By Marci Shatzman
Q: Thanks for taking the time on your Central Park dog walk to talk to us about why you’re performing at FAU’s fourth annual Culture, Arts and Society Today (C.A.S.T.) Party at 6 p.m. Monday Feb. 19. I’ve linked to the event, that among recognitions will benefit students in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, especially theater scholarship students like you when you graduated in ’88. You went from FAU in Boca to Broadway, just finished your 15th show and have three Tony Award nominations. Did they reach out to you or vice versa, and this isn’t your first time to help promote musical theater education at FAU is it? (Tickets available at https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/cast-party/)
A: I heard they were doing “9 to 5: The Musical” and I kept in touch with Desmond Gallant (FAU’s School of the Arts director). I did a master class in the fall. I’ve done master classes everywhere, including Yale, and I wanted to do it at my alma mater. I had a $5,000 scholarship. I put myself through college and got Pell grants. I want to do everything I can to raise money for scholarships for those students. Funding is needed now more than ever.
Q: What can supporters and patrons who attend the C.A.S.T. party expect from your appearance?
A: I’m performing a number with four students we put together with my music director. It’s a medley about a particular moment in our country’s history.
Q: You went to high school in Plantation and still have family there. Did you go to FAU because it was local? Were you already a theater major?
A: I was a political science major. I wanted to go into lobbying and take corporate law at George Washington University. I already had a job on the hill. I took theater courses, and I was building sets. A political theory teacher said he thought I should change my major. I switched the beginning of my junior year. I did 15 to 20 productions at FAU. I got my Equity (Actors’ Equity labor union) card from the Caldwell (now the Wick Theatre) and moved to New York. I treated FAU like a professional theater. I didn’t sing (then), but people had seen me (perform).
Q: You said you’re doing two modern opera shows this weekend. When did you start singing?
A: When I got to “Bye, Bye Birdie.” I had to learn. I started taking lessons as soon as I started getting into musical theater. I studied operatically while I was doing Broadway. I had a passion for it. I’m a baritone.
Q: Are you doing anything else now besides acting? I see you’re in the cast of “Law & Order: Organized Crime” on TV.
A: I teach corporate coaching. It’s the same skill set.
A total of $180 per ticket will go directly to the scholarship fund. Attendees will enjoy cocktails, fine food, visual arts pop-ups, Kudisch’s musical theater performance, the FAU Jazz Band and dancing to live pop music from FAU’s commercial music band. The event will be emceed by WPTV reporter Jamie Ostroff.
The C.A.S.T. Party will also commemorate the 30th anniversary of naming the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters by honoring the legacy of Schmidt and the Schmidt Family Foundation. Their son and foundation president Dick Schmidt will accept the honor. Myrna Gordon Skurnick will be honored for her contributions to the arts in South Florida. BrandStar will be recognized for its generous gift to transform the former FAU Studio II Theater into BrandStar Studios at FAU.