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Same Programming, New Name! Academy of the Arts is now Illinois Conservatory for the Arts

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IMPACT: Musical Theatre

Winter | January 2-5, 2025

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A Night of Broadway

Friday, February 21, 2025

Meet Broadway’s Samantha Pauly

By Joshua Sanchez

How can being in a pre-broadway production bring you as far as performing on the Tony’s? It seems unreal, doesn’t it? Well that’s what happened to Samantha Pauly. Samantha Pauly played the role of K-Howard in the Pre-Broadway production of Six the Musical. She was the original K-Howard on Broadway, playing the role for three years. Although Covid-19 delayed her broadway debut, it never stopped her from following her dreams.

During Samantha’s career, she has performed in many different musicals, movies and plays. Right before Six, she got cast in the national tour of Bat Out of Hell, but soon canceled from getting the role of K-Howard. Samantha’s dreams were finally coming true with the news of Six making it on Broadway. Unfortunately, as soon as they were about to open in New York City, Six closed due to the pandemic. During the pandemic, most if not all grew bored after only a few days of staying home, which foreshadowed creative tasks and hobbies to work on during these hard times. For example, Samantha used social media to create YouTube videos everyday to not only entertain herself, but to relieve herself from stress due to the pandemic.

“I knew that I was going to be really bored and I wanted to do something to self-entertain myself and eventually the videos blew off sort of creating this schedule for my everyday life,” Samantha expressed. Not only did these energetic, positive videos keep her on her feet, but it brought a smile to the faces of millions.
As Broadway was opening up to a fresh start, so did all Six of the queens and the roles they played. After Covid, Six the Musical could finally start running in New York. Unfortunately, Samantha and the others had to relearn most, if not the entire show. This also allowed her to gain a deeper perspective of “All You Wanna Do.” This hit song contains many different emotions, love, sadness, and most of all shows how vulnerable Samantha is while singing the song. Coming back from Covid-19, Samantha explains the struggles she had while learning “All You Wanna Do” all over again due to the struggles from her time of reflection over her past experiences through the 18 months of quarantine.

“I had so much free time that I had the chance to get back into therapy regularly which was helpful in general.We’ve all been away for 18 months and we’ve all gone through so much, we were all different people. Because of that, the numbers (in Six the Musical) will be different as well as a whole new version of myself and the other queens,” Samantha stated. As shown by her amazing performance as K-Howard, she created one of the most iconic queens on Broadway, causing a deeper understanding of what the role meant to her.

Samantha Pauly never gave up. She stayed hopeful throughout the pandemic, not even knowing if Six would ever open again. Even if Samantha was stuck at home, she took her career to a whole new level by doing different activities on social media platforms to continue what she loved to do the most. Perform.

Overall, everyone’s career will be different. The path you take is the path you will go. There will be different opportunities that people can take. If the opportunity doesn’t come now, it will come later. Samantha never stopped following her dreams even in the pandemic, and so can you. If you stop following your dreams you are practically throwing away everything that you love. Take Samantha as inspiration, never give up.

Broadway can be a stepping stone to something bigger. Never give up.

Triple Threat: One Man’s Artistic Journey Through Creative Responsibility

By Maya Meschi

James T. Lane is a dancer, singer, and actor currently starring in the off-Broadway play Triple Threat.  The one-person performance takes the audience through James T Lane’s life. Lane has experienced all aspects of the performing arts, from performing in Tony-nominated shows to reaching an all-time low after an injury led to addiction. Lane’s life experiences brought him to the point he describes as creative responsibility. In other words, he encourages the importance of finding multiple ways to pursue bigger creative endeavors. He is an actual ‘Triple Threat.’

From an early age, Lane was passionate about theater. “Dance was my first language as a child. Through dance, I could express myself. I found my emotions were easy to translate through dance.” With the love of dance, Lane attended Girard Academic Music Program. One year, the school had to cancel its musical. Lane made lemons into lemonade by creating his first musical, A Killer Review. Lane hung flyers around the school to motivate students to participate in his production and taught his performers different acting methods/techniques. With drive and determination, Lane was accepted into the prestigious colleges of Carnegie Mellon and Penn. State. After years of performing in primary school, Lane found it difficult not being allowed to perform during his first year of college. Lane left college to tour in Fame, allowing him to travel around Europe. Lane’s eyes were opened as he explored new and exciting cultures. “It was terrific seeing buildings older than my country. You do not have that record or realization until you have gone.” Sadly, the experience was short-lived.  Lane injured his Achilles tendon, creating a downward spiral into addiction.

Being separated from the dance was incredibly hard for Lane. Lane said, “The arts have always been a mirror into my soul.” With the help of rehab and family, he eventually found his footing and embarked on a wondrous journey. Lane made his Broadway debut in the revival of A Chorus Line.  Continuing his Broadway success, Lane performed in The Scottsboro Boys. Under the guidance of Susan Stroman, he discovered the art of authentic storytelling, particularly bringing African American stories to life in the fight for freedom. While in London for The Scottsboro Boys, Lane met with artistic director David Lan. “He said to me, ‘What do you want to do? I am interested in you.’ And I was like, whoa! Nobody asked me that before. I had spent so much time in other people’s dreams and visions that it was thrilling and shocking. He later asked me, ‘Do you write,’ I was like, no, so he said, ‘If you were to write something, what would you write?’ Then I started writing and felt like that kid who performed mini-musicals on the playground.”

As his career advanced, Lane starred in another Kander and Ebb musical, Chicago. Lane has revisited Chicago multiple times in his career.  Pushing himself as a dancer, he joined King Kong, the Musical. Lane discovered the power of creative responsibility. He wanted to be more than a performer in a production. “It was the final time that I said, I am going to give 110% of me…So I decided in King Kong to have creative responsibility. It is like I need a bigger slice of the pie to feel good.”

Lane recalled his conversation with David Lan and realized each opportunity was a stepping stone to Triple Threat. Triple Threat was born through his artistic journey: taking risks, encountering pitfalls, and growing as an artist. Triple Threat brings awareness to the struggles people face with substance abuse. According to Lane, “Triple Threat took me on a path, for better or for worse, and I found out more of the spirit of who James was, and I fought some tough battles and came through on the other side. It is like an unshakable kind of self-esteem. I know now that I would not change what happened.”

JANUARY 2–5, 2025

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Chaz Wolcott / Dance

Chaz Wolcott is an actor, director and choreographer based in New York City, and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association. He earned his BFA in Dance from Oklahoma City University.

As a performer, Chaz has been seen as Buttons on the First National Tour of Disney’s Newsies. You can also catch Chaz’s performance in Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical, available for digital download on iTunes and Amazon. Chaz also starred in the 30th Anniversary Tour of Cats as the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees. Chaz was featured on FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance. Favorite regional credits include: 42nd Street (Andy Lee), Mary Poppins, Gypsy, Legally Blonde and productions at Music Theatre of Wichita, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, The Gateway, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Fulton Theatre, The Fireside, Casa Mañana, Westchester Broadway Theatre, Gretna Theatre and more.

Emily Kristen Morris / Voice

Emily Kristen Morris is an NYC-based actor, singer, dancer, certified vocal instructor, and popular online content creator (1.7 Million followers on TikTok). Emily has performed across the nation and internationally, and was most recently the Elphaba standby on the Broadway national tour of WICKED. Currently, Emily is starring as Elsa in Paramount Theatre’s production of Frozen. Her past theatre credits include: Bea in the national tour of Something Rotten, White Plains Performing Arts Center (Daisy in Side Show), The Rev (Sophie in Mamma Mia), Cape Playhouse, the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra (Nellie in South Pacific in concert), Gateway Playhouse, Weston Playhouse, and New York Musical Theatre Festival. Emily has also performed as a solo vocalist with symphony orchestras, including the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in China, and the Norwalk Symphony. Her voice is also featured on Joey Contreras’ new album “In Pieces.” On social media Emily is popular for her voice-teaching videos, her singing covers, and her vocal-coach-reacts videos. When she’s not performing, Emily runs her highly sought-after voice studio, EKM Vocal Studio, where she teaches lessons, masterclasses and workshops to passionate singers both virtually and in-person in NYC. Emily is certified through the Institute For Vocal Advancement (IVA), and received her BFA in musical theatre from the University of Cincinnati; College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).

Salisha Thomas / Acting

SALISHA Thomas is a Broadway performer, author, former Miss California, a commercial and voiceover artist, a producer and director, vlogger, blogger, and media personality. She performed in the 1st National Touring and Broadway companies of Beautiful the Carole King Musical, and the Britney Spears Musical: Once Upon a One More Time. She’s the host of Black Hair in the Big Leagues and The Salisha Show podcasts and the red carpet correspondent for The Broadway Podcast Network. @theSalishashow www.thesalishashow.com

Patrick Maravilla / Casting

Born and raised in California, Patrick started as a performer but quickly fell in love with casting. As a Pisces with a Taurus moon, he aims to bring joy and light to the table while cultivating an inclusive and equitable space. Some of his favorite casting credits include Chicago, A Wonderful World, Peter Pan (National Tour), Gatsby, Life of Pi, Destiny of Desire, and Come Fall in Love!

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