Director: “The show must go on”
SAXONBURG — A theater director and educator whose resume includes performing on Broadway on Saturday, Jan. 25, encouraged Knoch High School students to persevere through difficult times.
Nathan Peck, a dancer, choreographer and director who teaches dance at Pace University in New York, spent about an hour speaking with students of the cast, crew and pit orchestra for the spring musical “Catch Me If You Can.”
When he regularly performed on stage, he said he dealt with negativity from an audience by pushing forward and remembering that “the show must go on.”
“I knew I had to move through and past it,” Peck said. “I had to push forward.”
Peck said he focuses on the show and remembers that he will have a chance at the next performance to do better.
“If you want that life you have to keep going,” he said.
He said dancing is his gift and he enjoys sharing it with audiences.
“I love dancing. I love acting. This is my gift. This is what I’m good at,” Peck said. “I was not put on this planet to be a banker.”
He said performing in the same show for a number of years is challenge that dedicated performers meet.
“It’s hard to stay invested in what you do. You have to remind yourself, ‘I want to be here,’” Peck said.
He said dancers have to work through tired and achy muscles, but taking a day off to refresh also helps.
The cast and crew members of a show develop close bonds while working together daily, he said.
“You see them everyday. They become your family,” Peck said.
Turning to another question, he said he was ready to move to New York City after performing in college in Oklahoma, but new performers have to decide whether they want to start their careers in big or small cities.
“It’s a huge jump. There are things about living in New York that are very different,” peck said.
He said he has never owned a car and none of the apartments in New York City he has lived in have had garbage disposals in the sinks.
After performing in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway until 2019, Peck said he did some directing and choreography work before a friend told him about the job at Pace.
“I found a lovely place being an educator,” Peck said.
He said he enjoys helping students decide whether they want to pursue careers in the performing arts that are not limited to performing. He said there are careers in stage and set design, lighting, production and administration.
