“The first musical I ever saw was Oklahoma at the Woodstock Playhouse when I was about seven or eight years old. I was fascinated by the singing and dancing, and all the joy the actors and actresses were having. From that moment, I knew I had to be a part of theater.

My dad raised me on older musicals, mostly just The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, but it really shaped me as a person. And yes, Julie Andrews will always be one of my favorite actresses! But something always connected me to the joy and the whimsy of the musicals. Also, Dick Van Dyke will always be a huge inspiration to me as he is such an amazing performer.

At one point, my mom remembered a musical that used to come on TV when she was growing up called Hello Dolly, starring Barbra Streisand. Streisand ultimately became my singing and acting role model. I would end up re-watching that movie every chance I had, studying her acting techniques and the way she sang. I would also study the ways they filmed the movie and how it was different from the stage production, and why they made those specific changes. That’s how I knew I wanted to be a director.

I would take any chance I had to be a part of a theater production or a film production to help teach me more about the craft I wanted to pursue, and here we are now. I have my own production company at the raw age of 16!

Always chase your dreams cause you never know where they could lead you!

-Shea DeLisio 2025