In The Beginning

"I was born in Nashville and moved here from Iowa when I was almost 15; we moved to Kansas City,” Eric began.

“As a young kid living in Tennessee, my parents were part of a revival church. We used to go to these big Christian revivals in a warehouse at the end of a dirt road. My dad would worship there. It was a Southern survival charismatic church.”

“As a kid, that was really impactful. We moved from Tennessee to Iowa, where people were more reserved, and I had to keep to myself. It's only a somewhat friendly place to be if you're from there. My dad got a job at a prison up there and hoped to run and design this faith-based prison program. The idea was to reform people through Christ, which was the best way to re-integrate, change a person, and put them back into society. After that, he got his Master's degree in Missouri, and that's when we moved to Kansas City."

From Miracles to Musicals

"My mom was homeschooling me, and she raised me on musicals. Both of my parents did musicals in college. My mom danced, and my grandma taught me to tap dance in the garage as I think about it. I did come from a family of performers.”

“One day, my mom was looking up things for homeschooled kids to do in Kansas City. She came across a place—I think it's now called First Act—that was a Christian youth theater. We went down there, and they were doing Seven Brides to Seven Brothers, and that's what got me into it!”

“When I got into theater there, I started making friends. It was a much friendlier, warm, and welcoming environment. Before that, I spent a lot of my time alone or just with family, being homeschooled because you are a little more isolated, and I was just really ready to have a friend group. I could tell the environment of doing theater was going to be inclusive, fun, and friendly. The more I did it, I just exploded! Now, top that off with the fact I'm pretty competitive.”

“I started taking voice lessons, and then I would watch all the show's performances on DVDs and critique myself. I could see where things felt genuine in how I expressed myself, how I walked, and how I had an inner awareness.”

“I was taking lessons from this great teacher when I was cast as the lead in Beauty and the Beast. Playing the lead role of the Beast was the biggest part I had at that point. I was just 16 years old, and it was a great major part in a production.”

The Awakening

"I remember doing one of the shows of Beauty and the Beast, and I had almost an out- of-body experience during one of the parts of the show. He sings a reprise of his main song after Bell leaves to go.”

“At this point in the play,” Eric explains, “the character is like I will save my father. I am not gonna stay in this castle.”

“Then, the Beast lets her go. And he gives into the fact, thinking, well, I will be a beast forever. At that moment, I had this experience of connecting with that reality and those lyrics.”

“As I was singing, this moment came over me, and it freaked me out. I remember having to go outside and catch a breath because I was having such an emotional experience.”

“From there, I thought to myself, maybe this is something I could do. At that point, I had a couple more years left of high school, so I ran with it. I kept pushing myself, I kept taking lessons, and I decided to go to college for it. I went to college in Cincinnati, Ohio.”

BOOK OF MORMON on BROADWAY

The Book of Mormon is a highly successful Broadway musical comedy with music, lyrics, and a book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, the creators of the comedy TV hit South Park. The story follows two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they attempt to preach the faith to the inhabitants of a remote Ugandan village. It is filled with politically incorrect and high-energy humor.

“I had always wanted to work on the Book of Mormon specifically, “Eric explained, “so I went.”

“My last callback for the show happened that day when I was doing my senior showcase.”

“There's a lot of dancing and a quick turnaround time to learn the show. I had done some dancing in college for my musical theater program and my grandma taught me tap dance in her garage, so I knew a few tap dance moves.”

“Then I did the tap camp, returned to school for my last week of senior year, and found out I made it through three more rounds of cuts. By the time my second showcase was over, the Book of Mormon had emailed me and told me I got the part!”

The Journey Begins

“They told me they were interested in me and asked if I was willing to go on tour. And I said absolutely yes! It was exciting but challenging. In less than one month after graduating college, I did that show for four years!”

“I was 23 years old and started the next chapter of my life on tour.”

“Everyone around me was super supportive. My parents probably saw the show 10 or 15 times. My brother's traveled to Philadelphia and Chicago. I've been all over the country twice.”

“Book of Mormon was the biggest show I had landed at that point in my career, but I have learned a lot. There are things about tour life that I think would be easier and better now that I've done them and also had some time away from them."

On The Road

“It was difficult to focus on this new opportunity while maintaining relationships back home. It was definitely a concerted effort to keep in touch with family and friends I had made in college.” Eric lamented.

“I had to stay fresh and maintain my energy by trusting the writing and consistently showing up. It became part of my genetic code, like my DNA, and with the audiences, the magic is always there! Especially with the show Book of Mormon. The way people laugh in that theater is very special; I don't think that was ever lost on me.” He reminisced. 

Back to Roots

After spending 3 years in NYC and one short stint in LA, Eric was more than ready to return to his KC roots. “Living in New York after Covid shut down Broadway for almost two years, [life] had become just about trying to grind enough daily to pay rent. The creativity was dying.”

“There's a lot about being here in Kansas City that reminds me of where I came from, who I am, and where I came from in relation to my family and my friends. There's a lot more breathing room for me to be artistically creative.”

A Leading Man in Disney's Newsies

“Playing the lead role as Jack Kelly in Disney's Newsies here at New Theatre in Kansas City has been my biggest lead role so far in my professional career. I have played lead roles in college, summer stock, and here at Starlight, but this is my largest professional production as a lead.”

I Hate New York!

Through weeks of rehearsals, Eric found something both he AND Jack could identify with.

“There is a line from the scene where I'm alone with Katherine on the platform. She asks, ‘Is that what it's like in there, three kids to a bed filled with rats and vermin?’”

“I went into my imagination as Jack. I imagined being that little kid with no home, who is sharing a bed with two other kids, being in hopeless conditions. He is entirely alone in this disgusting city that is unkind, almost in its nature!”

“My time here at Newsies, my relationship to the environment that I'm entering, I applied it. I love all my guys. I kind of love getting to mess with people. I really hate New York. I hate it. It's overrated.”

Becoming Jack

“Finding a little bit of information, especially about childhood, is significant. It can help you see so much in rehearsals during the first few weeks. I tried to tap into the hatred towards the city and its cruelty and bring it into the role.”

“Jack is a leader; I could identify with that! The one who stands up, the one who decides, you know, they can't do this shit to us,” Eric exclaimed, “and it's like something inside you don't see; this is what New York does! They're fucking with us, and we're just kids. They see us as nobodies, just children.”

“I really like to engage with everyone around me and have personal connections with everyone. There is a parallel between me and Jack. We both dislike unjust things. If I feel like there's unfairness or something's upsetting me, I can have that visceral type of anger, which leads me to have a voice for others, having kind of an almost brutal way of addressing those emotions.”

The NY Accent

Eric continues to pull from many of his personal experiences to perfect his role as Jack Kelly. “I lived in New York for three years and was hurt by having dated a girl from the Bronx for eight or seven years,” he relates, “I've been around the accent quite a bit.”

 “While I may not have the most authentic New York accent, I push it a little bit because it's a musical, entertaining people is the goal!”

“A couple of kids came to see the show, and I came over to address them but I didn't use the NY accent, and these kids were looking at me strange,” explained Eric. “So, in my best NY accent I said, ‘so you want the New York accent on? Okay, you see that? I'm the guy, that guy!’ They were all smiles. It was a lot of fun! When I started this show, one of my big goals was to make people feel like they were in New York!”

A Future Beyond Broadway: Film & TV?

“Film and TV is the ultimate goal, but Broadway is always going to be something that I could and want to achieve.”

Eric elaborates his feelings on expanding his career into film. “It is a different kind of work than Broadway. In film, I like the amount of prep time you get,” says Eric. “There are many opportunities to work on your character and build different skills, depending on what the role demands, and then being facilitated with the connections and the finances to achieve those personal goals.”

“Take the actor Bob Odenkirk in Mr. Nobody. Here's a guy who is a stand-up comedian and writer who gets cast as the lead in a high-action combat movie! He trained for a year and a half, working on his fighting skills to do the movie. The prep time helps you get into the character.”

“Whereas on Broadway, you're doing eight shows a week, you're up on stage every day and get paid weekly. It's much more of a put-your-nose-down, grind, and hustle vibe, which gels with my personality, and I like to do that.”

“I would like to have the capacity to have a successful film and TV career. I'm just waiting for that… I've done a short film and a feature film last year. There is a screen acting studio where I take acting classes, and I'm open to more opportunities.”