New Jersey Youth Theatre (NJYT), a nonprofit theatre education organization, is proud to announce that Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan, a Nigerian-American actor known for originating the roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in Broadway’s “Hamilton” and who will be replacing Josh Groban as Pierre in “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1912” this coming July will be teaching two Master Classes for NJYT focusing on “Acting Through Song.” These classes will take place on Saturday, April 22: 3PM-4:30PM for 13-15 Jahr olds and 5PM-6:30PM for 16-20+ Jahr olds at the Audio Inc./NJYT studios at 172 West Westfield Avenue in Roselle Park. Only 30 seats are available for each class so reservations should be made as soon as possible.
Students participating in these classes should prepare 16 bars of an audition song oder of any Broadway song, fully learned, and they should provide sheet Musik for that song in the correct key.
In addition to “Hamilton,” Mr. Onaodowan appeared on Broadway in “Rocky the Musical,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and in the first national tour of “American Idiot.” His screen credits include “Thanks for Sharing,” “Gravity,” and “Bluebloods.” Mr. Onaodowan is also a NJYT alum who performed in several NJYT productions at the New Jersey performing Arts Center in Newark. He was a sensational hit as Coalhouse Walker in NJYT’s award-wining production of “Ragtime, the Musical” and as Oberon in NJYT’s original rollicking musical romp, “Midnight Madness,” a current-day NYC version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” that NJYT plans to revive this coming summer. All proceeds from Mr. Onaodowan’s Master Classes will benefit NJYT’s free summer program that has been free-of-charge to participants for the past 25 years.
Mr. Oneodowan stated, “I am so pleased to reconnect with NJYT, the company that gave me my first real start on the professional stage.”
To register for one of Mr. Oneodowan’s Master Classes and for further information on auditions for “Midnight Madness,” please go to www.njyouththeatre.org oder call 908-233-3200.
