Name: Kyle Connealy
Major: Theatre & English
Year: Senior
Her Campus Texas: How did you get involved in theater?
Kyle Connealy: I had a teacher in 8th grade who kept bugging me to audition for a show. I wanted to keep my free time, but finally gave it a shot. I played a Russian father and have been loving theatre ever since.
HCTX: What do you love about theater that made you stick with it?
KC: Connection. After a month of rehearsals, you’re best friends with someone you didn’t even know before the show. And theatre people are the most interesting people in the world. It’s so fantastic to experience life through the eyes of someone new, sometimes in a world completely different from your own. I’m also a big fan of wearing cool costumes.
HCTX: What is the coolest/craziest thing you have had to wear for a role?
KC: I had to grow out some sweet mutton chops for a show recently. I learned two things about muttonchops: 1. They’re great for scaring away pretty girls. 2. You make weird friends easily.
HCTX: What is your dream role? (with or without mutton chops!)
KC: Marius from Les Miserables.
HCTX: What book have you read at UT that left a big impression on you?
KC: A Practical Handbook for the Actor. I read this book in my Acting 1 class and it rocked my world. I realized that it’s really easy to be a bad actor but acting is, well, simple.
KC: Study a book, think:
“Had no idea they meant that”
Authors are sneaky
HCTX: Besides acting and reading sneaky authors, you’re also a photographer. What inspired you to start photography?
KC: I saw that some of my friends were doing some pretty cool stuff with photography and I was thought, “I want in on this.”
HCTX: You take a lot of headshots for students in the theater department. Any funny headshot stories to share?
KC: I once accidentally deleted the majority of a person’s pictures. They got the ones they liked, but it was pretty embarrassing.
HCTX: What are the top 5 most played songs on your iPod?
KC: 1. “Hope”–Royal Tailor
2. “The Girl”–City and Colour
3. “Make them Hear You”–Ragtime the Musical
4. “The Earth is Yours”–Gungor
5. “Nothing But the Blood”–Hillsong
HCTX: Would you rather be the best friend in a Jimmy Stewart comedy or the love interest in a romantic comedy with Jessica Chastain?
KC: Umm most def be the love interest in a rom com with Jessica Chastain. Also, if the movie could be a rom com set in England in the late 18th century, I wouldn’t be mad.
HCTX: What are you looking forward to more: Thanksgiving or Christmas?
KC: Christmas, all the way. All of the lights. All of the family. All of the friends.
HCTX: What Disney Princess would you take on a date?
KC: Pocahontas. I mean, which sounds better? Getting coffee or going out and hearing the wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or asking the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
HCTX: What do you look for in a girl? One who can paint with all the colors of the wind?
KC: Faith is a big thing for me. Also, I want to find the woman in life that I am truly captivated by–the girl, the princess, that I really want to take on the adventure.
HCTX: Describe your ideal date:
KC: Taking a girl to see a Broadway show then ending the night getting milkshakes. It would also be really sweet there could randomly be a fireplace in this milkshake establishment.