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by dick kerekes
dickkerekes@yahoo.com
There many aspiring young actors in the Jacksonville area who want to make theatre a career, but none I have ever met have worked as diligently to reach their goal as has Joseph “Joe” Chisholm.
In September, Joe will enter the Cincinnati Conservatory on a full scholarship, and in four years he will earn his BSA in Theatre Arts. In the process, he will study musical theatre in what is considered one of the finest programs in the county.
The road to Cincinnati began back when the acting bug bit Joe at the age of 8.
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He tagged along with his sister to an audition at Orange Park High School, just to watch, but he wound up trying out. The role he was chosen for was actually written for a girl, but the director was so impressed that he changed it to accommodate Joe.
Since that start and up to the present, Joe has taken acting, dancing and vocal lessons, as well as years of practice, practice and practice. He has also taken every opportunity to be on stage all over North Florida, whether as a singer, dancer or a dramatic actor.
In his four years at Ridgeview High School in Clay County, the quickest way to find Joe was to look at who was playing lead or supporting roles in plays like Damm Yankees, Little Shop of Horrors, and Godspell, just to name a few.
As much as Joe loved acting, he did not neglect his studies. He was in the International Baccalaureate Program and a member of National Honor Society.
I asked him what advice he would give to other aspiring actors still in school, and Joe’s reply was, “Academics should come first, and the rest will follow if you really want it.”
I started making a list of the shows I have seen with young Mr. Chisholm in them, and I am amazed at the variety of roles and places he has performed. He was in The Sound of Music and The King and I at the Alhambra Dinner Theatre. At St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre, he played Billy in On Golden Pond. His most dramatic role was in Dead Eye Boy at Players by the Sea. His resume also includes a long list of musicals and comedies at Orange Park Community theatre.
Joe studied acting for TV and film with Maury Covington and Betty Detamore and has had roles in commercials and independent movies, including the TV series, Safe Harbor.
In a couple of weeks, Joe will leave for upstate New York to attend an intensive three-week program of musical theatre at Stagedoor Manor. This will be his third and final year at this prestigious school that limits it class to about 200 and puts its aspiring students of all theatrical disciplines in seven-day-a-week sessions.
One of the purposes of the camp is to rework musicals so that high school groups throughout the country can more easily do them.
Joe played the title role in Tommy and was Chris in the MTI World Premiere of the first non-professional performance of Miss Saigon. Last season also found Joe playing Roger in a special production of Rent. New York agents regularly come to the productions, and one has approached him about a contract to represent him in the future.
Joe decided he wanted to attend Cincinnati Conservatory and applied. Because of his excellent grades, he was invited to compete for a full scholarship with 1500 other students of similar excellence. The testing Joe went through had nothing to do with his acting or singing talents, but was strictly based on academics. Joe was thrilled to receive one of only ten scholarships awarded.
Four to five years in the future, on my annual trip to New York, I fully expect to go to a theatre, open my program and see the name Joseph Chisholm. But I expect to see his name in playbills sooner than that, since Joe hopes to do summer theatre in the Florida area, possibly at Seaside Music Theatre or maybe even back on the stage at the Alhambra.
Well, good luck and break a leg, Joe. You are definitely a man with a plan and when you reach Broadway, please don’t forget to invite your favorite theatre critic to opening night. I will be there, I promise.
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