Nick LaMedica and Emily Kron in ‘As You Like It.’ Photo Credit: Adams Visual Communications.

At the Theatre Company: Benediction. National Tours: War Horse. New York: Romeo & Juliet, Return to the Onion Cellar (NY International Fringe), Titus Andronicus (American Globe). Other Theatres: Much Ado About Nothing (Two River Theater Company), Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare Miami). Training: BFA Acting/Musical Theatre, Marymount Manhattan College

MEET NICK LaMEDICA
Silvius in As You Like It

• Hometown: Newark, Delaware
• Training: BFA in acting and musical theater from Marymount Manhattan College
• What was the role that changed your life? The first play that really changed things for me was Conversations with My Father by Herb Gardner. My first acting teacher in high school gave me a monologue from it, and it moved me in a way a play had not before. I performed it in a sort of showcase at my school and that was when I first really caught the bug. It changed my life’s trajectory dramatically, and somehow I ended up here.
• Why are you an actor? I can’t imagine having as much fun or feeling as fulfilled and excited doing anything else. It is a constant challenge full of surprises, so it is boredom-proof. A lot of people give this silly piece of advice to NOT become an actor if you could possibly do anything else with your life. The life can be hard, inconsistent and unpredictable, so the idea is to save people from the “suffering” of being an actor. I think that advice robs this industry of its most compelling artists. As an actor, I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by intelligent, talented jacks of many trades. They have chosen this world from many where they could also succeed. I can’t imagine a place that I’d be more inspired, learn more or have more fun than in the theatre.
• What would you be doing if you weren’t an actor? I would love to be a zookeeper. My father was one, so I suppose it is in my blood. I have always loved working with exotic animals and would be interested in pursuing training and community education in that field.
• Ideal scene partner: I’d love to work with David Tennant. He’s my favorite Doctor, a fantastic actor on stage and screen – from Shakespeare to Sci-Fi – and someone you can tell is always having fun. He marries technical skill and creativity in his roles while still remaining very much “himself.” I think it would be an absolute blast to work together.
• Why does this play matter? Rosalind is what makes this play really great for me. She takes her life into her own hands. She isn’t a damsel in distress, but rather a woman who takes control of her life, stands up to injustice and endeavors to get what she wants in her world. She’s creative, witty, intelligent, adventurous and daring. Theatre, television, film, and other media have been dominated by men long enough, so it is inspiring and important to bring out these strong female leads. Dramaturgically speaking, it is an amazing exploration of a woman’s vast capability when given a man’s office in a world controlled by the opposite sex.
• What do you hope the audience gets out of As You Like It? I hope they laugh and I hope they see themselves in one of the stories. That’s the greatest joy for me in the theater: The “Oh, I’ve been there” chuckle.
  
• Finish this sentence: “All I want is … ” Rationality. There’s a disheartening lack of it on a global scale, and I believe it lies at the core of learning to work together as a planet.

Nick LaMedica played a troubled preacher’s son in last season’s DCPA Theatre Company world-premiere production of ‘Benediction,’ with Amelia Marie Corrada. Photo by Jennifer M. Koskinen.

 More 2015-16 ‘Meet the Cast’ profiles:
Adeoye, the Cheshire Cat in Lookingglass Alice
Molly Brennan, the Red Queen in Lookingglass Alice
Kevin Douglas, the White Rabbit in Lookingglass Alice
Micah Figueroa, understudy in Lookingglass Alice
Maurice Jones, Orlando in As You Like It
Geoffrey Kent, Actor, Assistant Director and Fight Director in As You Like It
Emily Kron, Phoebe in As You Like It
Samuel Taylor, the White Knight in Lookingglass Alice
Matt Zambrano, Touchstone in As You Like It
Lindsey Noel Whiting, Alice in Lookingglass Alice

As You Like It: Ticket information

Please be advised that the Denver Center for the Performing Arts – denvercenter.org – is the only authorized online ticket provider for ‘As You Like It.’

Previous NewsCenter coverage of As You Like It:
Kent Thompson and the Four Loves of As You Like It
As You Like It opens: A woman’s woman in a man’s world
As You Like It begins rehearsals: ‘Literally, watch it bloom’
Costume corner: Letting it all go in the Arden Forest
Shakespeare’s largest female role might surprise you: It’s Rosalind
Casting announced for Theatre Company’s fall shows
DCPA Theatre Company giddily going down rabbit hole in 2015-16
Official show page