Kirkwood Graduate Ryan Westwood prepares for “great opportunity” with Kentucky theater troupe
In the past five years Ryan Westwood has explored acting roles that spanned the spectrum from bodily function farce to modernized Greek tragedy. Now the 24 year old is taking two college degrees and his creative ambitions on the road with a rare opportunity.
Westwood was a familiar face to Kirkwood Theatre attendees, earning applause for comic roles in Urinetown and Pajama Game, plus such classic sobering fare as Chekov’s The Seagull and the wrenching emotional demands of The Laramie Project.
The Bettendorf native then took those experiences back closer to home, finishing his studies at St. Ambrose University. There he had plum roles in Pippin and Seussical the Musical before landing the title spot in the blood-drenched Broadway musical Sweeney Todd.
Westwood has been accepted as a member in the Acting Apprentice Company at Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Kentucky. The nationally renowned training ground for top-tier performers and stage professionals gave Westwood the nod after an initial audition put him on an alternate list.
“I made the alternates list the first year, one of four out of more than 2,200 auditioning. Then I tried out again this spring after the company people were asking about me through my professors. I went to the March auditions and I learned in late April that I had been selected,” Westwood recalled.
The Louisville company gives its 22 apprentices “some great creative opportunities,” according to Westwood. “It’s an intense nine month season, and several times our apprentice team gets to be directly involved in creating pieces. There is what they call the ‘Apprentice Ensemble Project,’ where all of us get together, bring personal stories and experiences into a script, then put together a show. Another time in the season we get to do ‘Solo Mios,’ some 8 to 10 minute solo works in another show. Also during the year there is a commissioned work made for the apprentice group to perform. There will always be a lot for us to do,” he added.
Westwood credits his Kirkwood years with building self-confidence on personal levels as well as his acting craft. “Socially, living in the Kirkwood neighborhood apartments gave me a real feeling of confidence and strength. I felt like I could handle whatever was thrown at me from that atmosphere. Plus I got some really great experiences in the challenging productions [Kirkwood director] Rick Anderson took us through. Now I’m ready for a lot more in Louisville,” he said.
In addition to the grueling work ahead for this 20-something aspiring professional, Ryan Westwood will take on a new, long-run role of his own this summer: newlywed husband. His fiancee’ Ashley Fenton just graduated from St. Ambrose with a nursing degree after a stint in the Army Reserves. Right after their late June wedding and honeymoon, the couple will head for Louisville–and Ryan will play out his next chapter of an actor’s life.