Hartt School Students Hit the Stage in The Flamingo Kid

By Yan Chen, Artistic Apprentice

This May, three seniors in the BFA Music Theatre program at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford will perform in the world premiere of the new musical The Flamingo Kid.

Taylor Lloyd, Gregory Rodriguez, and Jayke Workman’s appearance in The Flamingo Kid is part of Hartford Stage’s Partnership in Training with the Hartt School. Now in its fifteenth year, the partnership is a unique opportunity for undergraduate acting students to work alongside seasoned professionals in the mainstage season of a leading regional theatre.

Balancing schoolwork with professional work means juggling a lot of balls, but the Hartt student cast members of The Flamingo Kid have gamely dived in and deeply immersed themselves in the rehearsal process. In the words of Jayke Workman, one of two swings in the show who is on standby for a number of roles in the acting ensemble, “working alongside incredible industry professionals on a new musical has taught me so much already and has been an invaluable opportunity.”

This season alone, final-year acting students at the Hartt School have appeared in Henry V, Hartford Stage’s annual holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol, and now The Flamingo Kid. Alan Rust, best known to Hartford Stage audiences as the effervescent Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol, is Professor and Director of the Theatre Division at the Hartt School. A co-founder of the Partnership in Training, Rust describes the experience as “an important first step” for Hartt students entering the profession and making connections with professional colleagues. For many Hartt alumni “who now enjoy very successful careers in the theatre, television, and film,” Rust said, “the Hartford Stage experience has proven to be a starting place.”