A former Leland Public School student and Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, Lukey Klein, made their off-Broadway debut last month with a couple of special guests from home in the audience.
Jeremy Evans, Glen Lake Community School elementary performing arts teacher, and Kathy Lau, a theater costume designer who also worked with Evans for at least 20 years at Leland school, made the trip from Leelanau County on Oct. 18 to watch their former student perform on the big stage in New York City.
“It was a dream come true honestly, and it was surreal to have dinner with them after the show,” Klein said. “It was a little emotional because this is something I’ve been wanting my whole life and they have been perhaps the biggest reason why it’s possible, so it meant the world to me to have them here… They had not seen me perform after I went to UNCSA (University of North Carolina School of the Arts) for acting, so a lot had changed. I grew up a lot and I learned a lot, so I was excited to share what I had learned.”
Evans, who has known Klein since they were a child, said it’s “a big deal in the actor world” to get to New York and be in plays like the premiere of “Sump’n Like Wings” by Lynn Riggs, in which Klein played the role of Boy Huntington.
To be able to watch Klein on the stage that they always wanted to be on was so exciting, Evans said, adding that he always knew they would get there.
“New York is the theater city of the world, so just to get on stage in the city itself is so difficult,” Evans said. “So it’s super exciting. Lukey was an incredible fixture in the Leland theater program… it’s just really cool to see these kids grow up and be successful.”
With great interest in the performing arts since early childhood, Evans said he recalls Klein and their older sister, Delaney, in the Leland theater program. Klein’s mother, Kim, is an elementary teacher at Leland as well, so the district holds a lot of meaning in forming who Klein is today.
“My mom used to help with the productions after school, and my sister, Delaney, she was three years ahead of me, and she was very in the drama program,” Klein said. “Jeremy taught me so much and prepared me to get into Interlochen and to go to the college that I went to — and also just preparing me to be a good person so that I can actually get hired and work — not just be talented, but be a good person to work with…” Evans, who previously served as the director of drama at Leland, said he vividly remembers when Delaney was in elementary school and took on a part in the school play, while Klein was too young at the time to participate. Despite their age, Evans said Klein intently watched each play practice in the theater, and then would go home and tell their mother about everything that happened in the show.
“There’s a half-wall in the back of the theater in Leland, and Luke would sit criss-cross applesauce on that half-wall, still as a stone, eyes peeled watching the play practice everyday,” Evans explained. “Lukey’s first role, I think he was in second grade, and we did ‘Annie.’ Their sister played Annie, and Lukey was the ventriloquist dummy on the radio show, and only had a few lines, but stole the show. They were just so funny and so memorable.”
Evans said school theater pro- grams aren’t just good for selfconfi dence and public speaking, but it’s a great way to practice empathy and gives a person a chance to experience what someone else is feeling through different characters.
“You really get to feel for the person that you’re playing… I think it’s so important for our kids to practice communicating with other people and how relationships work, and what it means to be a human being,” Evans said. “You get to practice those skills, and it’s just a lot of fun. It’s filled with nice people, you’re just making some art… I don’t teach them (my students) so that they can become professional actors, that is not my goal at all, I’m just trying to help them become good human beings. If they’re kind, we all win.”
Klein transferred from Leland to Interlochen for senior year, where they were able to further hone in on their craft and future endeavors, while also excelling in different theater opportunities presented to them, such as being the winner in the national YoungArts 2017 competition and connecting with other creators in the industry.
Klein’s off-Broadway debut is the largest theater production they’ve been in yet. The show, originally written in 1925, played “one night only” in 1931 at the Detroit Playhouse, but has not been performed since its premiere this year. The playwright, Lynn Riggs, is also wellknown for writing “Green Grow the Lilacs” which is what “Oklahoma!” the musical is based on.
Klein said they had previously worked with the director, Raelle Myrick-Hodges, when she was a guest director at UNCSA. The UNCSA theater program Klein graduated from was also recently ranked the number three acting program in the world by the Hollywood Reporter.
After about 2.5 years of living in New York, Klein was able to connect with Myrick-Hodges again and auditioned for “Sump’n Like Wings,” winning the role and wrapping up the final show on Nov. 2.
“I feel very blessed to have had a (acting) job within two years. It’s pretty rare,” Klein said. “It’s hard to get work here, especially at the beginning of your career. There’s a lot of 18-25 year olds in NYC trying to do the same thing… I hope to get into more TV and films in the coming years. I love theater, but I want to expand my horizons a little.”
While acting is a passion of Klein’s, they also write and produce, among many other things. Klein is currently writing a play with director Acadia Barrengos about the historic Women’s House of Detention that once stood in Greenwich Village. Most of the people imprisoned there were queer or lesbian, Klein explained, and it targeted any gender non-conformity. The prison is about three blocks away from New York’s Stonewall National Monument, which is the first site in the National Parks system to recognize the contributions of LGBTQ Americans.
“There’s just so many incredible stories that I can’t believe I didn’t know,” Klein said. “The prison is now a garden and there’s no plaque and no information about what it used to be and it’s almost completely erased.”
