For Broadway actor, director, producer, and professor Eric Jordan Young ’93 (Ragtime, Seussical, Look of Love, Chicago), theatre is like a mirror that offers “healing and a return to self” where people can see themselves, others, and the world around them more clearly “in the warmth of darkness.”
“I do just love the fact that theatre can change minds, especially live theatre. You can walk in one way and walk out feeling completely different,” said Eric, who won a Broadway World Award for Best Performance as Lead Actor. In addition to his onstage accolades, he is the founder of EnJoY Productions—an allusion to his initials and typical sign off: “Enjoy!”
Eric first fell in love with the theatre in the seventh grade: “I did a production of George M and caught the bug!” Later that year, he starred in Peter Pan at his school, and the experience solidified his decision to pursue a career in musical theatre. “I still have my script with all the highlighted things. I thought I was a pro then,” he laughed.
By the time Eric started applying to colleges, the musical theatre program at IC had been on his radar for years. “Ithaca was a school that had a really strong acting program and a terrific musical theatre program, so I was very attracted many years before I even had the opportunity to apply to the school,” he said.