Gonzaga prides itself on academics, athletics, culture and last but certainly not least, its performing arts. Kevin Dolan, a Gonzaga graduate from the class of 2018, has embraced all of these aspects as he finds himself acting, singing and furthering his education at Indiana University, a world-renowned performing arts program.
“Gonzaga gave me opportunities to help me grow as a performer,” Dolan said.
He’s performed in plays such as Footloose, Hairspray, Curtains, Peter and the Starcatcher and Beauty and the Beast. These performances have given him the experience and stage presence to move on to larger stage productions at the collegiate level.
Dolan aimed high and shot for Indiana University. Indiana’s Center for Performing Arts holds six separate resident companies and over six-hundred performances per year.
“The college audition process is so daunting because you’re auditioning for competitive schools,” Dolan said, discussing the stressful process of finding a college performing arts program.
Since his time at Indiana, Dolan has performed in Big Fish, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Into the Woods and Little Women. Holding leading roles in these plays has shown Dolan’s prowess in acting and singing and stage presence.
This confidence allowed Dolan to compete in Broadway’s famous Broadwayworld annual competition among high school and college students. With coronavirus, contestants have to submit a performing video of acting, singing or dancing for a chance to record a single with Broadway’s company and practice with Broadway Star Judges. For the first season in which Dolan competed, more than 2,000 contestants competed. Dolan made it into the second round and top 30 performances among these 2,000 very talented actors, singers and dancers. Then disaster struck.
After passing into the second round, the remaining 30 contestants had to submit another performance video, and Dolan needed to submit an older video for a separate audition because a couple of weeks beforehand, he contracted COVID-19. As he was still recovering, he couldn’t create a new video, and after submitting his second video, he did not make it past the second round.
“It was still a really cool process to be a part of, and it gave me a really great opportunity,” he said, looking at the positive side of the experience.
Everyone around the world knows Broadway for its reputation with acting, singing, dancing and performing with only the best of the best, and Dolan, amid a global pandemic, made it past almost 2,000 other contestants in a highly competitive environment.
Dolan’s dream is to one day perform on Broadway and musicals. Dolan has a bright future ahead in terms of acting for a 20-year-old who already “feels confident and comfortable” on stages as big as he has been on.
“Kevin started out as a football player who decided he loved the spotlight of the stage more than the bright lights of the field. I was impressed that he gave up a spot on the football team to devote himself full time to the GDA. And that devotion paid off his senior year when he did a magnificent job as the beast in our production of Beauty and the Beast. I know he used to drive Mr L’Etoile crazy sometimes, but in a good way. Kevin loved being a part of the GDA and we loved having him in it,” said Mr. Paul Buckley, math teacher and GDA producer.
Leslie Keiser • Mar 8, 2021 at 10:15 am
Thank you for this update on such a talented alum.