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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Backstage Talk, a podcast about performing arts, films, and other things. This is your host, Martín Acuña speaking, and today we have our very first guest. It is someone very special to me. I met him in New York last January, and let me introduce you to Jeremiah Mitchell.

[0:28] Jeremiah Mitchell: Hi.

[0:29] Martín Acuña: So, our story of how we met was pretty funny because we were at the stage door after a Moulin Rouge performance, and Jay was with a friend and his family over in New York for a weekend, was it, or a week?

[0:47] Jeremiah Mitchell: It was a weekend.

[0:48] Martín Acuña: And we were just hanging out at the stage door waiting for the performers to go out and sign playbills, and we just started talking. And since then we have texted each other a couple of times, and he is my very first guest. So I am going to let you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself. That would be good.

[1:11] Jeremiah Mitchell: Do you want to just know about me or how I came to theater?

[1:14] Martín Acuña: We can start with why you chose Northwestern University in Louisiana as your choice for Bachelor of Science in Theater.

[1:24] Jeremiah Mitchell: Okay, so I am going to go on for a little bit because it is a little wild of a story. So, it was a year, it was December a year ago, so December of 2018, and all the way up to December of 2018, I was going to be a nurse. That was the plan, to be a nurse. I was going to go to school for two years. I was going to get my Associate's Degree in Nursing, and so that way I could travel. I could become a travel nurse, and I was going to travel to LA or something and just work on, or New York, it does not matter, just be a nurse three days at a time, and then the rest focus on auditioning and stuff. And then December came along, I do not know what hit, but I was just like, why am I going to be a nurse?

It all revolves around theater. I had like a little midlife crisis. I called my mom asking her what to do, and she was just like, if it is theater you want to do, then you should go for it. So, from then on, I decided I wanted to be a theater major, and then I looked at the colleges in Louisiana, and which one fit me best, and out of all the theater programs in Louisiana for colleges, NSU, Northwestern State University, had the best program. And so, I went here and I auditioned, and I got on a scholarship to come here for theater, and pretty much since then, I have been set here.

[2:40] Martín Acuña: So, right now you are a sophomore, right?

[2:42] Jeremiah Mitchell: I am a second semester freshman.

[2:46] Martín Acuña: Second semester freshman. Okay, and when does your concentration start?

[2:50] Jeremiah Mitchell: It will start my junior year.

[2:52] Martín Acuña: So, that would be in like a year and a half?

[2:54] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yes, or a year and a few months. So, if you want to be a musical theater major, which is what I am hopeful for, you have to come here, and you have to be a theater major your freshman, your sophomore year, you kind of have to figure everything out, learn, take some dance classes, just get familiar with everything. Then, by the time your junior year comes, you will have an audition, and it is in front of all the theater directors, and you have to score 100% out of the three categories they give you, which is acting, dancing, and singing. So, like say I made a 33% in singing, a 33% in acting, and a 34% in dancing, then I make 100%, which means I get passed on to be a musical theater concentrator.

[3:33] Martín Acuña: Okay, and I trust in your talent, and I know you are going to get into that concentration, but if that audition goes wrong, what will you choose? Because I was checking the NSU concentrations in theater bachelor, and I saw you had like three other choices. One was directing, performance and direction.

[3:54] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yeah, performance and directing. That is probably most where I would go, because I don't really see myself doing anything else, whether it be biology or nursing, anything like that. I love theater, and I want to, if musical theater goes wrong, where I can't act and do what I love, I want to teach people what I love. So, if musical theater goes wrong, and I can't act, I can't do regional theater or anything like that, then I would probably switch to performance and directing, and I would finish out NSU there, and then I would either be a school teacher and teach theater, or I would maybe make my own theater community and start slowly bringing in people and auditioning and doing shows and stuff.

[4:33] Martín Acuña: Cool. Well, I wish you the best in that audition. I know it's, like, we're thinking a long way.

[4:40] Jeremiah Mitchell: A long way. One step at a time, Martín.

[4:43] Martín Acuña: Yeah, one step at a time. I always have my head in a lot of places, but I know that audition is going to be great for you. Now, my first question for you is what got you into performing? How did you start in theater?

[4:56] Jeremiah Mitchell: What got me into theater? I was in middle school. It was my eighth grade year, and there was this girl. Her name was Lizzie, and I had a crush on Lizzie. Lizzie had a crush on me, but at that time, I was awkward about it. I didn't know how to tell her I had a crush on her. Neither did she, but she invited me to watch her in Aladdin Jr., and so me and my grandma, we went, and we watched her perform. We took a picture afterwards. It was great. Another show came along. Wait, no, no, no, no. At Aladdin, when I got there to buy my ticket, the director of Lang Yat Theater, Ross Schechtschneider, he told me that they're doing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and that I should audition.

He sees potential in me and stuff. Never hearing me sing, act, nothing. He just said he saw potential in me, and so I kept that in mind and talked to Lizzie about it. Lizzie was like, you should do it, but I'm not forcing you. Blah, blah, blah, and so I finally had the gut, and I went to the audition, and I ended up getting Benjamin in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and since then, I've been doing theater.

[6:04] Martín Acuña: So, Joseph was your fifth show, and you have a good memory of that.

[6:08] Jeremiah Mitchell: So, my church does something called Above All, and so I was kind of, I wasn't really acting. I was somewhat of a kid. I was maybe 10 or 11 when I did that, but Joseph was my actual first show where I got involved, and I had singing parts. I had to learn my harmonies. I had to learn my lines, stuff like that. Yes, that was my first show.

[6:29] Martín Acuña: That makes me think a lot of how the tables turn, and we end up choosing our careers.

[6:35] Jeremiah Mitchell: But the tables did turn, though. Me and Lizzie never worked out. We never started dating. We were actually best friends. Lizzie is like my sister. Theater brings people into our lives in different ways, even if they come weirdly into our lives. But I thank her so much. I tell her all the time, because without her, I don't know where I would be. I really don't. I've been doing theater since then. I mean, I'm in college for theater right now. I don't know where I'd be if I wouldn't have met that girl, and she wouldn't have led me to my first audition.

[7:11] Martín Acuña: Well, good to know that. So, a shout out to Lizzie.

[7:15] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yeah, Lizzie, if you're watching this, I love you.

[7:21] Martín Acuña: I know that you've done Newsies a couple times. Now I know that you've done Joseph, and what other plays have you been in?

[7:24] Jeremiah Mitchell: I've done quite a bit. We do like four shows. When I was in high school, the company I did with, we did about four shows a year, but just a few of them was Joseph, Newsies. I did Newsies for my company in high school. I'm doing Newsies now in college. Hairspray, High School Musical, Madagascar Junior, Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan. Peter Pan, I'm sorry to go off subject, but Peter Pan, I met my technically first girlfriend. Her name's Claire, and she is a theater major as well at Baldwin-Wallace Musical Theater, I think that's what it's called. Yeah, I think so. She was also a big influence on my life for acting and still pursuing my theater dreams. I've done quite a bit of shows. I don't have my resume about me to look, but Newsies, Hairspray, High School Musical, Peter Pan, Joseph, those were some of the few that stuck with me that I can think of because I had good memories with them.

[8:28] Martín Acuña: Which was your favorite character of all those that you've played?

[8:32] Jeremiah Mitchell: Which was my favorite character or which was my favorite show I've done?

[8:36] Martín Acuña: Both. The favorite character you've done and your favorite show.

[8:39] Jeremiah Mitchell: My favorite character was probably Hairspray when I was Link because just the actors I was with were amazing. It was a fun time. We actually put on the show in two weeks, and yeah, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was amazing. But my favorite show I've been in was definitely Newsies when I was in high school. I'm doing Newsies now, and I mean, it's awesome and stuff, but just the connections I made with the people in high school when we did Newsies is just you wouldn't trade the world for it. I've made some best friends from that show.

[9:09] Martín Acuña: Newsies is, I love that musical. I remember, I never saw it on Broadway, but I remember seeing the film version, the film staged version.

[9:21] Jeremiah Mitchell: The one with Jeremy Jordan?

[9:23] Martín Acuña: Yeah, with the original Broadway cast.

[9:25] Jeremiah Mitchell: I've seen that one over a hundred times.

[9:29] Martín Acuña: I love it. I actually love it. I think Alan Menken has done an amazing job with Disney, so it is just amazing. And now, which is one of your best memories of a performance?

[9:42] Jeremiah Mitchell: Of all you've done.

[9:44] Jeremiah Mitchell: Best memory of a performance? I mean, there's been bloopers where I've stuttered all my lines, or there was one time in Hairspray when I was Link and I was singing It Takes Two. We cut one part of the song, and I forgot about it, and then the show came, and I sang that part, or at least the first two words of it, and I was like, oh! But in high school, on the last performance, we had this thing going. On the last performance, we'd always, the other actors that weren't on stage, we'd go on the side stage, and they'd try to mess us up to make us laugh. And that was, it was hard to keep a straight face when you had to keep a straight face. But that was a good memory I have. That's probably the best one.

[10:29] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I remember someone, what was I doing? I think it was Peter Pan. It was a serious, it was me and Peter Pan on stage, and it was a serious moment, and I looked off side stage, and I saw someone with a Donald Trump mask on doing the floss dance, and I completely broke character.

[10:48] Jeremiah Mitchell: Well, who wouldn't?

[10:51] Martín Acuña: That would happen to a lot of us.

[10:55] Jeremiah Mitchell: Wait, wait, wait. I know my best memory.

[10:59] Martín Acuña: Okay, it was Peter Pan, right?

[11:01] Jeremiah Mitchell: You know how I told you how I ended up dating the girl that was Peter Pan, right?

[11:05] Martín Acuña: No, you haven't told me that.

[11:07] Jeremiah Mitchell: Oh, I thought I told you that. Her name's Claire, she's Baldwin Wallace.

[11:10] Martín Acuña: I thought I told you that.

[11:12] Jeremiah Mitchell: You just told me that Claire was with you at some point, but not in Peter Pan.

[11:17] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yes, that was Peter Pan, though. Anyway, best memory I ever did. I talked to the people that work at the theater there, and they agreed with me. I got this big, long poster. It was homecoming season. I said, Claire, I know it's not Neverland, but what about homecoming? And I got there super early before the show, before call time. They helped me put it up on the fly rail, and at the very end when we were doing bows, they dropped the flyer, and I asked for the homecoming right there in front of the whole audience and everything. She said yes, of course, but that was definitely the best memory.

[11:52] Martín Acuña: You are a man of cheesy lines asking for dances.

[11:56] Jeremiah Mitchell: It might be, but you can't tell me that wasn't a good idea.

[12:01] Martín Acuña: The fly rail and the flyer to come down.

[12:03] Jeremiah Mitchell: That was a good idea, but I remember going through Instagram, the one you did in the Elsa costume.

[12:11] Jeremiah Mitchell: Elsa, yes. That was nice. That one was low-daring too, but I only had that one.

[12:18] Jeremiah Mitchell: I don't even remember what the poster said, but I asked her to homecoming dressed up as Elsa, but I wasn't in front of an audience. An audience is more nerve-wracking, because even though I dressed up as Elsa, if she would have said no, it's just been me and my buddy that helped me out that saw the rejection. If Claire would have said no on stage, then the whole audience would have made a joke out of me. Well, you've got some nerve, man. You do. Now back to our topics. Which is a dream role for you in a musical? A dream role? Yeah, or a musical that you just say, I need to be in that production. My probably, no, most definitely my dream role, I've been wanting to be this dude since I was a sophomore, a freshman in high school.

I've seen the show five times, Fiero in Wicked. I know, right? That dude is something else. That is my dream role right there, but my misfit dream role, if I could be a misfit dream role, it'd be Mimi in Rent. I love Mimi's character in Rent, and if that could work, if misfit casting was a thing, it would be Mimi in Rent, but definitely Fiero is my dream role. I mean, Fiero is a difficult character. I mean, the range you need to sing Dancing Through Life is just another way. It's another thing, but Fiero is nice. I mean, who doesn't want to be Fiero?

[13:42] Martín Acuña: Yeah, who doesn't want to be Fiero? I mean, unless you want to be Elphaba and take the whole stage.

[13:46] Jeremiah Mitchell: Who doesn't want to defend gravity in the middle of a flying ball attached to your back?

[13:53] Martín Acuña: I would definitely be Glinda.

[13:56] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yeah, I think I would. I think I would. I'm so picky in life that I would definitely be Glinda.

[14:01] Martín Acuña: Well, one of the things that I want to talk about with Fiero, now that I've graduated college last November, but you're just basically starting.

[14:17] Jeremiah Mitchell: Basically.

[14:17] Martín Acuña: What do you think are the challenges of being a theater program student right now?

[14:24] Jeremiah Mitchell: I can tell you the first thing that came to my head when you said that a big challenge here is finding the right friends. Because what I realized, it's really easy for me to make friends, but I realized at least my theater program here. Oh man, I already started. I can't stop. But for people that know me that are listening to this and you think it's you, it's not. But in the theater program, I mean, it's all acting. I feel like everybody's just trying to fake be your friend just to get something out of you to bring you down or try to see what you got so they can hold up you, something like that. And so it's just, it's, you have to be nitpicky with your friends. You have to pick the right ones. You have to know they're the right ones.

[15:04] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I know the feeling because back in college, it was people acted like it was a reality show and you had to destroy each other to be the star or be in the spotlight or being taken into account.

[15:22] Jeremiah Mitchell: I haven't met no one that's had to destroy anything, but I've definitely met fake people here in my eight, nine months being here, a hundred percent met fake people.

[15:32] Martín Acuña: Yeah. But good thing about college time is that they will go away alone.

[15:39] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yeah. But I mean, I do wish them the best.

[15:42] Martín Acuña: Yeah. You can wish them the best, but they'll keep being fake people forever.

[15:46] Jeremiah Mitchell: In my couple months of being here, I've never dealt personally with someone being fake to me and stuff. I've just seen it. I've seen it a lot in this theater program. You've already stated one challenge for a theater program student. Do you have any others in mind?

[16:03] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yes. Another challenge I have, the community, the company I did theater with, I mean, I did perform in harmonies and stuff, but it wasn't that strict. Now that I'm here and I'm a theater major and I'm having to know my stuff, I just, I've never, this is actually my first semester taking theory and stuff. And it's just a lot to get used to. You have to be prepared. That's the number one thing. You have to be prepared. You have to know what you're doing. You have to be ready to do it. And I could kind of slide away with that in high school, but it's not a joke now. This is the real world, how professional theater majors get treated. And that's just one thing. I'm adjusting to it good, but I won't adjust to it great until I'm done with my theory class.

[16:45] Martín Acuña: One thing that actually got me through in college when teachers like asked me to do stuff and I didn't got any idea of what to do was like, fake it till you make it. That's how you learn. I mean, there's just some experience that you will gain doing it. Even if you know, or do not know what are you doing, the only way you're going to make it is doing it. One of the things I remember, we talked when we met in January was about Cameron Dallas going into the Jagged Little Pill cast. What do you think about famous people getting into musical theater without a proper training?

[17:28] Jeremiah Mitchell: I don't think they deserve it, but I mean, I'm not going to hate them for them. I still wish them the best. When I saw a bootleg of Cameron Dallas singing Morris Better and I heard the girls that recorded it laughing at him. And I don't think anyone deserves that. I mean, even though he might not have deserved just getting the role going on there, he doesn't deserve humiliation because he doesn't have the preparation for a role.

[17:51] Martín Acuña: Yeah. I remember I was like really pissed off because a lot of us invest a lot of time getting proper voice lessons, getting proper dance lessons, getting proper acting lessons. And out of the blue, a lot of people started getting roles just because they were influencers or Instagrammers or YouTubers. And I was like, man, I mean, I did not waste four years of my life training myself for this, for someone to just get it because it's going to sell more tickets. So that's why I was asking you about that.

[18:29] Jeremiah Mitchell: I mean, yeah, we spend a lot of time and stuff, but also like it's frustrating, it's aggravating, but on the same part, the company that's doing this, I understand why they're doing it. Maybe tickets are selling low or something. So they get an influencer and teen girls or teen boys, whoever, like, ooh, it's Cameron Dallas. And then boom, tickets, the ticket booth, just like that.

[18:51] Martín Acuña: Okay. Since we're close to the end of this episode, I wanted to ask you your top five musical theater shows because I did it on my first episode. Since it was an introduction to myself, I stated and explained my top five. What are your top five?

[19:09] Jeremiah Mitchell: My top five. My number one was Wicked for the longest, but I got to say Wicked's not number one no more. My top one's got to be Beetlejuice. I saw Beetlejuice. It was extraordinary. It was amazing. My second one is Moulin Rouge. It's just Moulin Rouge. It's, if you haven't seen the show, go see it and then you'll understand why it's up there. My third one is Wicked. I love Wicked to death. I've seen that show five times. What else have I seen? And then Hamilton, Hamilton for sure. And then to close it off, number five, Dear Evan Hansen. Yeah, Dear Evan Hansen is pretty good. It was actually really good. And I know you saw Jagged Little Pill and I'm jealous because I'm pretty sure Jagged Little Pill would be in that top five for me. I just haven't seen it yet.

[19:58] Martín Acuña: Yeah, when I go to New York in two weeks I might try to see it.

[20:01] Jeremiah Mitchell: You need to do it. I mean, stage touring was just cancelled today until new notice.

[20:06] Martín Acuña: Because of the coronavirus?

[20:11] Jeremiah Mitchell: Yeah. You think most, most Broadway shows are like that right now?

[20:17] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I think most of the shows are cancelling the stage touring, but they're not cancelling performances. Hopefully they won't, but you need to get Jagged Little Pill tickets. You need to, you need to. And then if you do, I promise you that you're going to be back on the podcast just to discuss Jagged Little Pill.

[20:30] Jeremiah Mitchell: You know, I'm going to try to, but my number one, I'm going for four days and I'm going to see two or three shows in four days. And I'm, I'm sorry, Martin, but my number one show that's going towards it is Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is so good. I'm going to see it again because it closes June 6th and Jagged Little Pill doesn't even have a date when it closes. I could be back in New York and watch it again before it closes. Beetlejuice is about to leave and I want to see it again. But if I end up watching my number one show, which is 98% possible, Jagged Little Pill, I will look into it because my grandma, where she works, she gets discounted tickets. I got second row Beetlejuice tickets for 80 bucks.

[21:11] Martín Acuña: Nice. But I need you to go see Jagged Little Pill.

[21:20] Jeremiah Mitchell: And finally, the last thing I want us to talk about is you can give a recommendation of a play, a show, a film, a series that right now for you is a must-see. What is that for you right now?

[21:27] Jeremiah Mitchell: Is a must-see, like, like theater-wise or?

[21:35] Martín Acuña: Oh, you can choose it if you want it theater-wise or films or series. What's a must-see?

[21:40] Jeremiah Mitchell: Uh, of course on Broadway, I'd say, I'd say Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge, or Lincoln. Any of those three, you'll be happy that you purchased the amount that you're taking your purchase for because you will be happy leaving that show. You'll be like, oh my god, that was the best. I'm gonna go to sleep now dreaming about it. But, uh, a must-see, like, like a TV show?

[22:04] Martín Acuña: Yeah, or a film you've seen lately.

[22:10] Jeremiah Mitchell: I don't really know. I just, I really watch a lot of Netflix. I've seen Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Originals, just stuff like that. I can't really, well, I mean, I watch Big Mouth sometimes. I've finished it already, but I normally watch TV shows that don't have animated characters and don't have actual people in it. But I want to show you all Can Watch. In May, the teen musical movie comes out and I actually, that was my first show, that was my first movie I filmed in. I was a supporting role. So there's one lead actress and she's our teacher and there's 12 high school kids and I'm one of the high school kids. And so in May, I'll definitely be looking out for that. It'll be on Blu-ray and digital and I'll definitely look out for that. So you can, you can continue to watch me, but it's a, it's a good story.

[22:57] Martín Acuña: Cool. Well, be sure to check it out. And as soon as it is out, I'll be posting that too.

[23:05] Jeremiah Mitchell: Well, I think we've.

[23:05] Martín Acuña: Wait, before we go.

[23:07] Jeremiah Mitchell: Oh, before we go. What is your dream role?

[23:13] Martín Acuña: Oh my God. My dream role. Um, I remember that initially it was Mufasa in The Lion King. Uh, because it was my first Broadway show and I just loved it. But right now I think it would be any role in Jagged Little Pill or Evan in Dear Evan Hansen.

[23:28] Jeremiah Mitchell: Man, I'm going to have to watch Jagged Little Pill so we can have it on the podcast. It's just about that show.

[23:32] Martín Acuña: Yeah, you do. You do because the cast is amazing.

[23:38] Jeremiah Mitchell: All right, Martin, I'm going to let you close it. Before you close it, follow my Instagram at j.michu. All right. I just had to tag myself right there. I had to put myself in there.

[23:44] Martín Acuña: Go for it, man. You closed the show. You finished this podcast.

[23:49] Jeremiah Mitchell: Well, thank you. Thank you for being back and listening. We've reached the end of this episode with our very special first guest, Jeremiah Mitchell. I am going to leave his social media links in the description of the episode. And remember to rate and comment in Apple Podcasts. See you next week in another episode of Backstage Talk Podcast. Bye-bye.

[24:17] Jeremiah Mitchell: We can say bye-bye, guys.

[24:17] Both: Bye.