UW PATP 2020 Career Launch

WOW! Because of friends, mentors, and family like you, we made it to our initial goal of 7.5K - in just over one week. WOW! Thank you for supporting us and making our dreams come true. 

If you have not had a chance to give, or wish to further your gift, here’s your chance! We have a stretch goal of $9,000 - and 21 days in which to make it happen.

This crowdfunding campaign covers just a piece of the total cost of our career entry activities - the School of Drama relies on a number of fundraising efforts and generous donors to cover ALL the things. If you can help us blow our increased goal out of the water, here’s where the $$$ goes:

$8K = $1.6K x 5 in stipends for airfare, lodging, Ubers, hair/makeup/nails, food, and everything else for our industry introductions in LA and Seattle. 

+ $1K begins to underwrite venue rentals, catering, reels, headshots, workshops, invitations, programs, and a plethora of other important and costly things. 

=$9K! 

You've shown us incredible support so far. Thank you for believing in us as we take this next step - go, go go!!

-Jess, Semaj, Alyssa, Hailey, and Brandon

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WELCOME TO THE LAUNCH OF THE PATP CLASS OF 2020!

We are the five actors that make up the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) Class of 2020.

We are preparing for our big send-off - a touring Showcase in Seattle and Los Angeles! Lately, we’ve been busy developing our professional network (including a great workshop with McCorkle Casting from New York), creating our websites, filming our demo reels, taking and printing new headshots.

Lots of headshots. All this professional development adds up! We are asking for your support to fund our travel expenses, theatre rental fees, and professional marketing materials including our film-reels and 8x10s of our lovely faces.

Our Showcase will take place in Seattle at The Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theater on April 12th and The Colony Theatre in LA on April 22nd. 

In Seattle, our showcase will be held in the Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theater, the oldest theatre-in-the-round in the country. We will perform in front of our home crowd: Seattle theatre artists and industry professionals from Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre, and Seattle Shakespeare Company, just to name a few. 

In LA, we will be sharing the stage for the 17th time with The Juilliard School's graduating class. After the performance, we have the opportunity to meet and greet casting directors from networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, and giants like Disney, HBO, and Showtime. 

WHAT YOUR DONATION MEANS

As a working actor, you are your own business. One of the greatest obstacles is "getting in the room” to meet the people who will help that business thrive. Our professional launch is an opportunity for us to expand our professional network and strengthen our marketing and promotional tools that will start our careers on a strong note. The people we meet at our showcase and the casting directors who come to visit us will serve as valuable connections throughout our careers. This means that your gift will keep on giving for many years of art-making to come!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ON OUR JOURNEY! 

- PATP CLASS OF 2020 (Alyssa, Hailey, Brandon, Semaj, and Jessica)

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ALYSSA FRANKSAlyssa Franks grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. She felt called to be an actor from a very young age. Following her passion, she was lucky enough to attend a performing arts high school and then moved to England at the age of sixteen to start her undergraduate degree in Acting which she received from Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2013. Before moving to Seattle, Alyssa taught theatre at Salt Lake School for Performing Arts and performed with local theatre companies in Utah. Now, Alyssa specializes in the Integrative Alexander Technique which she uses to coach all kinds of people looking to sharpen their performance skills. She also teaches yoga and meditation classes, two practices that are dear to her heart and nourishment for her artistry. Alyssa has a particular passion for Shakespeare, Absurdism, and writing, creating and developing New Works of theatre.

HAILEY HENDERSONHailey grew up in the magical red rock canyon country of Moab, Utah. Raised by two park rangers, her love for performing began with serenading the mountains and storytelling around the campfire. She made her stage debut at age 7 and has never looked back. Armed with hiking boots, the ubiquitous water bottle, and a bit of red dirt ground into her soul, this small town girl left Moab to study theater in Salt Lake City (BFA in Performing Arts, Westminster College), Buenos Aires, Portland, Oregon and now Seattle.

BRANDON PASCALBrandon Pascal is an actor, musician and writer, born and raised on the central coast of California. He spent several years as a musician in a number of bands and musical groups of varying genres ranging from punk to folk music, many of them playing guitar and singing lead. On a whim, he auditioned at the Kennedy Center Acting College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) and was awarded a full scholarship for a month-long summer program to study Broadway and Stage Combat at California State University Monterey Bay. During his stay at CSUMB, he decided to pursue a career as an actor after being encouraged by a handful of brilliant professors to continue his studies with them at California State University Long Beach. He graduated from CSULB with a BA in Theatre Performance in 2017 and chose to continue his training when being accepted to the Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) at the illustrious University of Washington (UW). He will graduate with his MFA from UW in April and looks forward to hitting the ground running in Los Angeles this summer.

SEMAJ MILLERSelf-described as a country boy by way of Chicago, Semaj Miller grew up on Windy City’s storied South-side. As a kid he wanted to be a lawyer until his father snuck him into a showing of What’s Love Got to Do With It thus began a life-long love affair with all things Tina and ACTING. This led to his star turn as “Teen Angel” in a high school production of Grease where he learned the literal value of falling on your face before a live audience. Since then he’s been BLESSED to travel far beyond his own imagination to work with and meet artists from across the globe. A lifetime removed from the infamous face plant he remains that same kid from the South-side; his one wish is this- that by piecing together the lives of the characters he portrays a space for communal HEALING would be created. 

JESSICA THORNEJessica grew up in Roswell, GA as a pretty quiet kid that loved to play piano. Her grandma would take her to see musicals at The Fabulous Fox, where she began to dream of singing and dancing on stage. She auditioned and was accepted at Catholic University’s Musical Theatre program in Washington, D.C. After school, she lived and worked in D.C. theaters such as Studio, Signature, Synetic Theatre Company, and Imagination Stage. She even got to do a Gala at the Kennedy Center with Jonathan Price and Cloris Leachman. One day, Jessica got a job at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, playing a fairy. It was there that she fell in love with Shakespeare, and knew she had to go back to school so she could speak more verse. Jessica is so grateful for her time at UW, and is excited for the road ahead!