Getting To Know Fagin's Gang | An Interview Series | Feature # 8 | Kyle Kerr

Can you believe we have this many amazing and hardworking kids in our cast? We can’t either, and we certainly aren’t finished showcasing them in our Oliver! interview series! Today’s feature is Kyle Kerr, an outgoing and hardworking 11 year old. But don’t let his age fool you, because for this talented young man, Oliver! marks his 20th show overall. Always eager to work on another production, Kyle’s mom told him about the auditions at Greenville Theatre and he just knew he had to give it a shot. Now being a part of the cast as Barnaby (A member of Fagin's Gang), Kyle told me, “I really like being a part of this show and having a solo, it’s really fun!” He told me his favorite song is ‘Pick A Pocket’ because “I get to pick Fagin’s pocket which is really fun.” Kyle has enjoyed meeting a lot of people in the cast of Oliver!, having only previous worked with Austin Smith in Shrek and Craig Smith in Willy Wonka.

The frist show Kyle ever did was Peter Pan in Easley where he played Michael when he was 6 years old. Kyle got his start when his mother convinced him to do an actor camp where he was able to do some smaller scale productions with other kids his age. From there, he began doing more advanced classes like the Third Stage Class where he was able to do a bunch of different productions. The next step was was looking at theatre in Greer where he auditioned for James and the Giant Peach and got the role of Carl Creator - his favorite line was “Look out, it’s a rhino! It’s escaped from the London Zoo!” Kyle did this production was he was about 8 years old and it was his first musical. “Because you get to sing, it’s really fun. You can do more things. And at first I didn’t know how to sing so I really learned how to sing in James and the Giant Peach and it’s crazy how much my voice has grown,” he said. Next up was Madagascar, also at the Greer Cultural Center, where he played a lemur. This was actually his first show with more theatrical makeup to

help the actors look like animals. Then came a production of the Magic Tree House books where they performed the books Pirates Past Noon and Dinosaurs Before Dark. Kyle’s favorite part about this show was that he got his first partial solo ever. Kyle then did Elijah at his church, where he played the character of Elijah. Here he had his first ever solo and was able to choreograph his own dancing in the show. Kyle was also a part of Wizard of Oz at

Inman Theatre where he played Mayor Munchkin and he is excited to go back to this theatre for another show. Moving on, Kyle then worked at the Market Theatre Company in Anderson performing as Sheldon in Junie B. Jones the Musical followed by Alice in Wonderland at Greer Cultural Center where he was a member of the ensemble. Next up was Kyle’s first Mainstage production at South Carolina Children’s Theatre where he was Young Shrek, Puss in Boots, and Grumpy Dwarf in their production of Shrek. This is where he worked with Austin Smith, who played Lord Farquad, making Kyle Austin’s father in the show. Kyle was also a part of the Zombie Walk in downtown Greenville during the Halloween season. “I couldn’t smile at all so it was really hard!” Next up was Elf Jr. at Foothills Playhouse where he played Mr. Greenway and an elf. This leads us up to the present where we have Kyle playing Barnaby in our production of Oliver!. He is also currently working on two other productions. As a member of the A.R.M.E.S. after school program at the Fine Arts Center he is working on the Wandering Moon Players (he is Player Orange) as well as playing Young Shrek and Grumpy Dwarf at J.L. Mann High School their production of Shrek. “It’s really fun; the choreography is kinda hard but it’s really fun,” he said. This production of Shrek will open in April so he has to balance a good bit on his plate at the moment. “I already know my lines for Shrek and I know them for Oliver! so I really just have to work on my lines for the A.R.M.E.S. production,” he said.

When he is not performing Kyle enjoys being a member of Cub

Scouts, where he likes to go camping, does not like sports at all (he chuckled when he told me this) and he plays the piano and takes singing lessons. He has been taking lessons like these to be a stronger musician and work on becoming better at reading music. He has been taking piano lessons for about a year now and singing lessons for almost two years.

Kyle also enjoys playing video games and he actually has his own Youtube channel where he uploads Minecraft gaming videos in particular. In addition, Kyle also likes working with his sound and light boards. It started when he attended a class at USC Upstate and developed a love for lighting and sound design. In the class he was able to hang the light fixtures, focus the lights, play around with the gobos and handle the gels for the lights, all of which he loves doing. Personally he has two lights, a light board, a mic, and a soundboard which he enjoys working on at home. Kyle also enjoys acquiring new water bottles. He has quite the collection with a lot of theatre water bottles, a karate water bottle, one with his voice teacher’s name on it, a clear one, and many many more!

Kyle has a strong feeling that he will work in theatre for the rest of his life, hoping someday he will be on Broadway but also knowing he would love to be a professional lighting and sound designer. Some of his dream roles include SpongeBob Squarepants in SpongeBob Squarepants the Musical, Shrek in Shrek, and Jack’s Brother in Newsies. To end the interview, I asked Kyle what word he would use to describe Oliver!, he responded with “Busy.” When I asked why that word, “You have to put a lot of time into learning the choreography and it keeps you busy! The show is busy too because we have lights and costumes now.”

Before we went to rehearsal he quickly added, “Come see our show!” And we couldn’t agree more! Tickets are on sale NOW so give us a call to book your seats to this fantastic show and don’t miss Kyle on stage March 1-17 in Oliver!.