She credits her decision to pursue a doctorate to the encouraging influence of several Colby-Sawyer faculty. “Colby-Sawyer gave me a great springboard.”
Pastoral Psychologist Barbara Livingston '82
Fame in His Future
It's pilot season for the television industry, when hundreds of actors converge on New York City to vie for a few choice roles in scores of potential new shows. Nathan Corddry '00 is one of the struggling young actors, and he hurries along a Manhattan street, cell phone pressed to his ear, talking fast about his unfolding career.
“I have one more pilot to try out for, and after that, I begin rehearsing for my first Broadway show,” he says. “My agent is really pushing me hard toward television, because that's where the money is, but live theater is what I love.” But television work pays the rent, and Nathan hopes that maximum exposure on the small screen will lead to juicier roles in theater down the line. In the last year, he's landed small parts on the television drama, “Law and Order,” and the soap opera, “Guiding Light.” He's appeared on “Late Night with Conan O'Brien,” and in dozens of commercials for companies such as Verizon, AT & T, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut. Trained as a stage actor in theater productions at Colby-Sawyer College and in four seasons of summer stock at Williamstown, Nathan acquiesces to television's demands for practical reasons.
“Television is an editor's medium, not an actor's medium. There's often no rehearsal, and everything is fast, fast, fast. Then the editors cut and splice your performance,” he explains. “Live theater is a much more powerful medium for actors. You are always in control of your performance. But television pays the bills, and at this point in my career, it's what I need to do.”
In the competition for acting roles, Nathan fares well among actors with formal theatrical training from prestigious theater programs at major universities. “One of the first things casting directors ask you is where you trained as an actor, and the fact that I went to Colby-Sawyer, which doesn't offer a theater degree, is a novelty,” he says. “But it really benefited me because at Colby-Sawyer I learned by doing. I performed in a lot of great roles, as well as produced and directed productions and started an improv group. Other kids have Yale theater degrees, but I have more experience because I had so many more opportunities.”
Nathan's acting career began while he was a high school student in Weymouth, Mass., where he performed in several school productions. When he began looking at colleges, he knew he would continue to act, yet he wanted a broad liberal arts education rather than one narrowly focused on the performing arts. He became a Communication Studies major at Colby-Sawyer, where he quickly found a friend and mentor in Associate Professor of Performing Arts Jerry Bliss.
“Nathan was like our second son,” says Professor Bliss. “He was so exciting to work with as an actor. He knows what he wants, and he's absolutely driven.” Nathan performed in every production the college produced while he was here, and eventually Professor Bliss began to choose shows based around Nathan's talent, such as “The Little Shop of Horrors” and “Guarding the Bridge.” “There's nothing Nathan can't do as an actor,” Professor Bliss offers, “he's completely honest and willing to take risks. He's going to do very well.”
While Nathan excelled in the theater in his first two years at Colby-Sawyer, he struggled with his course work and in finding friends who shared similar interests. So, when Northeastern University recruited him for its theater program, Nathan transferred to the Boston, Mass., college, where he spent a year before returning to Colby-Sawyer.
“At Northeastern, I took only courses in theater and worked on my artistic and acting skills, but I was really a small fish in a big pond,” he recalls. “When I was gone I began to realize all the opportunities I had taken for granted or missed at Colby-Sawyer.”
To the surprise of his professors in Communication Studies, Nathan—the student who was placed on academic probation in his first year—now showed great enthusiasm in the classroom. “It took me longer to mature and realize the importance of academics,” Nathan admits. “I started taking my courses seriously and applying myself. I had some great classes with professors Pat Anderson, Donna Berghorn, and Don Coonley that really changed the way I look at the media. I had an amazing year as a person and as an actor.”
Like many other students, Nathan could never have attended Colby-Sawyer College without major scholarship and financial aid. “The aid I received was invaluable to me,” he says. “My brother was accepted at Middlebury College, but my family could not afford to send him there. Colby-Sawyer would not have been an option for me without a great scholarship.”
Beginning in August, Nathan will perform in three supporting roles and as an understudy for the lead role of Benjamin in the Broadway tour of “The Graduate.” He attributes much of his success, and his confidence, to experience gained at Colby-Sawyer.
“All the opportunities I had at Colby-Sawyer showed me there was nothing stopping me,” he says. “Everything was within my grasp. Everything was possible.”
