This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi, everyone. I am Martín Acuña, and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:19] Martín Acuña: Welcome back, everyone. This is another episode of Backstage Talk, and today I have the honor of having over one of the most amazing young artists I've found on social media. This is Trent Soyster. So, Trent, I'm going to leave you to introduce yourself.

[0:42] Trent Soyster: Hi, everyone. I'm Trent Soyster. I'm a New York City-based actor, performer, director, choreographer, educator, sort of a bunch of different things. I'm originally from the suburbs just north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I studied there for about 10 years through my high school years doing theater professionally in my hometown, and then I came to New York for my fall freshman semester at Pace University and have been at Pace for five years now because various projects have taken me away from school, and so I'm finishing up my senior year and have just had honestly the honor of working at a bunch of different regional theaters and stock theaters, and I've gone on tour and teaching around the country, and so sort of finishing that up is sort of what I'm up to right now and various teaching gigs, and I'm based in Brooklyn now, so that's the latest and the greatest.

[1:54] Martín Acuña: Tell us a little bit about Pace because when I was reading all your website, you did a lot of things at Pace. It's been like a wild ride.

[2:08] Trent Soyster: Yeah, it's been a crazy ride. So I actually, take it back to senior year of high school, I wanted to do sort of a varied college experience, meaning that I wanted to have as many, I guess, experiences as I could, so I interviewed for directing programs like undergrad in like a bachelor in directing, and then I also auditioned for BFA in musical theater programs. And ultimately, I think the decision came down to location for me. My options were sort of varied in where I could go, and the one school that I got into in New York was Pace for directing, and I honestly, I think I took that as a sign to just get to the city as quick as possible. Being 18 years old and in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, I was like, I just want to get there and kind of make it as great as I can and make it my own. So I moved to New York in the fall of 2016, and I came to school for a BA in directing.

[3:22] Trent Soyster: So the interesting thing about that program is that it was a new program at the time, so I would have only been the fourth class to graduate from the directing undergrad program at Pace University, which was exciting to me to kind of get to like help shape the program into, you know, what it could be one day. So I did two years in that department, and I honestly, it was some of my fondest college memories was being in that department. I had the opportunity to work on so many projects. I think the really cool thing about the kids in that program, not kids, the young adults, I guess, or like my colleagues in that program, was that they were the most interesting, unique, hungry for art people that I've ever met in my whole life, and they were constantly like making work that was new and cutting edge, and that was really inspiring to me.

And so within that program, I guess going into my freshman year, they were looking for an assistant director for the fall main stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and they called me up and were like, Trent, do you want the job? And I was like, sure, you know, you don't really say no to an opportunity like that. And so I had the fortune of assisting Gina Rattan and Sarah Oakleby. So Gina and Sarah have worked on Broadway on shows like Matilda, and Cinderella, and the NBC live productions of Sound of Music, and I think something else. And so, you know, here I was an 18-year-old assisting these people that were working on huge projects, and getting the opportunity to just be in the room and soak in all that information was honestly the biggest blessing of that first year of school.

And then, so I went through my freshman year and did a bunch of various projects. I did a new musical in a warehouse in Brooklyn in my spring semester of freshman year, and then summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I started auditioning a lot, is the other thing. So I knew coming to New York, I wanted to audition, and I wanted to, you know, hone my performance skills as much as possible. So I was auditioning a lot, and I ended up booking a bunch of theater work as a performer for that first summer of college. And I think that started to make my wheels turn as to, you know, I can make a career as both a creative and as a performer. And that really was honestly, I think, the most encouraging thing for me, because I was scared, honestly, that going to a program for directing that was going to sort of like pigeonhole me or put me down this path of just doing this one thing, of just sort of sitting behind the table, when I knew I was so hungry to be on stage.

And so I auditioned for a bunch of summer work, and I booked the regional premiere of Newsies. So I did, I guess it was the Northeastern regional premiere of Newsies. So I did a production of Newsies at Pittsburgh CLO, which is in my hometown. So that was amazing and completely full circle, and like, I could not have had a better first experience working in college as a performer. And then I did a production of Cats. I played Mr. Mistoffelees at a summer stock in New Hampshire. And then that same theater, I played Angie in Gypsy. So that first summer, I did three shows, and I was like, it was like I said, it was just so encouraging to work professionally as a performer. And also, you know, during the school year, I kind of thought of it as like, summer was my time to perform professionally. And then the school year was sort of my time to like hone in on my skills as a director choreographer. And that works for me for the first like two years of college.

[7:32] Trent Soyster: And then sophomore year, I was working on we do this new musical festival at Pace, which is another incredible thing about Pace is that there's so many opportunities for performance and for creating and collaborating. And so sophomore year, I was working on a production of a new musical called Mary and Max by Crystal Skillman and Bobby Cronin. I'll plug them because they're amazing. And it was the greatest, honestly, the greatest honor of working in any production at college. It was the most stimulating. And as a sophomore, I was assistant directing and I was also the choreographer. So I think it really let me like wear that hat of being in charge of the room and not just like assisting assistant to the person at the head of the room.

And, you know, here I was sophomore, like choreographing for seniors. And it was it was one of those moments where I think for so long I had this idea that like the creatives are always older than the actors. And that's just never the case, actually. Right. Like there's always like there's always older actors than the creative members. And and so that was the first time that I was able to like actually, I think, step into my I don't want to say power, but step into sort of the the responsibilities that that comes with being a younger sort of creative person. And I was assistant directing. The director was the head of the BFA musical theater program at Pace. And as I sort of got to know her, we sort of had this dialogue about, you know, what would make what how do I see my career going?

What do I see myself doing in the long run? Really? I had already been asked to be the associate choreographer for the main stage musical that spring. So I was the associate on the Drowsy Chaperone. And that fall, right before that, I had assistant choreographed the main stage play. So I was kind of doing a hundred things. And I was also in the emerging choreographers workshop. So it's called Emergence. And it's student choreography workshop that we do at Pace every fall. So I was kind of like my face was showing up all over the place. And she was kind of like, who are you? What are you? What's going on? What do you see yourself doing? And, you know, as I laid it out for her, I think I realized as much as she did, that I would actually be a better fit for the BFA musical theater program.

So we talked about transferring. And that I did. So I finished out that spring of sophomore year as a directing major. And the deal was that I was going to go into the BFA musical theater program, but I was going to have to do an extra year of school. So I, you know, that was also another big conversation to be had with my parents and with my friends and my mentors. Like, is this worth it? You know, is it worth it to transfer majors within a department that I'm already finding a lot of success and opportunities in? And ultimately, we decided that it was, that it was worth it for me to sort of go into the musical, go the musical theater route. So that, and then that next summer, I actually went abroad with a show that I created called Bloom, along with an ensemble of actors in the directing program.

So I took it to Croatia and performed and presented it at Croatia's first ever youth theater festival, which was incredible. Like another, just like amazing opportunity that I got while, you know, in my undergrad. And then, so that summer I went abroad. That summer I choreographed a production of Newsies at a dinner theater. And then I started working at a company called Young Artists of America.

[11:35] Trent Soyster: Thanks to one of my friends, Maddie Rodrigue, plugging her, hired me to assist her and to teach some of the dance classes. So that I did. So that summer, I assisted choreograph to Parade. And so that summer was sort of like I flipped that whole like sort of theory that I had of like perform during the summer, choreograph and direct during the year. Now it was like choreograph and direct during the summer, perform during the year. Because I knew that going into a performance-based track that the whole next school year was going to be performance. So then that junior year rolls around, I'm a musical theater major, finally. And I, I was doing, I actually I didn't know that's a lie. I worked on a production of Mamma Mia that fall.

I assisted choreographed and directed a production of Mamma Mia at Narrows Theater in Brooklyn. I assisted Chaz Wolcott, who is just like one of my greatest mentors, dear friend of mine. He actually directed and choreographed the production of Cats that I did that summer right before. So we've been I mean, he's been a true blessing in my life since moving to New York. He's given me many an opportunity. And I, so I assisted, directed and choreographed that. So it was a project away from school. I felt like I was starting to get sort of my feet sunken into the sand here in New York. And then that, so then that same January rolls around, new musical festival happens again. This year, we did a production of Pete Herpan, basically like Peter Pan, but like Jane is sort of like leading you through the story.

It was incredible. And this was, I think, the ultimate test of me as a creative and as a performer, because I played Michael Darling and I was the dance captain and I was the assistant choreographer. So here I am, like juggling a hundred things, being like, I'm I do it all. I do it all. I promise. And I felt like I was pretty successful at it. I don't know, ask my past mates if I was, but I felt like I was doing, I felt like I had a solid handle on it. And so that that rolls around. And then spring of my junior year, I got an email in my inbox about, about an invited dance call for the Escape to Margaritaville national tour. And I honestly, at first I was kind of like, I don't know, like, I was just kind of like, I think like, I'm okay.

Like, I know it sounds crazy now. It really sounds insane now. Right. I honestly think I was like, I was, we had found the way that I was going to make it work for me to graduate in four years from Pace instead of five. So it's like, oh my gosh, I'm going to mess everything up now. If I like leave. And this was like an audition. This wasn't even like you got the job. This was like, come to the invited audition. And I was like, okay, what do I have to lose? Really? What do I have to lose? Same time I'm working on Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS production of Easter Bonnet at the Minskoff. So I was working on the Come From Away piece. I danced in that at the Minskoff spring of, I guess that would have been 2019.

And I was doing was, was I had, so I was in the invited audition for Escape to Margaritaville. The associate choreographer, Andrew Turtletaub, plugging Andrew. He was the associate for the Come From Away piece at Easter Bonnet. So here I am like working with him during the day and auditioning for him at night. So then we had this sort of like great rapport of like, I see you, you see me, like we both know that we're like, we're seeing each other all the time, right? For like a month. So I had one invited audition for Margaritaville. I was like, yeah, cool. That went well. You know, my boyfriend at the time came pick me up. We had dinner, like it was awesome. And kind of didn't think twice about it.

And that, I guess that night I got an email being like, can you make it to final callbacks tomorrow morning? Or I think, I think maybe the invited audition was like Thursday and they were like, final callbacks are Saturday. I was like, okay. So like, I guess I just like passed through a bunch of rounds because I was like, all of a sudden being asked to come to final callbacks. So that I did, I showed up to final callbacks and I don't know, I guess there were maybe like 30-ish guys left at that point. And went in, did the combos, saw Andrew Turtletaub again, you know, did that whole thing of like, here I am again, met Kelly Devine, the choreographer. And I, so I did one of the combos. They taught us a new combo, or actually no. The people who had went to the open call learned one dance.

The invited audition, the invited callback learned a second combo. So everyone that had been there since like round one knew both combos, but the people that were only invited to that second callback only knew one combo. And I was one of those people. I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know the combo. Like I only know one of these. So they quickly taught us the second combo before the creative team got there. And we did it. And I remember, honestly, I think like this, I think this is when I knew I booked the job and that sounds crazy, but you'll understand why. So I, we did it and we went through all the groups of learning. And then they're like, all right, everyone go wait in the hallway. We'll call you in groups.

Give us like probably 30 minutes to get our, get everything, get everything, you know, organized and ready. And we'll call you in. We're on our way out of the room and Turtle, we call Andrew Turtle. Turtle's like, can you stick around for a second? I'm like, oh gosh. So I'm like, sure. So I like go back in the room. Kelly Devine stands up from the table, you know, and her gorgeous, gorgeous blonde locks. Kelly Devine's the choreographer of Escape to Margaritaville. Also like Diana on Broadway, also come from away. Like she's a rock star. She's like, Hey, I'm Kelly. I'm like, oh my God, I'm freaking out. Hi, I'm Trey. And she's like, she's like, Hey, you're, you're crushing it today. Would you mind like going and teaching the combo to a few guys that came late?

And I was like, no, full out, like full send. And I was like, okay, inhale, exhale. I think I just spoke to but I don't know. I don't know. So I was like, yes, 100%. I will do that. So I like go in the hallway. I'm like, if you, if you can't know, they came out, they're like, you came late and you need to like refresh the combo. Like Trent's going to lead a quick, like brushed up rehearsal in this other room. And I was like, okay, so I think this is going well. And it's funny now hearing people that were in that callback that were my castmates for a year, recall this story, because they're like, yeah, we fully knew if one person booked out of that room, it was you, because they like, I literally was teaching the combo.

You're being like a dense captain. Yeah, literally, literally. So, so we all went back in and we did the combo. And I guess it was probably like, two days later, I got a call asking me if I wanted to join the tour. And at that point, honestly, I was like, super torn. I was like, I didn't know I was like, I didn't want to go on tour. Of course, I wanted to go on tour and like do the thing that we've all been training to do. But I also felt like I had spent so much of my time investing in pace and in my education. And my education is really important to me. And I think that I wanted to just like, check every box and make sure that like, everyone was going to be okay with me leaving for tour. Of course, there were some duds that were like, no, you need to stay in school.

But like, for the most part, I felt like overwhelmingly supported by by by school and by my mentors and by like, my family and friends that I was like, I just don't think there's a reason that I should should say no to this opportunity. Like, it just doesn't make sense. I'm 21 years old, like, it's the first national tour, like I have to do it. So I said yes, and the rest is history. So then I guess, I guess what the this initial question was school, right? About pace? Yeah. Okay, so but it's okay. It's okay. Okay, so so then I guess, so then I took off what would have been my senior year, I took a year away from school, I took a leave of absence. And honestly, that was really tough, like watching my friends graduate and watching my friends have showcase and watching my friends, you know, that I went through four years of college three years of college with graduate was like really difficult.

I won't lie, it was it was definitely an interesting sort of experience to be like out working and having this cool experience on the road, but also like seeing my friends that I basically like grew up with at college, finish out their degrees. And then I knew 100% at the end of tour, at the end of the first year of the tour, I was going back to school, there was no questioning it. I basically, on the first day of rehearsal, I will never forget and Brian Schrader, plugging Brian Schrader from Troika was like, so you know, year one of the tour is going to end on July 5. And that is when your contracts are up, like, but there's a possible extension, you know, we might continue through the fall of 2020, or the spring of 2021.

Like, who knows what's going to happen. But there's definitely like, we're definitely thinking we're going to extend past that. And I raised my hand and I was like, I just want to make sure like, I'm going to be done on July 5, though. And everyone was like, it's day one. But, but, but I was like, so solid in my in my idea that like, I was going back to school and I was coming back to get my degree. And like, I spent too much time and money and effort and energy into this degree to not finish. So I made that abundantly clear from the get go. So I went through tour and March rolled around Coronavirus sent us all home and I am back in school for senior year. So I'm part time. I just finished up my fall semester. I have like three credits left. I had two classes. It's literally a voice lesson in my senior showcase. So I'm so close to the finish line.

[23:10] Trent Soyster: In that communications major, I started performing arts. So in total, it was seven years at the college I graduated on, and then at the year of film school before that. So it was eight years of college. You've been at it for a while. Yeah. So I understand your feeling of, I see the finish line, but it's so far away. I can see it, but it's so far. I mean, a year ago exactly, I got my performing arts bachelor, and in September this year, I got the communications bachelor. And it was like, okay, finally, I'm out of college. And I mean, this is funny because people in the States start working at a really, really, really young age. People here wait until they have their degree to start working. So it would have been crazy if you didn't take that gig.

Yeah. And I mean, honestly, looking back, especially if you look at the past year that we've had, I think that I would, sure, I would have graduated, quote unquote, on time, but I wouldn't have that credit or that experience that I'm so fortunate to have had when I was 21. I left for tour when I was 21 years old. So I learned a lot. And I think, actually, I learned more on the road than I could have during senior year. And that's nothing against the education, but it's everything for experience is education. Totally. Plus, it was meant to be. All right. It's not the ideal for performers to learn through a laptop or a Zoom class. But I mean, you got to travel and a lot of experience on being on tour.

And the less it would be to have graduated virtually. A hundred percent. So yeah, that's really, really cool. And also you have a minor in commercial dance. Yeah. So I guess I forgot that part. So at Pace, I started in the directing department and then I auditioned for the minor in commercial dance and I got it. And the program for commercial dance is really selective and they take maybe two or three minors a year. And there's normally not any non-MTs that have the dance minor, just because the performing arts programs are already so small. And within the department of performing arts, it's like you kind of stick to your own track, so to speak. And so to try to cross over and do something else and take classes with different majors, it's really difficult.

But I, you know, in true Trent fashion was like, well, I'll try it. So I auditioned and I got it. And so there were me and two other boys that got it that year. And so then I added a minor in commercial dance. And I also think that was like a tipping point for the musical theater department heads that were like, so you're a directing major, but you have a minor in dance. And I was just kind of like, yeah, yeah, that's like, yes. I don't know what else to say. That is correct. And so that was more of just a thing for them, I think, to be like, oh, so this guy does, you know, the dance department has seen him do things and now like, let's see, you know, I think it was kind of like, let's see, let's see what would work best for him.

So I'm very grateful for it. It was an amazing, I got to take classes with the dance majors. I got to, you know, I performed in, like I said, in the emergence choreography showcase, which is just mainly the dance majors. I guess technically you can be outside of the dance majors, but it's run by the dance department. And then full circle, the dance department head came to see our opening night of Margaritaville in LA. So it was like full circle moment of like, and one of her actual dance students was my roommate for the second half of tour. So I was on tour with someone that I went to college with. It was pretty awesome.

[27:48] Martín Acuña: That's amazing. On your description on the website, I loved three things. The first one was showbiz has always been in my blood. Like, I mean, that is, that is the best definition for every single thespian and more for Broadway people that are so passionate about things. The second one was you typing the script of Wicked while watching the bootleg because boy, I felt that because it did the same with Next to Normal. And then I found the PDF online. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I absolutely love that. Yep. And the last thing is your description of how you have different hats when it comes to theater and performance. And I actually love that right now you have an Escape from Margaritaville hat. I love it. Very on brand. So how has it been to be like, on stage and backstage for a lot of things?

[29:05] Trent Soyster: Yeah, I mean, it's really, it's really interesting. I think like, for me, it's always been about like, where's the opportunity? And so I think having that like broad scope of, of things that I can do and have hats that I can wear, actually just gives me more work. In its very simplest form, it's like, there's more work because I do more things. And, and I actually am so, so glad that I started doing that early. I, when I really started to realize that I wanted to do some directing and choreographing as well, I was probably in high school. And I choreographed a production of Honk Jr., which is like the musical production of the Ugly Duckling at our community theater. And I was in 10th grade. And, and I started to be like, I really enjoy sitting behind the table.

And I really enjoy creating and I enjoy being in the room, almost more than I enjoy performing itself. And so I did an internship at a theater company in downtown Pittsburgh called Front Porch Theatricals. Yeah, I did the last five years. I did The Lightning of Piazza. I did The Spitfire Grill and I did Floyd Collins. And so this was the summer of my junior and senior year of high school. And I realized how much I enjoyed being behind the table. And even if it was just to like, soak in the information that the creatives were sharing. I was just so, I was like, I was living for that, for that experience to be, to be creative and in the room and involved in the production from pre-production all the way through opening night.

So I think that was highly the inspiration for, you know, interviewing for directing programs as well as musical theater departments. I also think it would go, I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't share about my experience at Pittsburgh CLO as a kid. So, and my very beginning was at Act One Theater School, plugging Act One in Pittsburgh. I really did start in like, when I was five, like I was, I was the youngest kid. I played a Wickersham brother in Seussical. Like I was the tiniest little tot being like, I had a solo that was like, hanging out on a limb, looking down on him. Something like that. I don't know. It was like in the jungle of Noel. I had a solo and I was like, I was in first grade.

Like I literally started so young. And then I started taking classes at Pittsburgh CLO, which is an institute in Pittsburgh that has an academy attached to it. So the Pittsburgh CLO Academy of Music School Theater. And I would go to my normal public high school during the day. And then right after school, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, I would go downtown and take class. So I would have my jazz class, my ballet class, my tap class, audition techniques, acting, whatever, acting for film. So I really started training when I was like really hardcore in like sixth grade. And then I worked, I started my professional work in middle school. I, first production I was ever in as a paid performing actor was a production of a musical Christmas Carol in the seventh grade.

I played the turkey boy. My middle school came to see it as a field trip. And I felt like the coolest person in the world. Little did I know what was going to come, but like, I thought it was just like the most amazing thing ever. And I, and, and so I think that, you know, I started that because I started performing so young and because I started working professionally when I was in middle school, I did a few like regional commercials and a national commercial. So I started really like, I started to get the itch to do something more than just perform because I started so, so young. And, you know, that has led me to like today, I mean, I, I assist choreographers in the city all the time. I assist directors in the city all the time.

I, I honestly think that my experience at Pace let me connect with a bunch of different directors in a way that I don't know I'd be able to without Pace. I mean, you know I have assisted people like Sam Pinkleton who choreographed Amelie and, and Significant Other and Great Comet on Broadway. I've assisted Dennis Jones, like literal Broadway's Dennis Jones. So it's crazy to like be in a position where I'm in the room with these people. Even though right now it's a Zoom room, it's still a room. And, and to just like get to soak in that information and be, and be a sponge. And that has ultimately, I think, led to opportunities behind the table because I'm willing to just to sit and to take in the information and to kind of be the right hand man to that person and whatever they need.

Yeah, I mean, and, and also it has led to some, you know, full length productions that I've directed and choreographed. I did, like I mentioned, a production of Newsies. I directed and choreographed a production of Wizard of Oz. I choreographed a production of Smokey Joe's. All four professional.

[35:45] Trent Soyster: Oh, gosh. I mean, I think, I think number one is being like an open vessel. And I think as if I take if I took nothing else away from my directing training, it's that the director is actually more of a collaborator than anyone else in the room. And, you know, you think of the directors like they stand at the front of the room and tell you what to do and where to go and all of these things. But actually, like, they're taking in information from everyone else. And they're recording, they're processing it and receiving it. And then they're sending out what they think is best for the team. And that, I think, is ultimately, like, transferable to any, whether you're the music director, the choreographer, the assistant to the choreographer, the dance captain, the leading man, the whatever it is, like, being open to information, taking it in, and then putting back out your best effort, I think it's like the baseline of like all theater, right?

It's like we listen and respond to art. Like, that is what we do. And I think that, you know, also, I think being a good communicator and being respectful in your communications, I've seen so many people shoot themselves in the foot because they say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Or they say something that just didn't sit quite right. And then it's like, well, if you would have given it like five minutes for you to just think about what you were going to say, or how you were going to offer that feedback, or how you were going to address the room, maybe it would have gone better for you, right? So I think that there's a bunch of things that can, you know, transfer. I also find, like, being a young creative person that I have a lot of ideas, and I get excited about them quickly.

And then I have to, like, pump the brakes and be like, okay, what's our budget? What are my actors? Who do I have in the room? What am I, like, in that part of my brain, I think is, I'm still honing, I'm still working on that part of my brain. That it's like, yes, I can dream up all these things, but it's like, we have a certain, we have a budget, we have a limit, we have this amount of actors. When we were casting Grease, I was, like, so gung-ho for having, I forget, it was like four or four, maybe it was five guys and five female identifying ensemble members. And our director wanted something different. And I was so passionate about having these specific five dancers that I loved their auditions and loved their callbacks, and then I was like, pump the brakes, chill out, sit back, like, just take in the room, see what the vibe is.

If you still feel this passionate tomorrow, then send the email, right? And so it's, I think, like, having the ability to just, like, chill out and be like, what can I just, like, shut up about for right now? And, like, pick your battles. It's like picking your battles, I think, in any situation, whether you're a performer, especially as a dance captain, all of the different, you know, in so many different hats.

[39:28] Trent Soyster: One of the classes you're teaching right now at Young Artists of America and Oh Look Online Performing Arts is the Dancing Through Musical Theater classes, right?

[39:37] Trent Soyster: Yeah. So I started teaching. So the reason I mentioned Young Artists of America earlier is because they have truly been, like, my rock during this, during COVID. So I got sent home from the road. I was like, I'm not going to New York. New York was the central hub of COVID. I was like, I need to go home to Pittsburgh. So I went home to Pittsburgh, and my boss at YAA reached out and was like, we want to do some sort of, like, virtual programming. Do you have any ideas? And so one of my friends and collaborators, Maddie Rodrigue, she's a Radio City Rockette, she's a total rock star, texted me and was like, what are we going to do? How are we going to do this? Like, let's start thinking of ideas now.

And I was like, heard, let's do it. So I had this idea to teach a Dancing Through Musical Theater History class where I would do, like, 15 to 20 minutes of, like, musical theater history and then do, like, an hour of a normal dance, a musical theater dance class. And they ate it up. They were like, we are obsessed with this idea. The kids at that time hadn't gotten any musical theater history except for during their summer programming. So I was like, cool, let's bring it into the school year program. So I, you know, and being, like, a total musical theater nerd, I was, like, all down for, like, and then in 1942, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma, and the kids are like, what? But I was, like, passionate about it.

And I think through my passion about it, they got, they started to, like, get passionate about it too. So I did a semester of that in the spring. And then for the fall, they asked me to come back on and keep the class going. So I teach it every week, every Saturday. And so I teach that at YAA. And then at Oh Look Online, I teach a jazz class, which is sort of dance through musical theater inspired. It's not exactly the same class, but it's similar. And then at Young Artists of America, I also teach for their studio programs. So I teach their Studio One kids. And then I'm the resident choreographer for the YAA Junior program. So I'm, like, again, wearing a thousand different hats, because I'm on their education team and on the production team.

So I'm a choreographer and I'm a teacher for them, which is incredible. And truly, like, I can't say enough good things, because they have been there for me since, like, the first Saturday of quarantine. Like, they, I had work. And to this day, I have a week, I have not had a week without work since COVID started, which is, like, unheard of. But again, I do think, like, it does go, like, I don't think it goes unnoticed that, like, I started investing in myself as an educator and as a choreographer and as a director. Because in a time like this, if I hadn't done that early on, there's, like, a whole, there's slim pickings for performing jobs these days. So, you know, being able to, like, put on that hat of teacher, Trent, like, gave me the opportunity to keep working, which is, I'm so, so, so grateful.

[43:02] Martín Acuña: That's amazing. And I'm really still starstruck, because what you've put on the description on your website is just, like, the tip of the iceberg for all the things you do. And each time you mention a new thing, I'm like, damn, this boy is good. And I'm really, really happy about it. And I'm really happy of all the things you're doing right now. And before we go, where can people find you and take your classes online? Because I know that, I think it was last week or two weeks ago, you gave a class of hip hop, and you got people from all around the world.

[43:41] Trent Soyster: Yeah, that, I mean, that was amazing. So that I, right now, well, okay, so you can find me on Instagram, my handle is at tscott8, T-S-C-O-T-T, the number eight. You can find me on my website, which is www.trentsoyster.com. Those are kind of my main points of contact. Contact me, there's a contact page on my website. Shoot me an email. I also teach private. So I have private students as well as my studio students. So I do, like, hour-long private dance lessons via Zoom, or if you're in the New York City area, socially distanced with a mask on outside. So I have a bunch of private students as well. But I, so yeah, that was truly amazing. I teach at a place called Broadway Weekends at Home. Gina Duvall, who is Diana in Diana on Broadway, started a, I guess it's like an online sort of, like, Broadway community of musical theater students.

So she brings in Broadway performers and choreographers and music directors to teach a variety of classes. And so I subbed for one of my good friends, Susie Carroll, for her beginner hip-hop class. And hopefully, keeping fingers crossed, I'm going to join them for, like, a full-time, not full-time position, but for a weekly class starting in January. So look out for that. And I'm teaching at Young Artists of America. You can pop into my workshops. I teach, I'm actually teaching a how to swing workshop this Wednesday and the next Wednesday, how to be a swing, which is going to be super cool. And I'm going to bring some of my friends who have been swings on Broadway to just sort of talk to us and, like, guide us through what it's like.

And then next semester, I have my schedule, same schedule again. So I'm at a Look, I'm at Young Artists of America, and hopefully Broadway Weekends at Home. I'll be teaching a little more there. Yeah, so lots of cool things happening. And lots of cool things coming your way. I know that.

[45:48] Martín Acuña: Yeah, for sure. Thank you. Well, Jim, thank you for being here. Thank you for coming over. It's been truly amazing to having you.

[45:53] Trent Soyster: Thank you so much for having me. It was an awesome, awesome conversation.

[45:59] Martín Acuña: Thanks everyone for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.