Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Tracht.
Hi Daniel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
To start at the beginning, I come from a Disney family. My mom was a dancer, and my father was a technician at Magic Kingdom; their story (and mine) began at Disney! My grandmother also attended college for acting and was a top-tier performer around Wisconsin as well as on a few national tours. As you now know, I come from a line of performers, however, I grew up surrounded by athletes, so I was in between worlds for a very long time. I started performing at a very young age while also playing football, soccer, and a few other sports. There was even a moment in middle school when I started wakeboarding as my new “thing.” Though I loved it, performing did not seem to be a viable career option until I was older. Throughout elementary and middle school, performing had always been a fun activity to do with friends but once I got involved with the Orlando Repertory Theatre, it was then that I realized it was a true passion for me. Being a part of full-scale, beautiful productions surrounded by exceptionally talented performers, directors, and technicians ignited that passion. I was also very fortunate to have amazing theatre and chorus programs at my high school, Lake Nona. There I was a part of the Thespian Troupe 7434 where I competed in competitions all four years of high school. I specifically remember playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar my junior year as the moment I knew I needed to pursue theatre as a career. From there I was fortunate enough to be cast in my first professional theatre job as Davey in Newsies at the Orlando Reparatory Theatre. Following that was a long audition season for college theatre programs where I ended up being accepted into my dream school: Penn State University. I had an amazing time at Penn State, as I was fortunate enough to perform in a number of musicals, as well as get involved in some amazing philanthropic organizations such as THON and Camp Kesem. I spent this past summer in New London, New Hampshire as an acting intern at the New London Barn Playhouse, which was a very long and arduous yet rewarding summer. I have since graduated from Penn State and am now officially a working actor living in New York City, as I have always dreamed of!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am fortunate to have family and a community of friends who have supported my career path from the day I decided theater was my calling. Even with this support, the performance industry is a tough one to breech. It took many hours of dedication, training, and discipline to feel confident enough to put myself into the professional world. Even with all of the hours put in, now that I am out of school, it is a constant battle of getting myself back into classes and continuing to grow as a performer and human in a now unstructured world. The performance industry is a tough one since everyone’s path to working at a higher level is completely different. I am at the beginning of putting myself out there and setting my path in the industry. There is a common saying in theatre that for every 50 “nos” in auditions, there is always one “yes.” The “no’s” can start to make you doubt your artistry and place in the industry, however, I know there must be a “yes” coming as long as I keep up the work that I am putting in.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At this point, I’m sure you can conjecture that I am a musical theatre performer! This means that I am a trained actor, singer, and dancer. I started with a passion for singing so that is what I have been most confident in, however, in college, I fell in love with the craft of acting. I love the ability to dive into different people’s perspectives on life and form a fully fleshed-out human in every performance opportunity I am given. Character work is arguably my favorite part of a show process aside from getting to play on stage! In college, I found myself in two distinct character lanes: the villain and the brooding comedic relief. Before college, these are not roles I would have thought of for myself, as I was always playing a love interest of some sort. I have truly found a love for playing the “bad guy.” Every story has one and it is important to portray these characters in a way that humanizes them and shows that they too are real people, regardless of their atrocities in the show. I am most proud of the character work I do in these instances. It is very easy to brush off these characters as bad people and just act angry and mean the whole show. I find it more rewarding to not judge the character and try to put myself in their shoes as much as I can and craft the rest of my character’s world to suit the needs of the show. That being said, I truly love playing a wide spread of character types and I hope that my career allows me to explore many different character types over a variety of mediums; TV, film, Broadway, and beyond.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
At Penn State, I was involved in the largest student-run philanthropic organization: THON. THON is a 46-hour no-sleep, no-sitting, dance marathon that marks the end of a year-long effort to raise money for the fight against pediatric cancer. I first got involved my freshman year through an organization called Eclipse, whose sole purpose was to raise as much money as possible. The second I joined Eclipse, I fell in love with the people and the organization of THON as a whole. As a child, I grew up around many philanthropic opportunities including having my mom as the Director of Relay for Life in Lake Nona for a few years. In my junior year of college, I was given the opportunity to be the fundraising director for Eclipse. In this role, I planned fundraisers to raise over $88,000 during the pandemic. In my senior year of college, I was selected as a dancer for Eclipse. As a dancer, I was one of just over 200 people who stood on the floor for 46 hours. It was one of the most mentally and physically challenging undertakings of my entire life, but I knew that I was standing for children and families who were dealing with far worse. I made it through the end of the 46 hours and as a university, we raised $13,756,374! I will never forget this experience and hope that my career will allow me to provide financial support for these families for many years to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: danieltracht.com
- Instagram: @danieltracht
Image Credits
GTC Photography
Mark Washburn Photo
Matt Brunetti
