We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alyssa Ryan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alyssa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have known that I wanted to be an actress since I was 3 years old, or so I’m told by my family! Acting has always been a love of mine and I always hoped to pursue that professionally. Life takes crazy twists and turns so my path hasn’t always been an easy one but I have been steadily working towards making this dream a reality more seriously since 2018. My work with OPT has allowed me to become more involved with the theatre community in Columbus and I have been able to pursue my acting with several other local companies in film and theatre.

Alyssa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As I briefly mentioned acting has always been something I knew in my heart of hearts I wanted to pursue. My path was paved with twists and turns that led me to study in Florida, Australia, and finally Los Angeles. I figured it was only a matter of time before I hit it big. It was not that easy. Los Angeles was hard, really hard. I lost the passion for acting in the midst of the brutal honesty, insecurity, and fear. To put it simply, I quit. I started thinking about what I could do instead but I always had that voice in the back of my head saying “what it?”. I spent several more years in LA working tirelessly to build a life there with my husband. We found out we were pregnant and continued pursuing our goals. After our daughter was born, we were faced with a rude awakening about what it means, and what sacrifices we would need to make if we wanted to continue living in LA while trying to raise a family. As difficult a choice as it was, we decided that I would move back to Columbus, OH with our 9 month old daughter and go back to school. We spent the next 8 months managing a long distance marriage. It was torture, but my school was taking longer than expected and trying to budget two households was rough so my husband decided to join us in Columbus.

Fast forward another 2 years and I had gotten to a place where my work was going well, my husband and a stable job, we had our second child, a son, and we were doing well. But I was missing something. I couldn’t put my finger on it. That little voice in the back of my head was saying “you need something for you”. I needed some soul food. My grandmother, Billie Hazelbaker, and a friend of hers, Dave Morgan, had founded a theater company. Original Productions Theatre was born in December 2017 with its focus on exclusively producing original works – something that both Billie and Dave felt passionately about given how difficult they found getting their own work produced. They were having an open house and auditions for their first production and invited me to come. One short conversation with Dave landed me the job of Stage Manager for that production, despite having very little experience with that side of productions. Dave trusted me to help out and the fire for acting was reignited. Watching that cast work together, bringing the show and these characters to life allowed me to remember how much joy I found in performing. At this point, Fall 2018, I was pregnant with our third baby but I knew I needed to get back into an acting class. It had been almost a decade since I had taken a class or acted in anything so I knew I needed to brush up on my skills a bit. I found Broadway2LA and signed up for their beginner’s workshop. I spent 6 weeks in the Winter of 2019 going to my weekly class, working with the other students, learning lines, and having so much fun. When the class was over I was sad but so excited for what the future might hold and I knew I was ready to jump back in full throttle.

I reached back out to Dave and Billie at OPT in the Spring of 2019 and volunteered to help out with productions in any way I could. I started with the box office, redesigned the website, figured out how to sell tickets online so we could streamline our process. The following Fall they promoted me to Box Office Manager and I landed my first acting role in an OPT production, a period piece about Edgar Allan Poe. The costumes alone made the production an amazing experience but the cast were phenomenal and I learned so much from watching the other actors and director. For the next production after that I was promoted to Production Manager, admittedly I’m not sure I was fully prepared to take on that responsibility but I took the challenge in stride and did my best. We staged our first musical shortly after Poe, it did well and we were ready to start work on the 2020 season of shows. Of course, we know what happened in 2020. Everything shut down. We didn’t know what to do. How do we move forward and continue to perform live theatre?

In Spring of 2021 we sat down for a meeting with Joe Bishara, the Theater Director at the Abbey Theater of Dublin in Dublin, OH. We were hoping for some advice on how best to move forward and start growing and expanding OPT. Joe had been working on a project with the Abbey, The Virtual Theater Project, and suggested that the next OPT show might be a great fit for the project. That Summer I was promoted yet again, and was fortunate to take on the role of Executive Director of OPT. In the 2 years since, OPT has become a resident theater company at the Abbey and has been fortunate to collaborate with the Abbey on several productions. We continue to grow as a company with our focus remaining on highlighting original works. We feel we provide a unique opportunity for playwrights to showcase their work and for artists to bring characters to life for the first time on stage. The majority of our shows are World Premiere’s which is an exciting opportunity for theater lovers in Columbus to be in the first audiences to see these productions.

OPT considers every script that gets submitted, we love interesting stories with great characters, and are open to all genres. We try to hire as many local artists as possible to continue supporting our local theater community. We want every artist to feel welcome at OPT and strive to hire the best performer for the part. We know that collaboration is important and continue working to develop strong relationships with other members of the community and are thrilled to call the Abbey Theater of Dublin home.

Acting can be very intense and make you feel vulnerable. As a producer, I want every person we work with to feel safe, supported, and encouraged throughout their entire creative journey with us. We loom forward to inviting artists back as well as working with new to OPT artists so we can continue expanding our community outreach. My goal for OPT is to thrive and continue offering opportunities for new works for years to come. As an actor, I hope to continue growing as an artist and participating in as many ways as I possibly can.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

There is only one way to be a successful actor was a lesson I had to unlearn. I was convinced, from a young age, that I could only be an actor in Hollywood. If I didn’t make it there, I wouldn’t be able to be an actor. It wasn’t until several years after I quit that I was able to start changing that perspective when a college friend was posting on social media about his adventures in acting with several theme parks. He was playing so many different well-known and beloved characters and was traveling in order to play them. He was having a great time, meeting interesting people and doing something he loved. I don’t know why it took that for me to see that there are so many ways to accomplish this goal. I’m grateful for it, I felt inspired by his sharing of his own experiences because it allowed me to see that there was still a chance for me to continue even though it may not have looked the way I previously envisioned.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, I love playing different characters. Exploring who they are, what is their life like, where did they come from, why are they the way they are? What does their voice sound like, how does their body move? Sometimes you play characters that you love, that you identify with, sometimes you play characters that are vile and it hurts to play them. What an opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while. To see someone else’s life and world through your eyes. To be able to present this person to others, how do other people respond to what you bring forward in each character. It can be so joyful or awful or heartbreaking or hilarious – or maybe all of those things at once. It’s invigorating and humbling at the same time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.optheatre.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OPTheatre
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11091864/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Joe Bishara and Jerri Shafer