Carefully Taught: Teaching Musical Theatre with Matty and Kikau Kikau and Matty

In this episode, Matty and Kikau have a follow up conversation with Aaron Brown about his recent recommendation Cowboy Carter. The blending of genres and exploring of styles that Queen B does with this album is surprisingly connected to conversations Matty has been having with his musical theatre students.

Matty and Kikau chat with Aaron Brown, Cassie Abate, and Tom Delbello, the co-heads of the Musical Theatre program at Texas State University. Their recommendations include Cowboy Carter, The Art and Practice of Musical Theatre, and Director/Choreographer, Tuan Malinowski.

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Aaron currently serves as a Co-Head of Musical Theatre: Director of Student Relations, Production and New Work at Texas State University. He formerly, served as assistant professor and Co-Coordinator of Musical Theatre at Sam Houston State University from 2019-2023. Some of Aaron’s past directing credits include the world premiere of ShaWanna Rivon’s You’re Cordially Invited to Sit-In (Stages), Houston for the Holidays (Stages), Shakespeare in Love, Airness, Detroit ’67, Once on this Island, Violet, Godspell (WaterTower), Crazy for You, Hamoncé: A Devised Piece, Black Magic: A Shakespeare Adaption, The Pavilion, and Hairspray. His assistant director credits include the world premiere production of Regina Taylor’s Bread (WaterTower Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin (TUTS), and the regional premiere of Dear Jack, Dear Louise (A.D. Players). Aaron Brown holds an MFA in Directing from Baylor University and a BM in Music Theatre from Oklahoma City University. Aaron is a proud supporter and promoter of diversity in the arts. He is a firm believer that Representation Matters! Aaron is grateful for the love of his amazing wife Holly and their two kids, Eliza Grace and Isaiah Carter Brown.



Cassie Abate is a Co-Head of the Musical Theatre Program. Cassie originally hails from Sarasota, FL and has spent the last 15 years working as a performer, director and choreographer in New York and throughout the country. Cassie received a BFA in Musical Theatre from The University of Miami and an MFA in Musical Theatre from San Diego State University. Other training includes Ann Reinking’s Broadway Theatre Project and Gil Stroming’s Break the Floor in New York City. Cassie was an adjunct professor in the Musical Theatre Program at Montclair State University as well as a Graduate Student Instructor at San Diego State University where she taught dance at the undergraduate and graduate level.



Tom is a Co-head of Musical Theatre: Head of Production and New Works. They hold a Masters in Directing from Texas State University. At TXST, Tom has directed Spring Awakening, Guys & Dolls, Cabaret, Hair, Speech and Debate, the New Musical workshop of Dylan Spencer’s Cat Obedience School, and many other new works. In Texas he has worked as an associate director at regional theatres such as The Zach Theatre in Austin, and Theatre Under the Stars in Houston. Select acting credits include, the world premier and Toronto companies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Boys in the Photograph and the North American tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat. He has performed at regional theatres across North America and cruised the high seas as a lead vocalist with both Disney Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises.

Jessica Humphrey is the President of the Musical Theater Educators’ Alliance and an Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University. In this episode we discuss the Musical Theater Common Prescreen Criteria developed in partnership with MTEA, Accptd, and several Musical Theater programs across the country. We also discuss the upcoming MTEA conference in London at the Guilford School of Acting from July 23rd to July 25th, 2024. Her recommendations include: Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution by Todd S. Purdum and getting an “old-fashioned” planner! 

Jessica is a native of Dallas, Texas and attended Western Carolina University where she received a Bachelors of Music in Musical Theatre. This is where she first started working as a dance captain for Tony nominee Charlotte d’Amboise and assistant to Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann both on productions and at their summer intensive, Triple Arts. She has continued to assist the husband and wife team until she moved to TCU. Both Terrence and Charlotte directed Jessica in shows such as A Chorus Line (where she eventually took over the role of Cassie when Tony nominated actress Ariana DeBose suffered an injury), Sweeney Todd (Johanna) and Pirates of Penzance (Edith). Jessica went on to work as a dance captain for original Rent dance captain, Owen Johnston and spent two summers as the dance captain for Wild Adventures Theme Park.

After graduating in 2011, she moved to New York City where she performed in several regional shows including the regional debut of The Boy from Oz, Cats (Rumpleteazer) and Into the Woods (Little Red). Some other favorite productions have included Dames at Sea (Joan), West Side Story (Anybodys) and Brigadoon (Bonnie Jean).  Eventually she decided it was time to further her education and completed her Masters in Musical Theatre at San Diego State University where she received support from the Roscoe-Tiffany MFA Musical Theatre Scholarship and the Marion Ross Scholarship. The program is one of only a few in the nation with a terminal degree in musical theatre, and the only one that has a clear focus on both performance and academia. An important aspect of this program is working on developing new musical theatre works. Jessica worked with Dallas natives in developing the show “On the Eve” and with Tony Award Winner BD Wong and Wayne Barker on the show, “Mister Doctor”. Jessica went on to work with BD and Wayne again in New York, on a new musicalized version of Mister Holland’s Opus. Jessica taught classes such as History of Musical Theatre, Acting I, and Musical Theatre performance. While completing her thesis on the evolution of rap in musical theatre, Jessica left California in order to perform in Alaska as Peter in Peter Pan. While flying every night, and completing her thesis, she also worked to choreograph numbers for the Aztec Follies, a cabaret of graduate students filmed for PBS. During her time in grad school, Jessica also worked at the famed La Jolla Playhouse, in the Development Department and the Musical Theatre Archive at SDSU, the largest Musical Theatre Archive west of the Mississippi. After moving back to New York City, where she resided until August 2018, Humphrey worked with organizations such as the Ziegfeld Society, Rosie’s Theatre Kids, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She continues to study voice with the esteemed instructor Andrew Byrne and works as a performer both onstage and in voiceover.

Matty and Kikau talk to Josh Young, the Coordinator for the Musical Theatre BFA program at Missouri State University.

Prior to his Tony-nominated Broadway debut as Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, Josh had the distinction of playing the role of Marius in Cameron Macintosh’s Les Miserables and in more subsequent productions than any other actor. Josh also won the Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance for his turn in Superstar. He went onto originate the role of John Newton on Broadway in the world premiere of Amazing Grace. 

Josh is the co-founder of Cutting-EdgeComposers, a concert and weekly web series on broadwayworld.com, created to give exposure to musical theatre's next generation of songwriters. Josh is the Coordinator of Musical Theatre at MissouriState University having just left Oakland University where he led the musical theater program for the past four years and was the 2022 recipient of Oakland University’s Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Matty and Kikau spend time with Tommy Iafrate (Coordinator of Musical Theatre BFA at Binghamton University Theatre Department) and Tim Espinoza (Chair of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee). Today's roundtable topic was "Curriculum." We hope that this conversation about our programs helps you as you are making plans for the future.



Recommendations today include an app called Sounds of Broadway, Universal Design and Multicultural Curriculum from Nicole Brewer, Pianotrax, and the Backup Dancers on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour!

In this episode of Carefully Taught, we have the privilege of hosting Chelsea Pace, co-founder of Theatrical Intimacy Education and the pioneering author behind "Staging Sex." With an impressive resume that includes serving as the intimacy choreographer for Broadway's "Strange Loop" and ongoing professional engagements nationwide, Chelsea is a force to be reckoned with in the realm of theatrical intimacy.

 

Listen in as Chelsea shares her insights and experiences, tracing the trajectory of intimacy choreography within the performing arts. From her groundbreaking work to her latest endeavor, Open Intimacy Creatives, Chelsea's contributions continue to shape and revolutionize the industry. A captivating conversation on creativity, professionalism, and empowerment in the world of stage intimacy.