Behind the teacher: Shane Rhoades shares Broadway stories
Reaching for dreams can be achievable as Assistant Professor Shane Rhoades can attest to. At the age of 18, Rhoades moved from Iowa to New York City to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA): “I thought ‘hey this is what I want to do.’” Since AMDA was setting his sights high, Rhoades had a backup plan to study in Iowa as a special education major even after being accepted into the academy. “Loved the city,” Rhoades recalled. “My first year was really rough, but everyone’s first year is rough in the city.” Once there, Rhoades experienced the challenges of homesickness and getting to know new people.
In theater equity is like the union. Without the equity card the performers are may not be entitled to certain benefits, this can, and often does include auditions, health benefits, and pay scales.
From the ages of 20 to 24, he worked in non-equity theater, finally obtaining his equity card after four years during a production of “A Chorus Line.” At 28, Rhoades finally received the call he’d been waiting for; his agent had gotten him an audition in “The Boy from Oz.” The audition process took about two hours Rhoades recalls. After the experience and having it be narrowed down to four people, he was finally sent home feeling good about the whole process.
Rhoades said, “You go to an audition you forget about it you leave it . . . The audition center to the gym was about 10 blocks. I was just about to go into the gym, and I got a call from my agent. He said, ‘What are you doing next week?’ and I said, ‘Nothing what’s going on?’ and he said, ‘You’re working on Broadway.’”
That following weekend he was suppose
d to fly home for his 10-year class reunion; this was the perfect excuse not to be there. “I was on Broadway for two months with Hugh Jackman. It was pretty cool.”
Rhoades spent 20 years in New York working on various projects. During the two months spent with “The Boy from Oz,” his roles, commonly known in theater as features were “the trick” or male entertainer, announcer, and part of the dancers ensemble or group. “The trick” was hired as entertainment for a party. In this scene, he spent the evening delivering champagne and entertaining Hugh’s character, Peter Allen.
After the show ended, Rhoades spent more time touring until he received a call from a choreographer to assist in choreography for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” They did one Christmas season when Rhoades worked as the assistant for seven weeks during rehearsals. Rhoades was only with the team for rehearsal before they opened on Broadway.
The summer after, the team from Broadway in New York and the team from the Old Globe in San Diego were brought together for a two-week intensive training at the Old Globe. Rhodes spent another two months during the following Christmas season with the Grinch after that.
Music Professor Nancy Allen was the final pull to bring Rhoades to Viterbo. Allen served as a mentor to Rhoades having been his junior high and high school teacher, and she even accompanied him to his audition in Saint Louis. Rhoades remembered the audition and why he chose Allen as his accompanist: “I had never really sung with another accompanist and I was terrified, and I was like ‘I want somebody I know.’”
With his experience in “A Chorus Line,” Rhoades was asked to assist with the choreography at Viterbo. “I was supposed to be here for seven weeks, and I’m in my seventh year. It’s all through Nancy and ‘A Chorus Line’.”
Rhoades also mentioned there are Viterbo alumni currently on Broadway touring in Chicago and San Diego. Students never know what they can achieve if they set themselves to their goals. Take the risk; the worst that can happen is being told no.