Conor McGarry knew he wanted to be in theater from a very young age.
Said love of theater led him to major in it at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. "Decatur is the middle of nowhere," he said, "and there's absolutely nothing to dowhich works for a theater school. When there's nothing to do, it just makes you practice more. We just worked on our craft."
However, he was eventually drawn to the Windy City, studying acting at Columbia College Chicago. "[Moving] was a great decision for me," he said. "I adopted a pug ( that I've [whittled] down from 40 pounds to 22my first personal-training success story ), and [being here has] become a really positive experience." Being in Chicago also allowed McGarry to procure more theater experience, including roles in productions such as Altar Boyz, Mary Poppins and Planted: A Song Cycle, a show about being gay in modern-day America that McGarry called "one of the best experiences he's ever had."
McGarry portrays Ziggy in Lake Forest Theatre's production of the classic Mel Brooks comedic movie Young Frankenstein through Sunday, Oct. 30. The only thing that's really different from the film, he said, is that the theatrical production has more singing and dancing; "otherwise, the scripts are about 90 percent the same."
Oh, there's one other tidbit. With October being National Coming Out Month, McGarry was asked who the first person he came out to was. Without skipping a beat, he said, "I feel like it was myself. I wanted a 'typical' life for myself, and it took me a long time to come to terms with being gay. But I have a clear memory of walking across the Millikin campus one dayand it hit me that I am gay. Within 12 hours, I had come out to all my friends, and everyone was very supportive."
Young Frankenstein plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. Single-show tickets are $49 and three-show season tickets are $120; call 847-604-4975, see LakeForestTheatre.com or visit the box office.
- Age: 22
- Neighborhood: Buena Park
- Job title: Actor/personal trainer
- Pets: Louie, a disabled, 7-year-old, deaf pug that's "the light of my life and the sunshine of my world"
- Favorite snack food: "I eat really healthy, so I have a giant bag of nuts that I always snack on. But I sneak in brownies more than once a week."
- Motto: "Never stop creating and never give up."
- Desired dinner guests, living or dead: "Stephen Sondheim, and Rodgers and Hammerstein"
- Dream theatrical production: "I know it sounds stereotypical, but [it'd be] The Book of Mormon. It's one of the funniest shows ever written."