Levi Meyer
Editor-In-Chief

Photo by Levi Meyer

Austin Allwein’s life is a Disney movie.

Blessed with athletic talent, Allwein was a top performer on the school basketball team, but after landing a lead role in the high school musical as an eighth grader, he had a choice to make.

Would he shoot his way to glory on the school hoops team or take his talents to the theatre?

“I like playing sports, but performing is what I like to do the most,” Allwein said. “Ever since [I got cast], I dropped out of basketball and started doing shows.”

The shows kept coming for Allwein. In high school, he appeared in Beauty and the Beast, Romeo and Juliet, Crazy For You, Grease, Alice in Wonderland, Little Shop of Horrors, Oklahoma, and of course, High School Musical.

But Allwein, a freshman, faced his biggest challenge after being cast in “Schoolhouse Rock Live” in his first semester of college.

“It’s been really rough,” Allwein said. “I honestly wasn’t expecting to get cast. I felt really bad about my audition.”

His director felt differently.

“Austin had a great audition,” Schoolhouse Rock Director Jeremy Franklin said. “He has a natural charisma about him that just rang true for this production. He fit most perfectly into the show.”

Allwein landed the role of Joe, the production’s “cool guy” character.

“Austin came in as the cool guy,” junior Colton Pratt said. “He definitely has the swag you look for when you cast the cool guy character.”

Even as a seasoned performer and “cool guy,” Schoolhouse Rock was Austin’s first show in college.

“This is nothing like high school,” Allwein said. “I can sing, and I can dance, but I’m not trained in either of those things. When everyone in the whole cast can learn a song overnight, I can’t because I can’t read the music. I had to learn 22 songs in a week.”

With rehearsals four hours a day, five days a week, Allwein was exhausted. Socializing and sleeping took a backseat to studying lines, preparing music, and rehearsing dance steps. With little sleep and much stress, rehearsals were taxing.

“There are always moments of frustration,” Franklin said. “I am a passionate creator. At some point, there’s always a day where what I feel like everything I’m doing is not working or everything the cast is doing is not working, and I just get into a dark place about it. There were nights where Austin was sure that he wasn’t supposed to be in this show.”

Despite the struggles, Schoolhouse Rock Live opened Thursday -— and Allwein was ready to hit the stage.

“Right before we went on, I kept making pteradactyl noises,” Allwein said. “I was really nervous, but I was really excited because it was a new step in my life. During the show, it was about adrenaline the whole time. You could feel it from everyone.”

Allwein will feel that adrenaline rush for years to come -— he plans on making acting his career.

“I want to go to LA and audition and live on the bare minimum and struggle for a little bit,” Allwein said. “If it doesn’t work out that way, I’ll still be happy because I’ll still be doing it in some way, even if it’s not paying my bills. It will always be something that makes me happy.”

But according to his peers and professors, Austin has a bright future in the acting world.

“What we do is all about being able to connect back to that childish place,” Franklin said. “That’s ultimately what acting technique is about. Its about getting past all of the years of teeange angst and psychodrama in our brains that says ‘dont be that silly.’ Austin doesn’t have that filter. He isn’t afraid to try new things.”

Schoolhouse Rock Live runs at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2-5 in Robinson Theatre.

dlmeyer@mavs.coloradomesa.edu