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On this episode I talked with Erica about her journey into theater, being inspired by magical worlds in books like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, her desire to perform, being influenced by memorable performances like Meryl Streep in "Mamma Mia!”, seeing "The Lion King" tour in Honolulu as a child, her school trip to New York in middle school, where she saw both "Memphis" and "Wicked,” the influence Jennifer Lawrence’s acting in The Hunger Games had on her and wanting to play Katniss if The Hunger Games ever became a musical, her experience at The University Of Michigan including productions she was in of "The Wolves" and "Merrily We Roll Along,” her audition process for “Wicked,” joining the cast with multiple other new leads and how that made the rehearsal process special, how she makes the character of Nessarose her own as well as how she’s similar and different to Nessarose, her dream roles, creating her own Percy Jackson Podcast called “Seaweed Brain Podcast” where she and her co-host have interviewed cast members from the new show, and much more!
Born and raised on the east side of O’ahu, Erica begged her parents to move to LA and help her pursue a life of child stardom after seeing Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games (2012). Her parents wisely said, “No.” And she went on to do local community theatre instead.
College took Erica to the mainland, where after surviving 4 years of Midwestern winters, she was awarded a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan for her bravery. She also read so many books and wrote so many personal essays that they gave her a lil baby English minor as a treat.
You can now find Erica touring North America as Wicked’s Nessarose, or yelling about coming of age love stories and mythology with her genius co-host/best friend on their podcast Seaweed Brain.
(Prior to landing in Munchkinland, the most important thing in Erica’s life was keeping her level 3 monk “Glory” Kayt Mori alive in the rough and tumble town of Brunkhollow. Stream the live play TTRPG every Sunday at 7pm EST.)
