Name: Danny DiMarino
Major: Environmental Science and Theater double major. I want to do Theater, Environmental Science is the backup.
Hometown: Parma, OH near Cleveland
Her Campus OSU had the chance to sit down with fourth year, Danny DiMarino, in between his busy schedule of classes and workshops and meetings. I met him in his natural habitat, The Drake Performance Center, home to OSU’s theater majors. It was the late afternoon so the sun was setting on the Olentagy and the large windows that encompass an entire wall of the room we sat in look out, beautifully, on the naturesque scene of the river and sunset. We sat for a few moments, sipping our coffees and looking outside as Danny filled me in on all the latest happenings in the theater world. To anyone that knows Danny, it comes as no surprise that theater isn’t only his major and his main hobby, but his favorite topic of conversation and the easiest way to make his face light up with joy. Though he won’t be part of the cast this year, Danny is also an exec member of Off the Lake (OTL) Productions, the only student-run musical theater group at OSU, and he made sure to fill me in on the organizations Fall Cabaret, currently running now (details of which you can find below!).
HC: Why did you decide to come to OSU?
DD: I kind of came into school not really sure what I wanted to do and I was interested in theater and I was interested in the environment but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to focus on and Ohio State was one of the few schools that I could go to where I could actually explore both of those areas.
HC: Those are quite different areas of study. Do you have a favorite class you’ve taken while at OSU?
DD: I take a lot of different classes. A lot of theater classes are what we call “lab” classes, so we go into a room and we explore different acting techniques or acting styles. My favorite class with my theater degree has been an ‘Acting for the Camera’ class, it was really interesting because I’ve come from a theater background and acting for the camera and acting for film are different animals. You have to be more subtle about your choices [in film] whereas in theater you want to be as big and dramatic as possible. So that was a challenge and heading into it and thinking about my career, I never really thought about film or working on tv as an option. But afterwards, it’s something I definitely want to explore more…and the professor for that, Kevin McClatchy, is such an awesome professor. He’s worked on soap operas and done movies with Anne Hathaway and he’s had a very successful career himself so he brought a lot of real world experience and knowledge to that class which I thought was beneficial because you need more than just talent to make it in this business. You need to have the know-how and the connections.
HC: It sounds like you’re starting to think a lot about your life post-OSU. So I have to ask, what do you think you will miss most about OSU after graduation?
DD: That’s hard. I’m very nervous to enter the real world because I’m entering theater which is not a very stable career so I think I am going to miss the idea of stability that being a student gives me. Because right now, we’re still learning and still growing and though that will continue once I leave college, I think I also need to start being realistic about my life. So I’m nervous that once I leave college I’ll really have to grow up.
HC: I’m sure you’ll do great! But now I’m curious, where do you see yourself after graduation?
DD: I plan on moving to New York City to pursue a career in theater. I hope to work on particularly music theater with an emphasis on contemporary new works. I especially enjoy pop rock musicals…so that’s the goal. And should that not work out, I will be moving, hopefully still, to New York City but I will be doing environmental science work instead. Maybe environmental education, working with kids and teaching them about different environmental issues and how they can live sustainable lives because I think that’s really important.
HC: This repetition of theater keeps coming up. Has acting always been what you’ve wanted to do?
DD: I probably did my first show when I was in the third grade [in] a small community theater and I continued to do community theater productions up until I got into high school. I kind of took a few years off once I got into high school and tried out sports, but then my junior year of high school I got back into theater. [At this same time,] I saw the show Spring Awakening and that show is comprised of a relatively young cast and so I saw them performing and I recognized that as something that I wanted to do long term and since then I’ve been kind of gung-ho on musical theater.
HC: What is it that you like most about performing?
DD: I think theater is so special because it’s a shared experience between actors and an audience and you only have the opportunity to have that shared experience once. Every performance is different. Every audience is different. And I just think that’s a really beautiful relationship. But I also just find it fun to explore the mind of other characters and see what makes them work. You get to play make-believe and be someone else for awhile and that’s just fun. You get to be a kid forever and just play.
HC: All intimidation aside, everything is possible, what’s your dream role?
DD: My dream would be to play Moritz in Spring Awakening. I kind of already mentioned that that show is what brought me into musical theater to begin with and really got me to think about this seriously. [Moritz is] such an eccentric and confused and complex character and I think he’d be a real and fun challenge to play around with. If I’m really dreaming big, I would be on Broadway in a pop rock musical written by a group of new composers.
HC: We’ve talked a lot about your theater experience so I’m sure everyone is wondering what you think about the current Broadway community. What’s been your favorite Broadway show you’ve seen? Is there anything you’re dying to see now?
DD: Well my favorite show is Spring Awakening but there’s actually a really exciting production happening in LA right now. It’s at a theater called Deaf West and it’s performed with some deaf actors and some actors that are not deaf and they use a lot of sign language throughout. I would be really interested in seeing that. Other than that, my next favorite performance is Next to Normal. I think that is just the most perfect musical and it’s written so well and the original direction was very careful and well-crafted. Honestly, I think Next to Normal is a better production than Spring Awakening but I have a more personal connection to Spring Awakening.
HC: I’ve seen you fangirl over Betsy [Wolfe] while we were in NYC, but which actors and actresses do you look up to most?
DD: My biggest role model is actor Matt Doyle. He was, guess what, in Spring Awakening. He’s now gone on to do War Horse on broadway, Bye Bye Birdie, he just did Book of Mormon and he’s also on Gossip Girl. I think he’s created a really successful career for himself and I admire his talent.
HC: And now the last question is…
DD: We’re at the last question already? Awh, that’s sad. This is fun.
While I’ve been conducting this interview, the table we’ve been sitting at has slowly filled with several of Danny’s friends and fellow classmates. He whispers across the table to the latest arrival, I’m in an interview, with a tone of voice that teasingly points out his celebrity to the table. As we sit in The Drake and wait for their voiceover class to start, some of his friends practice lines to themselves, bent over their scripts and mumbling indistinctly. Others sit on their computers and occasionally jump into the interview with a silly accent or witty one liner. In between these jokes, I ask
HC: What’s one thing everyone would be surprised to learn about you?
DD: Let me think, I think people would be surprised to find out that in high school I was a super studious person. Top of my class, straight A’s, did everything, overachiever and…
Wait, this is true? one asks, peering over her laptop screen. That DOESN’T surprise me at all, laughs another. We all remain silent and wait for Danny to add something to this, perhaps another fact about him that really does surprise someone at the table. Finally he says,
And that’s the end of the interview.