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News
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A
Young Actor "Moves Upstage"
Posted 29 June
2010
In the past five
years Ryan Westwood has explored acting roles that spanned the spectrum
from bodily function farce to modernized Greek tragedy. Now the 24 year
old is taking two college degrees and his creative ambitions on the
road with a rare opportunity.
Westwood was a familiar face to Kirkwood Theatre attendees, earning
applause for comic roles in Urinetown and Pajama Game, plus such
classic sobering fare as Chekov’s The Seagull and the wrenching
emotional demands of The Laramie Project.
The Bettendorf native then took those experiences back closer to home,
finishing his studies at St. Ambrose University. There he had plum
roles in Pippin and Seussical the Musical before landing the title spot
in the blood-drenched Broadway musical Sweeney Todd.
Westwood has been accepted as a member in the Acting Apprentice Company
at Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Kentucky. The nationally renowned
training ground for top-tier performers and stage professionals gave
Westwood the nod after an initial audition put him on an alternate list.
“I made the alternates list the first year, one of four out of more
than 2,200 auditioning. Then I tried out again this spring after the
company people were asking about me through my professors. I went to
the March auditions and I learned in late April that I had been
selected,” Westwood recalled.
The Louisville company gives its 22 apprentices “some great creative
opportunities,” according to Westwood. “It’s an intense nine month
season, and several times our apprentice team gets to be directly
involved in creating pieces. There is what they call the ‘Apprentice
Ensemble Project,’ where all of us get together, bring personal stories
and experiences into a script, then put together a show. Another time
in the season we get to do ‘Solo Mios,’ some 8 to 10 minute solo works
in another show. Also during the year there is a commissioned work made
for the apprentice group to perform. There will always be a lot for us
to do,” he added.
Westwood credits his Kirkwood years with building self-confidence on
personal levels as well as his acting craft. “Socially, living in the
Kirkwood neighborhood apartments gave me a real feeling of confidence
and strength. I felt like I could handle whatever was thrown at me from
that atmosphere. Plus I got some really great experiences in the
challenging productions [Kirkwood director] Rick Anderson took us
through. Now I’m ready for a lot more in Louisville,” he said.
In addition to the grueling work ahead for this 20-something aspiring
professional, Ryan Westwood will take on a new, long-run role of his
own this summer: newlywed husband. His fiancee’ Ashley Fenton just
graduated from St. Ambrose with a nursing degree after a stint in the
Army Reserves. Right after their late June wedding and honeymoon, the
couple will head for Louisville--and Ryan will play out his next
chapter of an actor’s life.
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