In 2006, three artists and their business-minded pal put together a one-day musical theater intensive at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. Vocal coach Dave Barrus, actor Adam Hunter, agent/casting director/photographer Annette Tanner and hospital COO Farah Chapes were attempting to innovate in the musical-theater training space. As Tanner remembered it: At the time, workshops, master classes and intensives — especially those without an assigned age demographic — were fairly relegated to New York City with a nascent presence in Los Angeles.
The team decided to test their model in Atlanta. They invited contacts to teach and observe. One of those contacts was casting director Rachel Hoffman, a friend of Hunter’s from their undergraduate time at the University of Michigan. Among the participants in this inaugural training were young talents Calli Alden and Ryann Redmond. Six years later, Hoffman cast the two in the 2012 Broadway premiere of “Bring It On The Musical,” marking both Alden and Redmond’s Broadway debuts.
Growth mindset
That one-day program blossomed into a full-fledged theatrical-training organization known as Broadway Dreams. Founded by Barrus, Chapes, Hunter and Tanner, Broadway Dreams was created to break down barriers to entry for careers in the performing arts and help talent hone their skills and find employment.
You might say the founders succeeded.
The list of Broadway Dreams alumni (or “Dreamers”) includes Broadway performers Sidney Dupont, Olivia Elease Hardy and Samantha Pollino; “America’s Got Talent” runner-up, “Boop!” principal and social media celeb Angelica Hale; “Gilded Age” breakout and current “Death of a Salesman” powerhouse Ben Ahlers; and Broadway, TV and music star Reneé Rapp.
The nuts and bolts
For 20 years, Broadway Dreams has been providing focused theatrical training to showbiz hopefuls — taught by experienced faculty members with Broadway résumés. Hosting a mix of summer intensives, workshops and masterclasses, as well as charter programs that partner with a single institution, Broadway Dreams cultivates participants’ acting, singing and dancing with instruction by the likes of Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning actor Billy Porter, director and longtime “Kinky Boots” associate director D.B. Bonds, Drama Desk Award- and Emmy-nominated choreographer Spencer Liff, casting director Hoffman (who became Broadway Dreams’ director of engagement and opportunity three years ago) and more.
