(Photo: Jake Chessum)

I was accepted to Columbia a few days before I got this part, so, yeah, it was a good couple of days. But of course, being that it’s Columbia, they told me, “You know, we actually have several other students who are on Broadway right now.” I’m sort of a dime a dozen.

I moved up from D.C. and am taking the year off. When I get there, who knows whether any of the students will know who Neil Simon is? But it should definitely get me good grades with the teachers! When I went to audition, my parents said, “I hope you realize how important this is that you’re auditioning in front of Neil Simon.” But he’s been giving me a lot of positive reinforcement. Sometimes he just says, “Great job.” Other times he’ll say, “In the second act, you tend to do this, you don’t do that.” And, you know, it’s his character, so you listen when he gives you a note.

Brighton Beach Memoirs opens at the Nederlander Theatre on October 25.

As told to Emma Rosenblum.

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Related:

• Archive: “Breaking”
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