“A Foot in Both Worlds”: a Profile of Erin Jerozal
Written by Jayan Raju
Erin Jerozal, IAA’s visiting Musical Theatre instructor, brings a fresh perspective to the IAA faculty, as she directs this fall’s production of 9 to 5.
Ms. Jerozal didn’t start doing musicals until she was in high school. She originally thought she would go to college for the sciences until she made the decision to transfer to Syracuse University and study musical theatre. “I had a moment where I was thinking, what will I regret if I don’t try it?” she said.
Ms. Jerozal also stated that her “family has more teachers in it than anything.” Teaching runs in her blood. She made the decision to begin teaching while living in New York City because of the stability it offered, but also because it was a way to continue engaging with the craft. “You learn a lot by teaching,” she noted.
Her IAA career began this past summer when Matt Salvo, another Musical Theatre instructor at IAA, called her about the open visiting position. Ms. Jerozal and Mr. Salvo have worked on past projects together.
“It was a pretty quick turnaround, but in theatre we’re used to life changing on the dime,” Ms. Jerozal mentioned.
Ms. Jerozal has had a very positive experience since joining the faculty and observed that, “It’s easy to forget these kids are in high school. The level of talent and dedication, and having a passion you want to pursue so badly is remarkable.”
Directing 9 to 5 has been a fun way for her to connect bold themes with fun musical numbers and high school students. “While there has been a lot that has changed in terms of gender politics and gender equality, there really is a lot that hasn’t,” Ms. Jerozal commented.
“How do we see these women’s journey as learning how much stronger they became by working together? How do we ground the ‘musical theatre-ness’ of it in the fact that it’s like, these are actually very real topics and very real things?”
Ms. Jerozal noted that it’s been a fun challenge navigating all of it. She also appreciates IAA’s commitment to not censoring the show, “It respects the fact that you all are not babies—you know, you see the world.”
As an instructor and director, she hopes that her students take-away not only the classroom lessons but also the humanity of it all. “I think we can do really important, specific work, while also remembering that first and foremost, we're people who should be taking care of ourselves and taking care of the people around us and finding joy in the hard stuff as well as the easily joyful.”
Ms. Jerozal added that 9 to 5 has an all-female creative team. “Hopefully, it won't be seen as rare as you all grow up. But it is still sometimes rare in the professional world that you have female teams like that.”
Audiences of 9 to 5 can expect a balance of a flashy, musical theater performance and a moving story. Ms. Jerozal remarks that her hope is “that audiences walk away respecting that musical theatre is a genre that can have a foot in both worlds. It can hold the funny, and the silly and the dance, and the big, splashy opening number, while also holding these stories that we know and understand and that do matter, and that you don't have to separate that out.”
9 to 5, directed by Erin Jerozal and featuring the cast of IAA Theatre majors, will be playing in Corson Auditorium from Nov. 14-16.