Eryn is joined by Mr. Kevin Carolan on this episode of Going for Broadway. Kevin Carolan is an award-winning actor and singer, building a successful career over the last 25 years and directed by some of the most talented artists in show business.
Eryn is joined today with Beth Norris, someone she met at the FAC where Beth was interning. Beth Norris is a senior at North Greenville University where she will be graduating in December with a bachelors in Theatre Performance.
Eryn is joined with Nick Sullivan on this episode. Eryn recently saw Nick on the national tour for Kinky Boots as Mr. Price. Alongside touring, Nick has appeared in the Broadway productions of Footloose, Moliere Comedies, and Black Comedy. Some other credits include Sebastien in the Tempest, Kraler in the Diary of Anne Frank, and Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet. He has appeared on multiple Law and Order episodes, One Life to Live, All My Children, and Spin City.
On this episode of Going for Broadway, Mr. Andrew Cao joins Eryn to talk about his life as an actor. Andrew is currently in Aladdin on Broadway in the ensemble and as Omar’s understudy. Prior to Aladdin, he was in the Broadway productions of Anything Goes and Nice Work. Andrew Cao received his BFA in Musical Theatre and BA in Dance from the University of WI Stevens Point.
On this episode of Going for Broadway, Eryn is joined by Sean Seymour. Sean had just graduated from the University of Michigan in the class of 2014, and is currently on the road in Cinderella in the ensemble and as Prince Topher’s understudy.
On this episode of Going for Broadway, Eryn is joined from a teacher she had this past summer at the Governor’s School. Mr. Andrew Pastides discovered acting in high school; He attended the Governor’s School in the summers of 2000-2002. After High School, Mr. Pastides attended and graduated from the prestigious University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Eryn is joined by an actor that she has grown up and learned so much with. Sam McCalla currently serves as Associate Artistic Director at the Greenville Little Theatre where he grew up. A graduate of College of Charleston, Sam performed numerous roles while at school served on the board of the student-run theatre company and was awarded the Emmett Robinson Scholarship, the highest award given to a College of Charleston theatre major.
Eryn is joined on this episode today with Mr. Benjamin Jay Davis. Ben will be starring as Captain Von Trapp in the new national tour of The Sound of Music coming up this year. This isn’t his first national tour; he has also been in Spamalot as Galahad and Les Mis as Enjolras and the understudy of Marius in which he joined at the age of 22!
On this episode of Going for Broadway, Eryn is joined with Ms. Teri Hansen. From Opera to Broadway, Teri Hansen has received International recognition for her crossover abilities as a singing actress. Miss Hansen began her career “Rose” in the film version of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. She has sung leading roles with the Houston Grand Opera, Theatre in Pfalsbau, Glimmerglass Opera, Theatre des Westens, and many more.
Eryn welcomes on a friend that she has worked with many times before, Griffin Binnicker. Just starting his freshman year at the University of Michigan in Musical Theatre getting his BFA in Musical Theatre, Griffin is from right here in South Carolina. Doing shows growing up all the time at community theatres like the South Carolina Children’s Theatre where he was in a number of productions including The Sound of Music, A Christmas Story, he has always had the love for performing.
Going for Broadway welcomes Tim Dolan on this episode! Tim moved to the Big Apple shortly after graduating high school to pursue a career in the arts. He graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, otherwise known as AMDA, in NYC. On television, Tim was featured on Season Two of HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
Eryn is joined with one of her favorite teachers ever! Currently, the Head Instructor of the Theatre discipline at the Fine Arts Center in the Upstate SC, Teri Parker Lewis is an actress, dancer, and choreographer from Laurens, SC. Teri received her B.A. in Theatre from the University of Massachusetts. She also received her M.F.A. in acting from Columbia University in New York City, where she studied with some of the top theatre professionals of our time including Anne Bogart, Kristin Linklater, and Andrei Serban.
Named the “wittiest” and “most talented” in her high school yearbook, Shay Brown joins us on Going for Broadway with Eryn. Eryn and Shay have done a few shows together including A Christmas Story at SCCT. Shay was raised in Columbia, SC and studied theatre at Winthrop University and the University of South Carolina. She then found her way from suburban South Carolina to LA for the bright lights of theatre, film, and television.
Eryn is joined on Going for Broadway with Cogsworth on the national tour of Beauty and the Beast…Samuel Shurtleff! Samuel Shurtleff is a native Texan who emigrated to NYC in 2012. Prior to moving to New York City, he performed in numerous regional theater productions throughout Texas.
On this episode of Going for Broadway, Samuel Floyd joins us on the show with Eryn. Samuel Floyd is an actor based out of New York City. He is a BA Theatre Graduate from East Tennessee State University, and also holds his minor in dance from there.
Sally Cade Holmes is a freelance producer who most recently produced Dylan Frederick's Summer Valley Fair at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and The Twentieth-Century Way with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. She served as the Producing Associate at Williamstown Theatre Festival where she worked on Broadway and off-Broadway productions of The Bridges of Madison County, Fool for Love, Living on Love, The Old Man and The Old Moon, and The Visit.
Eryn is joined on this episode with an actor that has been in many productions with her. John Patrick ("J.P.") McLaurin is a theatre artist based in South Carolina. He is currently pursuing a BFA in Acting at Coastal Carolina University, where he will be directing José Rivera’s Marisol this fall.
Kevin Sizemore joins us today on Going for Broadway. Eryn has worked and learned from Kevin a lot in the past to prepare for different auditions. Kevin Sizemore has portrayed many memorable characters on television, such as Gary Humphrey on RESURRECTION, Paul Randolph on UNDER THE DOME and Greg Miner on STALKER as well as characters on NCIS, 24, Rizzoli & Isles & DROP DEAD DIVA and many more.
Emily Pate is a really good friend of Eryn’s and has the same goal as all of us… Going for Broadway! With this dream in mind, she has performed in regional and community theaters for the past 8 years starring in productions including Tarzan, All Shook Up, Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Mermaid and The Wizard of Oz.
Rick Connor was in Eryn’s very first show ever! Rick is a community theatre regular for many years now here in the Upstate of South Carolina. Recently he was seen as Sheriff Earl in All Shook UP at the Greenville Little Theatre, and in Smokey Joe’s Café, A Christmas Carol as Jacob Marley which he has played several times and will play once again this coming December at GLT along with Eryn.
Jaycie Dotin is a seasoned actress who is currently on her first National Tour as Lorraine in Jersey Boys (which in coming to Greenville where Eryn is). Considered a true “triple threat”, an actor who can act, sing and dance, Jaycie is a Wright State University alumna where she earned her BFA in Musical Theatre.
We are joined today with one of Eryn’s favorite directors, Kim Granner. Kim Granner studied Art and thus, her original career choice was to become an artist but to make a living, veered off (in her words) and worked as a graphic artist for 30 years.
Arbender Robinson joins us today on this episode of Going for Broadway. Arbender is a native of Chicago and a Graduate of Viterbo University. After his Broadway debut in Hairspray, Arbender has had many more successful runs in a number of Broadway shows in The Book of Mormon, the original casts of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Little Mermaid, Ragtime, and currently as the Constable and Montparnasse in Les Mis (he is also the understudy of Marius), in which Eryn got to see if him in.
Coach Robert has served as Eryn’s voice teacher for about 6 years now. Robert Hoefer is president of the South Carolina Institute for Vocal Training (SCIVT) and CEO of Pitch Doctors, LLC. Coach Robert has been in the music and voice industry his entire life, beginning his vocal training as a child under the tutelage of the distinguished Hungarian instructor Dr. Arpad Darazs.
Originally from South Carolina, Justin has made a professional career in theatre. He has gone from starting with community theatre in Greenville, South Carolina and moving on to the regional theatre scene in Atlanta, Georgia, Justin at both the Serenbe Playhouse where he has played Demetrius in Midsummer’s Night Dream and Craven/Weatherstaff in The Secret Garden, and at the TheatreSquared where has acted in Look Away and One Man, Two Guvnors. Coming up, Justin will be Jason in Wit at the Aurora Theatre, a theatre center that produces professional plays based in Georgia, and Ventecelli in Amadeus at Theatre Squared.
In this Episode, Justin and Eryn discuss his training at North Greenville and the prestigious University of Arkansas. They also talk about the different regional theatres he acts at and the environment in which they come. Justin is always back and forth between working in different locations of theatre, but finds Atlanta to be the place to be.
Justin talks about the life as an actor. He is always looking for work and makes it a point to say that the agent can only get you the appointment, and the rest of the work is all on you.
They close out the episode with his word of advice being to “have fun.” It’s hard work and there’s always time to be serious, but if you’re not having fun then it’s all wrong. Justin tells the parents to support their young performers and keep on with the encouragement.