Life & Work with Alyssa Ryan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa Ryan.

Hi Alyssa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
HI! My name is Alyssa Ryan and I am a Columbus native. I come from a big family who has always loved the arts and sports. I found my passion in the former and am excited to share more with you about my experiences as an artist and our theater company, Original Productions Theatre (OPT).

Original Productions Theatre was established in 2017 by Billie E. Hazelbaker and David Morgan. Both, Billie and Dave, were long-standing members of the Columbus Theater community and had the desire to create a platform for playwrights to showcase their original work. The company’s focus has largely been on local playwrights and we strive to hire as much local talent for our productions as possible. This includes both cast and crew.

I started with OPT as an assistant director for our pilot production in the Fall of 2018. I volunteered to assist with the box office the following Summer and was officially offered the position of Box Office Manager after that. I continued to work on every production in whatever capacity was needed, in addition to my box office duties, steadily making my way through the ranks and learning as much as I could along the way.

In 2021, when we were trying to decide how best to move forward, we had a meeting with Joe Bishara with The Abbey Theater of Dublin (we have always performed out of this theater but we needed to decide how to expand and strengthen our relationship with the theater). Joe has been an integral part of the continued success of OPT and has been an incredible mentor for me as I continue to navigate Columbus Theater. I was named Executive Director of OPT in the Summer of 2021 and have been steadily working towards continuing to grow within the Columbus and Ohio Arts community.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Every journey has its ups and downs, ours is no different. I have spent a lot of time learning as I go, which has its own set of challenges. I am grateful for every person I have crossed paths with as every experience is a good opportunity to learn from them as I learn from any mistakes that are made, whether it’s finding the great places to finding just the right prop or set piece or figuring out just how challenging a quick costume change really is (and we have certainly experienced both!), all of the challenges have been worth it because we get to create something special.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well, this is an interesting question for me because my work in the theater is not my main job. I work as a Licensed Massage Therapist and Lactation Specialist here in Columbus. I have always loved acting and was hoping to make that a full-time job. I’m hoping that may still work out for me! I pursued theater in grade school and high school and even more so in college.

Post-graduation I spent 3 months taking classes at NIDA (National Institute for Dramatic Art) in Sydney, Australia. I took this passion for acting to Los Angeles, where I lived for 8 years. I loved living in LA but started to lose the enjoyment and passion I always felt performing after being there for a few years. My husband and I started our family in 2014 and decided to move back to Columbus, after being here for a few years and participating in that first OPT production I found the fun again and have continued to pursue acting ever since.

I enjoy producing but I also love being on stage and working on film and television. I have had the good fortune of working on two world premiere productions in 2022, the first was a play called The Uncanny, by Andrew Klavan and produced by Stage Right Theatrics; the second was called City Jail, written by Columbus’ own Catherine Adams and produced by The Abbey Theater of Dublin.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I believe that cultivating an environment where people feel safe to create and collaborate on our productions is extremely important. I always strive to create a team of artists who work well together and can support each other throughout the production process and beyond. We love bringing back artists we have worked with in the past as well as finding new artists (even if they’re new to Columbus). I hope to create a reputation for OPT that is positive, supportive, and engaging.

Pricing:

• Adult tickets $25
• Senior and student tickets are $20
• Matinee tickets are $20

Contact Info:

• Website: www.optheatre.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OPTheatre

Image Credits
Jerri Shafer at JAMS Photography