The Young Actor’s Educator: Ryan Patrick Shaw

Ryan Patrick Shaw.

Ryan Patrick Shaw is currently the Education Director at Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) in Sturgeon Bay. His Door County theater journey began the summer prior to his senior year of college, when he interned at Door Shakespeare in Baileys Harbor. It was there that he met and became friends and theatrical collaborators with James Valcq, who is the co-artistic director at TAP.

Hailing from Waukesha, WI, Shaw’s theater door opened in eighth grade when he played Will Parker in Oklahoma! in his elementary school’s production. Then in high school, he immersed himself in theater. His high school had a strong drama department, offering One Act in the fall and three plays per year, including a musical every other year. He also took five theater classes and an independent theater study in his high school course work. This prepared him to attend University of Wisconsin-Parkside, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre with an emphasis in performance.

After graduation, Shaw returned for a second summer with Door Shakespeare, further cementing his friendship with Valcq. He then worked at CLIMB Theatre, based out of Minneapolis. CLIMB is a children’s theater company that tours throughout the Midwest performing plays about social topics to student audiences. Topics include bullying prevention, empathy training, and drug abuse training, to name a few. This was Shaw’s first experience with how the power of theater can impact young lives, what a vehicle theatre can be for good.

In the summer of 2012, Valcq and Robert Boles, TAP co-artistic directors, hired Shaw to the brand new Stage Door Theatre Company. He acted in nearly all of the company’s shows that summer. At the time, he thought Stage Door would be his summer theater gig, and that he would go elsewhere for the winter theater season. But, when fall of 2012 came along, he spoke to Valcq and Boles, about staying at TAP and they enthusiastically kept him on their staff as with the new title of Education Director.

Ryan Patrick Shaw (right) starred in Third Avenue Playhouse’s production of ‘The Subject was Roses’ with Mark Moede. Photo by Len Villano.

The education program at TAP has been growing gradually. In its inaugural programming, StageKids began as one off workshops covering one topic at a time for ages from elementary through high school. While this format had some success, Shaw found that it didn’t lead to continued commitment from the student to StageKids or to his educational experience. In the next inception, StageKids offered kids from elementary through high school a several-week session with weekly meetings. While this was better, the program found its highest success within the high school level, which led to the current Teen Theatre Lab, a six-week session meeting twice a week, which is meant to give students, “a view into the world or acting, of musical theatre, and of film,” said Shaw. He added that this program is working really well, with students from all parts of Door County, and will culminate in a capstone performance of their work over the course of the session. The performance will take place on June 14 at 3 pm and is open to the public.

Looking back on his high school experience, Shaw realized that it was truly outstanding as a kid who was into theater, but that many schools don’t have the resources for that kind of programming so he, “want[s] to make sure everyone has that opportunity.” His passion for TAP’s StageKids program is evident; he wants it to be successful and he wants to keep trying to reach more kids and a broader age group. He says the most exciting thing about working with kids is that, “most of them don’t have barriers that [adults] build up, so I get a chance to work with a clean slate.” Shaw said TAP hopes to continue offering classes as frequently as possible and will continue to try their best to serve Door County’s youth.

When asked what advice he would offer to young people interested in going into a career in acting or theatre, Shaw had lots of suggestions: “Take classes, get out there and do shows, any opportunity is a good opportunity. Form a drama club at school. Get together with a group of friends and read a script. Stay active in it! And take advantage of the artistic offerings here [in Door County], there are so many plays to go see.”

Ryan Patrick Shaw is available by phone at Third Avenue Playhouse, and would be happy to answer any questions about StageKids at 920.743.1760.