A moment in life that people remember is when they got the opportunity to land a job doing what they love, and Jasmine Villaroel had this when she heard that she was going to be a swing on The Great Gatsby.
Landing a role on the Broadway stage is almost every actor’s dream. For senior musical theater major Jasmine Villaroel, that dream came true right before she went onstage for a performance of “After Midnight” at Paper Mill Playhouse in February when she found she would be a swing for “The Great Gatsby.”
From a young age, Villaroel has always been enraptured by the world of entertainment, and her parents knew that she had this special spark in her all along. This spark continued to college where she was able to learn more and grow in this new environment.
“I’ve always been someone who loved playing pretend and dressing up,” Villaroel said. “I started in gymnastics and dance at a young age and did my first musical in sixth grade. I’ve loved every second of it since then and knew it was what I wanted to do in college and beyond.”
Coming to Temple University, Villaroel showed her professors who she was all the time in class, bringing her all to everything she did, and having an open mind for new opportunities.
Acting and musical theater professor Amina Robinson had the opportunity to work with Villaroel her freshman year, and again with her when she was playing the lead role of Ti Moune in Once on This Island at Temple University. This is where Robinson saw Villaroel grow into a wonderful actress.
“I was able to see just how much Jasmine grew in her acting when she came into an audition for Once on This Island at the Arden Theater,” Robinson said. “She was no longer nervous to express herself, and when she called me saying how she landed a swing role on The Great Gatsby, I was not surprised because she has grown so much.”
Villaroel landed a role as a swing for the show along with singing in the ensemble. Being a swing has its challenges compared to being an understudy for a single part. Instead of having to learn just one role, Villaroel had to learn multiple different lines, stage directions, songs, and the difficulty was even greater for her, because she never had experience being a swing at Temple.
“I never got the opportunity to swing or understudy at Temple, so this has been a new learning experience for me,” Villaroel said. “Swinging has been a wonderful but also difficult and exhausting job. It’s very exciting and fun to get to play so many different roles, but it can be hard to keep everything separate sometimes.”
Despite this new environment, Villaroel has grown and learned so much about Broadway and how it is behind the scenes. Her professors have been extremely helpful in supporting her on this endeavor and keeping her on track to graduate this year. Landing a role on Broadway, even before she graduated, helped Villaroel get a headstart on being a working actress.
This type of job is not something that everyone can do, but Villaroel is taking hold of the reins and building a network for herself even if it isn’t always smooth sailing.
“It’s a privilege to get to do this even if it can get a little overwhelming at times,” Villaroel said.
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