Today we’d like to introduce you to Roy Alan.
Hi Roy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I was born in San Antonio, TX, and grew up in Houston. I began taking dance at the age of 4, at the suggestion of my doctor after inner ear surgery. He said it would help me regain control of my balance. I studied ballet, tap, jazz, and acrobatics. At the age of 8, I auditioned and was cast in my first professional musical, PETER PAN, starring Janet Blair, and that summer I was cast in CAROUSEL, starring John Raitt, GYPSY, starring Giselle McKenzie, and SHOWBOAT, starring Andy Devine. I was bitten by the theatre bug and continued to study dance, singing, and acting. At this point, I switched to a new dance teacher, Patsy Swayze… Yes, Patrick Swayze’s mom… he and I grew up together studying dance and performing in his mom’s dance company. I continued to work in professional theatre in Houston at Theatre Under the Stars and was in the first graduating class at The High School of Performing & Visual Arts in Houston. I moved to New York two years out of High School with my first wife, Michele Kaye-Alan, and we were cast in shows out of town. In 1979, Michele and I were cast by Tommy Tune in the Houston Company of THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS and stayed with the show for a year and went on the road with it as a National Tour for 9 months. We then returned to NYC and within a month I was hired as the Swing for the Broadway production of PIRATES OF PENZANCE starring Linda Ronstadt, Kevin Kline, and Rex Smith. I covered 17 different roles in the cast and went on to become the Dance Captain in charge of training the replacements for the stars and chorus members of the show. I stayed with the show for almost 2 years and then left to become a Stage Manager for the Broadway production of NINE, starring Raul Julia and Directed by Tommy Tune. Michele & I had a daughter, Tonya, in 1984. After NINE closed we moved to Florida and I began working steadily as an actor, director, and choreographer at many professional theatres across the state. Michele became ill with breast cancer and died in 1989. So, I struggled as a single parent working in theatre for 2 years. I met my second wife, Heather Alexander, in 1991, while we were in a production of SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville. We were married 9 months later and moved to NYC with our 2 young daughters (we each brought one to the marriage). After a year in NYC, we moved to Orlando with the promise of work for me at Universal Studios. I worked as an actor there for 2 1/2 years and then was hired to do a show in Atlantic City based on ON THE TOWN, about 4 sailors on leave in New York City. Heather stayed in Orlando to take care of our daughters (we had 3 now) while I worked for 6 months in Atlantic City. The show moved to Lake Tahoe and Heather got hired as the Company Manager and a singer in the Midnight show. We packed up the girls and drove across the country. They got a great education from the experience! After 6 months, the show was moving to Biloxi, Mississippi and I suddenly got an offer to come back to Universal Studios as the Assistant Director of Show Development. So, we moved back to Central Florida, had our 4th child, a boy and I worked as a Show Director for Universal for 6 years. During that time, in 2000, Heather and I opened a performing Arts School, The Master Class Academy, on Orange Ave. in Winter Park. The focus was to train students to become “triple threats” (strong actors, singers, & dancers) so they could work professionally in theatre. Some of our students have gone on to work on Broadway and in National Tours of HAMILTON and SIX. In 2002, Heather & I went to New York and saw the Off-Broadway production of I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE. On the plane home, we decided to open a professional musical theatre, The Winter Park Playhouse, and bring that show to Orlando as a Central Florida Premiere. A few months prior to this, the Mark Two Dinner Theatre had closed and there was no professional musical theatre in Orlando… we saw the need and jumped at the chance. Heather became the Executive Director and I became the Artistic Director. In 2009, we sold the for-profit school to our business partner and focused our energy on the non-profit theatre. We moved to a larger space next door and expanded our seating from 73 seats (which were consistently selling out) to 123 seats. The school closed in 2011 and we took over that space and expanded our lobby and office space. Here we are in our 20th Season with 6 Mainstage productions a year as well as our Spotlight Cabaret Series and One-Night-Only Events, plus we’ve added an annual Festival of New Musicals, now going into its 6th year. As a member of the National Alliance of Musical Theatres, we are now recognized nationally and internationally for our work.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A life in the Arts is never a smooth road. Training as a dancer is full of long hard hours of sweat, strain, and sore tired muscles. As a professional actor, you must audition to get hired for your work. For every job that you get, there are 20 more that you didn’t get along the way. You have to be able to withstand the rejection every day. As a theatre company, there is always the struggle of coming up with the money to pay your actors, musicians, technicians, and staff that run the admin side and to pay the license fees & royalties for the shows as well as paying for the sets & costumes. When people see a show in the theatre, they don’t realize how many people are involved and how many man-hours go into making that 2-hour show look and run smoothly… construction hours, rehearsal hours, not to mention the hours put in to promote the show in advance, so the public knows about the show and buys tickets.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the Artistic Director for The Winter Park Playhouse. An Artistic Director must know everything about the art of professional theatre. As a Director & Choreographer, I have to know the art of acting, dancing and singing as well as the technical side of theatre… the lights, the sets, the costumes, the props, and the audio. Also, I have to know about the Business of “show business”, negotiating the licenses for the shows through the companies in New York and LA. Since we’re a professional theatre, we hire union actors through the national union, Actors’ Equity Association, so I work with them to get the contracts drawn up. I’m also responsible for helping decide which shows will be presented in the next season as well as setting up the auditions to cast those shows well in advance of the first rehearsal. We specialize in Musical Theatre, musicals require talented performers who not only act but also sing and dance.
We’re known for light, fun musicals that lift the spirit and inspire as they entertain.
What I’m most proud of are the number of new shows we’ve brought to Central Florida as Premieres, Regional Premieres, and World Premieres. Many of the shows we’ve done would not be seen here if we hadn’t produced them.
What sets us apart is that we consistently have incredible talent on our stage and that we treat our patrons and staff like family. We’re known as the forget-your-troubles theatre because you can walk in and be swept away from everyday cares for a few hours. Everyone needs that!
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Theatre and the arts are all about networking. An actor is always looking for the next job. The same goes for just about any of the positions in theatre, music, and dance. Once in a blue moon, you get lucky and land in a show that runs a long time, but most of the time you’re keeping your feelers out for the next gig. In looking for a mentor, find the most knowledgeable person you can and observe them. Question them. Absorb everything you can and put it to practice. Tommy Tune was one of my mentors and taught me more than just some great tap steps. He taught me, as a choreographer, how to make even a non-dancer look like they’d been dancing for years. He taught me, as a director, how to tell a story that draws the audience in with the right focus at the right time.
What has worked for me is staying open to all ideas and be ready to change my opinion of how something should go. There’s not just one way to move across a stage or to tell a story. Collaboration and communication are the keys to successful theatre.
Pricing:
- $46.00 Evening
- $43.00 Senior Evening
- $39.00 Matinees
- $20,00 Students & industry Professionals
Contact Info:
- Website: https://winterparkplayhouse.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpplayhouse/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wpplayhouse
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WPPlayhouse
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/winter-park-playhouse-winter-park
Image Credits
WPP
Heather Charles
Heather Alexander
Patrick Brandt
Roy Alan
Kate Zaloumes
Sarah Lee Dobbs
Jill Vanderoef
Natalie Cordone
Alyssa Flowers
Zach Nadolski
Kelly Morris Rowan
Melissa Minyard
Faith Boles
Shonn McCloud
Meka King
Deejay Young
Patrece Bloomfield
Larry Alexander
Hannah Laird
