitive, thoughtful, and respectful. Since I typically only get ninety minutes to spend with each of our student groups on our tours, I relished the opportunity to engage with these young theatrical minds for a full semester. 

But even with all of that background, I was wholly unprepared for the experience in that old basement on 48th Street. It was a feat of creative spirit that hit me right in my heart. As the lights came up after their moving performance, I said a silent prayer in that auditorium for those students: I hope that theatre-kid-energy is carried with them through the rest of their adult lives. 

With me, it has. Fourteen years ago - today - I put on my green Broadway Up Close shirt for the first time. I had an idea for a company, but after years of wearing costumes, tap shoes, and make-up, I knew nothing about business. I refused to let that deter me. I was resourceful. I was passionate. I had energy.

I was a theatre kid, after all!

So, I set to work building our stories: one show, one person, one theater at a time. I built my first website with the help of my friend Katrina. She, too, was a theatre kid, so she dove right in with her skills. I wrangled my friend Corey into being my first tour-goer. As a theatre kid himself, he knew what it was like dealing with an audience. My friend Kris came aboard with incredible photography skills for our tour guide photos - another theatre kid coming to my rescue! 

And now, fourteen years later, every single day of my life involves theatre kids. I teach them. I tour with them. I connect with them at our Gift Shop. And I'm not just talking about the students. I'm talking about the adult theatre kids too. The ones who still LOVE it. The ones who walk up to our gift shop with a grin on their face the first time they see our BROADWAY sign. Many of them have now become "muggles" - accountants, dentists, lawyers, and CPAs. But underneath all those steady paychecks? They're glorious humans who are fulfilling my silent prayer that the world be filled with theatre-kid-energy.

I'm proud to be a working artist in New York City. I'm proud to be part of the Broadway community. I'm proud of what I've created with all of your support since April 10, 2010. But the thing I'm most proud of? 

Being a theatre kid.