“Is there something that your character experiences in Parade or about the play in general that really resonates with you and intersects with your life?”

Zoe Nadal (Monteen)

In light of the recent increase in anti-Semitic acts and speech in our country and around the world, I feel that this show is particularly timely. Parade is a musical that forces you to acknowledge, confront and respond to anti-Semitism. This show highlights how easy it is to be manipulated into blaming others for tragedies due to our own ignorance or unwillingness to empathize. As a Jewish woman, playing the role of someone who is complicit in the scapegoating of a Jewish man will be a special acting challenge for me.

Leryn Turlington (Iola Stover)

Jason Robert Brown’s music has shaped me as a vocalist more than any other composer, yet I’ve never been in a show of his. I’m beyond thrilled to learn, explore and hear this music every day and allow it to shape me further, this time in the context of a complete and full story.

 

Devin DeSantis (Britt Craig/ Young Soldier/Ensemble & u/s Leo Frank)

I think we can all relate to the notion that we fear what we don’t understand. In the current climate of our country, there is nothing more important than trying to understand and accept those that are different from us.

 

Jonah D. Winston (Newt Lee/Riley)

The attitudes of the people in the production, particularly the people of color and their relationship with the reality of the world in which they live really resonates with me. We have come so far as a country but still continue to experience our own sort of growing pains. At times it still feels like the black experience means to keep your head down and polish your smile so as to appear “nonthreatening.”

 

Eunice Woods (u/s Minola “Minnie” McKnight/Angela)

More than anything, I like that this show challenges me to think about the assumptions I make about others.