We have heard the phrase, “the youth are our future” many times. But what about the youth of our present?
Every week on Fascinating Ohio, we share the stories of inspiring adults. This week, we are highlighting four talented teens from here in the Buckeye state.
First, we’ll meet 4-H Ohio’s Teen of the Year, Sadie Wilhelmy. As a 4-H member in Brown County, she has taken on several leadership positions, mentors younger members and advocates for change.
We’ll meet two students, Michael Broadhurst and Kyle Meadows, who are interns for the Short North Stage. They have also performed in several roles at the theater.
We'll also talk with another performer. On social media, he's known as Brody the Bagpiper and he performs at community events around the Columbus area.
Guests:
- Sadie Wilhelmy, 4-H Teen of the Year
- Kyle Meadows, Short North Stage intern
- Michael Broadhurst, Short North Stage intern
- Brody Alexander, Brody the Bagpiper
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from all sides in WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. This week we have the teen edition of Fascinating, Ohio. We're introducing you to four teenagers who are doing amazing things. And we are starting with 16-year-old Sadie Wilhelmy. She was recently awarded the Ohio 4-H Youth Development Teen of the Year. And she joins us today. Welcome to All Sides, Sadie.
Sadie Wilhelmy: Hi, very nice to be here.
Juravich: So congratulations on your award, the great, yeah, how did it feel to be named the Teen of the Year?
Wilhelmy: It was absolutely crazy, I was really shocked. I had no idea that I was even nominated for it, so it was amazing.
Juravich: Yeah, okay. So if you had no idea you were even nominated for it, did you know how you got nominated?
Wilhelmy: Yes, so the award basically is every educator in one county can nominate one person. So my educator nominated me and I had no idea and then I found out by email that I won. Yeah, it was a really good day.
Juravich: What educator, like one of your teachers, what does that mean?
Wilhelmy: So Christy Clary, she is my county educator extension agent for 4-H. So she runs our 4-h program in Brown County and every county in Ohio has one. So they get to nominate one and then they all go into a pool and Ohio 4- H basically chooses one teen of the year every year. And they choose it based off of your achievements that year and your involvement in 4- H over the course of that calendar year.
Juravich: So you're not just the 4-H teen of the year for Brown County, you're for the state. Yes, I am. Wow. All right. So how does that feel? I mean, yeah. Kind of surreal. It's crazy.
Wilhelmy: It's crazy to think about. Yeah.
Juravich: Okay, so what made you decide to join 4-H? I'm not sure, how old were you when you joined and why did you pick to join it?
Wilhelmy: So I joined 4-H when I was about five. You aren't officially a member until nine, but I was a Clover bud for a couple of years. And it's really a family thing. My mom and my dad were both in 4-h. My brother's in 4h. My sister was. So kind of a legacy thing almost.
Juravich: Oh, it's legacy or you didn't have a choice, right? Oh, a little bit, you know. But I think it sounds better the other way. Legacy sounds better. Okay, so, and I know 4-H has a lot of different things. The H's, there's obviously 4-h's that stand for four things. So which part did you, like, what is your specialty?
Wilhelmy: What is my specialty? I like various different things, but I'd say food nutrition, creative arts, and pigs is probably my specialty right now.
Juravich: Okay, do you have pet pet pigs?
Wilhelmy: Um, I show pig, so livestock exhibit, uh, I'm sorry. Exhibiting library. Yes.
Juravich: Switch it around, yes, exhibiting livestock. So tell me about your pigs.
Wilhelmy: Um, yeah, I have five of them right now. Okay. Uh, my sister has six, so we have about 11 in the barn, but we also raise pigs. So we have sows too. Um, it's a lot of work, but it's definitely worthwhile. We show, um, we show at the county fair, but also show jackpot. And so we spend most of basically March to September training. And, um we do, I clean pens every day. It's, it was a good time. So.
Juravich: I should have asked you for pictures. Are these like, because I've been to the state fair, I've seen the pigs. Are these the big pigs? They're not the big ones.
Wilhelmy: They're medium-sized. I would say, well, we're showing them at least.
Juravich: Okay, so you've been involved with 4-H since you were five, but deciding to stick with it was your choice, I'm sure, to continue with it, and yeah. So why did you decide to stick with it past the idea of the family legacy?
Wilhelmy: Um, I fell in love with the things I could do. Um, Ivy League 4-H is kind of, you can make whatever you want of it. So, um, there's options for different projects you can take, obviously, but, um, I, fell in loved with some of the hobbies I could explore. I love to cook and I love scrapbook and I loved to write. Um, so I kind of fell in with the idea of having a book that I could base the hobby in and learn something from. Um, but then I could teach myself new skills and I could expand on that. And that was something that was one of my favorite things to do in the summer. And it just became something that I love to do. And then I slowly got more and more involved and I met new friends and I went on trips and it was just a really good time.
Juravich: And you've also taken on leadership roles during your time. You're considered what's called a junior leader. So tell us what that involves.
Wilhelmy: So I am currently the president of my 4-H club and I am involved in our junior leaders group, which is kind of, we create community events in our county and then I am also the president of my junior fair board. I believe in giving back to the community that brought me up and really made me the person I am today. So that is what my goal is while I'm doing things in Brown County. And part of the reason that I was nominated for this award is because of me bringing back livestock judging in my county, which we hadn't had for a really long time. And that was just something that I wanted to do. And I found myself looking at it like, yes, we should do this. And it's a good way to teach kids in my community about livestock judging and learning to make decisions like that.
Juravich: Yeah, so because I read, you know, you're a leader in Brown County and you made some changes. So is that is that what the it's talking about whenever it says you made you actually made changes in Brown county. So so the idea of livestock judging went away for a period of time and you brought it back.
Wilhelmy: So we didn't have a team for a long time. So I asked my mom to coach, because she used to judge for Ohio State, actually. And so she started becoming the coach. And we worked together to create a team. So we competed last year. And we're working on competing again this year.
Juravich: When is the Brown County Fair? I know county fairs are all different times of the year.
Wilhelmy: So we're the last week of September into late October, early October, I'm sorry. So I think it's like September 28th to October 3rd this year. Okay. So we are late in the year, but we will compete at the state fair.
Juravich: That's at the end of July. Yeah, you don't have to know the dates of the state fair. It's okay. I don't know them either. But so that was my next question. So you're going to come to you'll be at the Ohio State Fair when it happens. Yes, I will. Okay. Do you have a role as you're being the teen of the year to with the state Fair? Or you don't know yet? I'm not sure about that. Well, now you will. Someone's listening and they're gonna give you a role. Yeah, this is Fascinating Ohio, the teen edition from all sides on 89.7 NPR News and we're talking to the Ohio 4-H teen of year. Sadie will help me. So you mentioned this, you're mentoring younger 4-H members. What do you do to guide and support them? Is this just that you wanna make sure there's a future 4-h in Brown County so you have to get the five-year-olds involved, right?
Wilhelmy: Oh, 100%. Yes. So my club is full with younger members right now. I'm actually the oldest in my club right now. And that's actually a really rewarding thing. It's really cool to be able to show these opportunities to the younger kids and encourage them to try to apply for things and say yes to things which is been a really big part of me getting to be here today.
Juravich: And what is the reaction like? I mean, do the younger kids just want to be on their Switch or their iPad all the time? Or do they actually want to look at your pigs with you? Yeah
Wilhelmy: Yeah, I I do believe that they actually want to be involved in things at the fair and look at my face with me Yeah, you said yeah I've seen a lot of great things and they are really Excited to learn a lot them. So
Juravich: So tell me about your family's reaction to this. What did they think of you being named the Teen of the Year?
Wilhelmy: Um, very proud. Um, I remember getting the email and coming home and, um, I got it at school that day and it would have been a really stressful day and I remember getting home and my mom was like, say, do you need to check your email right now? And like, we read it together and she, um she started crying. And I was like just shocked. I was, like baffled. It was insane. My dad was really proud and, I'm just really excited to be.
Juravich: Yeah, does the award come with any scholarship money or special duties?
Wilhelmy: Um, I don't-
Juravich: Do you have set special jobs you have to do as the teen of the year or do you have to be certain places on certain days or anything like that? I don't think so. You don't know yet? I don't think so right now. One of your biggest accomplishments was the Ohio 4-H food challenge. Can you tell us what that is?
Wilhelmy: So the Ohio 4-H food challenge is a new thing this year to Ohio. It's common in a couple of other states, but it's new for us. And we did it this past year for the first time. And it's basically, think of like, chopped almost, if you think of, like, so we get a cooking competition. Yes. Okay. So we get 45 minutes or 40, I think, to make a dish. And it has to be. Either like an entree or an appetizer or a dessert. And me and my team did it for the first time this past year and we did really well. And we spent a lot of time in the summer training. And then we actually ended up going to Texas for the national round. And we had, there was 12 contestants. So there was twelve different teams from different states. And we ended up getting sixth place, which I did not think was half bad because we only had a couple of months to learn and we didn't pretty well. What did you make? We made a steak pasta, kind of. It had vegetables in it. And then we had to do a presentation on it afterwards about the nutritional aspect of the dish.
Juravich: Okay, so you got to pick what the dish was, right? Okay, and you went to Texas to compete with it. That's amazing. So the food challenge, you said that it was new to Ohio. Is that something that we've never had or?
Wilhelmy: I don't think we've ever had it before this past year. We wanted to implement it because it was such a big challenge through like Louisiana, Texas, some of the other states have been doing it. And we thought it would be a really good thing to do because a lot of our kids do do culinary stuff at the state fair and they compete for the food nutrition awards. So it would something that we could very easily do.
Juravich: Were you just competing like you and you said we so is it you and a couple of friends or?
Wilhelmy: So it was me and one other friend for the senior team and then the junior team was my sister and a couple of other friends too.
Juravich: Okay, so is this just Brown County or it can all anyone in any county in Ohio now do the food challenge?
Wilhelmy: Anyone in any county in Ohio.
Juravich: So am I just is that increasing the competition against you when you do it again, okay, but I am NOT doing it again. I'm
Wilhelmy: I can't compete at the national contest again because I've already competed once, so I'm not going to compete at this state again.
Juravich: Do you see yourself continuing to be involved in 4-H in general, like for a long time, or is this just while you're a student type thing?
Wilhelmy: I think I see myself continuing to be involved. I want to make sure that 4-H, that other students are given the opportunity that I was given in 4-h and I want make sure it lives on to be what it is today and to continue being even better.
Juravich: And 4-H is a group of a lot of young people just like you. Have you made some strong friendships through 4-h?
Wilhelmy: Yes, I have, I've met some of my best friends, especially on the trips that I've been on. When I went to Georgia for the delegation conference, it was, I met some four of my best friends that I'll ever meet. And then I actually got to go with one of my friends in April to Greece, and I got to be roommates with her, and it was really fun to kind of experience it together. So I've definitely met some really great people.
Juravich: What's a delegation conference?
Wilhelmy: So every state sends delegates to Atlanta, which is kind of National 4-H's home kind of for that conference. So they send them there to be delegates and we kind of get to experience a lot of speakers and we get to just have a good week about in Atlanta and it's a lot fun. We also get to do community service and make an impact on the community while we're there.
Juravich: Now it sounds like 4-H keeps you really busy. Do you have other extracurriculars you're involved in with your school or anything like that?
Wilhelmy: So, I'm involved in FFA, NHS.
Juravich: Okay, Future Farmers America Honor Society. Yeah, National Honor Society, sorry. Okay, yeah.
Wilhelmy: I'm involved in quite a couple of different things through my school, but 4-H is probably one of my favorites.
Juravich: Yeah, and so I know you're heading into your junior year of high school and you're 16. So I don't want to ask you to pick your dreams right now, but do you know what you want to pursue in the future? Do you have big plans?
Wilhelmy: Mmm.
Juravich: No, that's okay. You don't have to know what you want to do. But do you think 4-H will influence maybe a future career choice at all? Okay. Yes. Well, this is Fascinating Ohio, the teen edition of All Sides. And we have been talking with Ohio's 4-h teen of the year, Sadie Wilhelmi. Thank you so much for joining us today, Sad. Thank you for having me. And coming up, we're going to talk to two teen performers who are also theater interns at Short North Stage. That is when Fascinating, Ohio from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides and WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. And this week we have the teen edition of Fascinating, Ohio. We are introducing you to four teenagers doing amazing things. And joining us now are two students that are short north stage interns.
First, we have Michael Broadhurst who is 16 years old and going into his third year as an intern. Welcome, Michael. There. And then we also have 17-year-old Kyle Meadows who is entering his second year as an intern and has been nominated twice for best actor in a leading role for the Kappa Marquis Awards. Welcome to all sides, Kyle. Hello. So for each of you, Michael, we'll start with you. What does your role entail as a Short North Stage intern? What are like some routine tasks you do?
Michael Broadhurst: Yeah, so it's a lot of helping run things around the theater. We usher a lot. We help strike and moving set pieces to keep things moving. It's also a lot on stage work. We get opportunities to be in the shows and also work tech, work backstage. A lot of running things.
Juravich: Yeah, Kyle, what do you want, like, to add anything besides what Michael said, anything else you do?
Kyle Meadows: Honestly, I mean, we do the same thing. Usher get to help like backstage with certain things, be on spotlight or backstage helping move props around and just getting shows set.
Juravich: Do you have a favorite part of what you do?
Meadows: The performing aspect, just auditioning and performing, yeah.
Juravich: All right, we'll get to more for performing. But Michael, you're in going into your third year as an intern. So you must really love this internship.
Broadhurst: Absolutely, it's been such a great learning opportunity because we get to work with people from like all around you know, we'll bring in people from New York and it's so great to like get to see how things run and Apply that to how I want to be an actor as well
Juravich: Yeah. Okay. And so how did you get connected with the Short North stage? Like how did, you know, that this is a place to intern?
Broadhurst: Yeah, so I heard about it from through like friends of mine who also do lots of theater. And obviously we'd seen shows there and the quality is so amazing. So we were like, oh, this would be such a great thing to join to maybe get more experience. Looks good on a resume.
Juravich: Yeah. Okay. And Kyle, is it just a summer position that you have with shortener stays or you stay with them longer?
Meadows: All year round, kind of, just helping out when I can.
Juravich: Okay, and how did you find out that Shorten our stage has an internship?
Meadows: Our director at high school at Eastmore Academy reached out to us, a group of us, about auditioning for The Wiz their last season and after that we just got accepted into that show and just became interns after that.
Juravich: You're just part of the family. Yeah, OK, I got it. Kyle, you have been nominated as best actor in a leading role for two years in a row for the Kappa Marquis Awards. That's the high school awards that Kappa does. The first one was for Hades in Hadestown, the teen edition. And then you were also Benny in In the Heights. How does it feel to get recognized for those roles?
Meadows: Honestly, a hint of appreciation, because in the arts, you know, typically you kind of get overlooked just a little bit, especially like coming from like my community, you know, typically people want to focus on sports. And so it just, it feels nice to be appreciated for some of the hard work that you get to do.
Juravich: And Michael, what about you? What's your favorite aspect of the theater? What do you like to do?
Broadhurst: Yeah, well, I love telling a story, but I also love just being able to make something that people can enjoy. I love to make people laugh. It's my favorite thing to leave the theater and over here or see people talking about how they thought some part of the show was really funny or that they really connected with it and just seeing the smiles on their faces and giving something back to the community that they can enjoy
Juravich: Yeah. So I just mentioned that Kyle was in Hadestown and in the Heights. So what about you? What are some of your favorite roles? It can be, you know, with short north stage or in school or wherever.
Broadhurst: Yeah, so I just, with The Short North, we were in the intern cast of Spelling Bee and I was Chip Tolentino and that was super fun. It's a really fun show, some guest opportunities to be on the stage as well and a really funny show. I also did Frank Abagnale Jr. And "Catch Me If You Can," which is high, belty, super fun and I don't know, it was just a lot of fun.
Juravich: Yeah. So Kyle, I mentioned Hadestown and in the Heights. Are those your favorite roles or do you have other roles you'd like to?
Meadows: Honestly, my favorite role probably would be Mitch Mahoney in Spelling Bee that we recently just did. And then it would be Benny.
Juravich: Okay, that's in spelling bee, that that's a play with a longer title. What's the actual
Broadhurst: The Putnam County, something, something. Yeah, the "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Okay.
Juravich: Okay, so at shortner stage, they perform. This is something shortner stage did recently. Yeah. Okay. And and you both got to be in it. You called it the intern cast was everyone an intern or they had other actors to
Broadhurst: Yeah, so there was the main cast and that was all like an adult professional cast and then in order to give us some opportunities we had an intern cast and also an intern understudy cast and we got two performances to run the show exactly how the professional would.
Juravich: Oh, wow. Okay. So it was like basically they were doing the show and then you were doing like you were doing the show as well. Okay. Is that something that is frequent? Do you know if the shortener stage always does that have an intern cast?
Broadhurst: No, it was pretty new. I think this was the first time we've done it, but it was really neat to kind of get to watch and learn and then get to replicate it with our own little twist.
Juravich: Yeah, Kyle, did it go well? Do you think a short north stage will let you guys do it again?
Meadows: Possibly, I could see it happening again in the future. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was really fun. It just, it really tests you as an actor and as a performer in general, but it was a really fun experience. So hopefully they'll let us do it again.
Juravich: What was the difference like of being on the Short North stage versus being on like the Eastmore Academy stage?
Meadows: Well, one, you're surrounded by professionals. It's not high schoolers who are doing this for fun. Everyone there is doing it for fun and for their living. So it's just, you get to get more experience, more information about doing this as a career. So I just think it's more informational than doing it on high school.
Juravich: Yeah, Michael, so Kyle's basically saying it's more serious, right? Than I mean, not that high school musicals aren't serious because we've all seen high school musical it's taken very seriously. But what would you agree with that? The professional aspect is good.
Broadhurst: Yeah. Again, it's great to see and learn from all the professionals. Things move faster. We get maybe about two weeks and a half to put together a show instead of like a month or two. Tech Week moves fast. It's a really great way to see how it moves, especially in more professional productions, regional, Broadway, Off-Broadway. Yeah, it's great.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio, the Teen edition from all sides on 89.7 NPR News. And we're talking to two Short North Stage interns, Kyle Meadows and Michael Broadhurst. So tell me more about Short North stage for someone who's listening right now, who's never been there. What's the venue like? Either of you could take that.
Broadhurst: Yeah, it's a little smaller, but it still seats quite a few people. But it's really neat because it's very intimate. You feel like you can really connect with the people on the stage. It definitely presents a way to immerse yourself in the production and also still have that like great quality of a show.
Juravich: Yeah, Kyle, do you want to add anything? I know the audience is closer, I've heard that, yeah.
Meadows: It's kind of like a family from the audience point of view and on stage point of view because even as a cast you get to connect with each other in such a fast time and then with the audience it's just like we have so many supporters who come back frequently so you get see a lot of familiar faces in the audience which for some performers can like ease your state of mind when you're on stage but it's like a little family and it's just really niche.
Juravich: What show are you helping with right now?
Broadhurst: Um, well currently we, there's a little break, we're doing some renovations to the theater, which should be really, really nice and make it even nicer. But the next show that's coming up is, is "Pippin," and that should be a really fun show.
Juravich: Are you gonna be still with them to help with Pippin?
Broadhurst: Yeah, so I believe, I don't know if we've already moved in set pieces, but we'll probably need to help out with that if we haven't. And then I'm also as a part of the ensemble in the show, I'll get to do some magic, some dancing. It'll be lots of fun.
Juravich: And Kyle, what's your role? Do you have a role in Pippin too? I do not. You do not? Are you helping, are you gonna help with Pippen?
Meadows: I definitely can.
Juravich: Okay, you're like, I'm available. Are you helping with the renovations? Do interns help with the renovation?
Broadhurst: Not with the renovations.
Juravich: Okay, this is like professional builder people. Okay, I got it. Well, can each of you tell me a favorite thing about being with The Short North Stage, maybe a favorite show that you've worked on, besides Spelling Bee, because I know you both said you got to be in it, so you love that. So besides that, just something that you helped on, maybe, you know, helped with sound or spotlight or set pieces, what's been your favorite.
Broadhurst: Yeah, well, I love ushering. It's a requirement as an intern to usher for all the shows. And it not only gives us a chance to see the show, but we also get to kind of work for the theater and see how that would work just on an outside perspective from being inside the theater.
Juravich: Okay, and Kyle, what about you? Favorite thing, besides being in a show, maybe.
Meadows: I got to do like crew for The Wiz and I was on Spotlight and then I was also backstage and that was just really fun getting to be on the backstage side of things of being a performer. So it was just a really fun get like to still connect with the cast but also be a part of like building the set making sure props are where they need to be having the spotlight follow the character through a certain scene and it just it immerses you into the way, which is very beautiful.
Juravich: I know you both like to perform, that's obvious. You like that, but what is it like to learn some of the behind the scenes elements? I think that's probably important for a performer. What do you think, Michael?
Broadhurst: Yeah, I am still dabbling in it. I would still like to do more, but it's been really neat to work backstage, run the show, because it's really the hidden magic of it all. I think the crew is definitely responsible for running the show. Keeping it moving. And, you know, it. Deserves a lot more credit than it usually gets. And it's been neat to see different aspects, like spotlight, like lighting, sound design. And I personally love to do a lot with it.
Juravich: And is it just the two of you, or is there a big group of interns? Oh, there's...
Broadhurst: 50, I think, yeah. 50?
Juravich: Wow. All right. And is it for the experience or are they paid internships?
Broadhurst: Um, it is for the experience.
Juravich: That's fine, that's fine. Now, do you have instructors or mentors? Like, who is in charge? I can't imagine wrangling 50 interns. Who's in charge of that?
Broadhurst: Yeah. Well, we recently got leadership positions within the internship. Oh, you're wrangling yourselves. Yeah, we can wrangle ourselves, but we do have like a head, Dianysha Williams Velasco. She is the head of the interns and she'll put together stuff, runs our showcase and stuff.
Juravich: Okay, and are you helping Wrangle interns too?
Broadhurst: Or not.
Juravich: You're being wrangled. Yeah, I'm being wrangled. All right. And do you hope to stay involved with the Short North Stage, or is this because you're on your third year. So I'm guessing the answer is yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Are you hoping to do more with the short north stage?
Meadows: I do hope to do more with a certain stage. I'm going to college soon, this is my rising senior, so hopefully even after senior year and after college I get to come back.
Juravich: Okay, well, that's my next question. So you're a rising senior. Yes. Do you know what you wanna be when you grow up?
Meadows: Broadway performer. Yep. And, you know, when I settled down from performing, teach music, vocal pedagogy and such.
Juravich: Okay, do you have a plan of where you want to go to school maybe?
Meadows: Honestly, wherever the dream school probably Cincinnati School of Berkeley School of Music NYU, Carnegie Mellon, but honestly, wherever, wherever the money comes in, I think is where I'm going to go.
Juravich: What about you, Michael?
Broadhurst: Yeah, well, I am a rising junior, so I still have a little more time to think about it. I'd love pretty much any of the same places, but also, like, Bob and Wallace as well. It's definitely a dream school.
Juravich: And we established that you are doing shows at Eastmore Academy and you said you're a student at Fort Hayes, right? Okay, and Michael, what about you? I'm sorry, we didn't establish that. Yeah, no.
Broadhurst: Yeah, no, I go to Hillier-Davidson and I'll do the shows there too. I'm trying to do more and more now as the season goes on. We still haven't found out our shows yet, but hopefully soon we can get those and we'll We'll also soon be able to compete for the Kappa Marquee Awards, which should be fun.
Juravich: And you, what were you in for Hillier-Davidson last year? What was the show? That was Catch Me If You Can, where I was friends with Junior. Oh, that's where you did, okay, got it. I wasn't sure which ones were short on stage. Okay, and do you have any other extracurriculars that you do or is it all theater focused?
Broadhurst: For me, mostly it's theater and music focused. I love dancing, especially tap dance, but I also play the French horn. I sing with our acapella group, beatbox a little bit, a whole lot of music stuff.
Juravich: Yeah, Kyle, do you do anything or all musicals and plays?
Meadows: I'm currently in a local band we call ourselves Mixed, and it just consists of seven of us, so it's like an R&B soul.
Juravich: Are you a singer in it?
Meadows: Yes, I'm one of the lead vocalists, there's three of us, and we currently have our next gig August 27th at the Columbus Commons behind the Ohio Theater, so.
Juravich: Oh, good plug. There you go. Good job. And do you plan to stick with, you know, just focusing in musicals plays? Is that like the main focus for your extracurricular time? Tell me more about what it's like to be a part of a bigger theater. So we're talking about, you know you're both in high school musicals but then moving to the short north stage. Does it feel You said it feels more professional. Talk to me about that professionalism.
Broadhurst: Yeah, well, it's definitely different because again, everything moves faster. But most of it does come with working with people who do this for a living, who really like analyze the work and can use their free time to study the materials, you know, really work through their characters. I think it adds another level to the character and the show, and that's really what makes it super professional.
Juravich: And you mentioned you're you're in your third year working with short north stage, but you said you're a rising junior So does that mean you started in the eighth grade?
Broadhurst: Um, no, I started my freshman year, I think I'm going into my...
Juravich: Third, okay. Okay.
Broadhurst: Going into my third year.
Juravich: Yeah, it depends on how you how you look at it, right? And you were you were talking about set pieces. And Kyle, do you do you help make set pieces? No, no. Oh, no, no So where does the shortness stage get all their set pieces, do they buy them or does other people make them? Do you know?
Broadhurst: I'm pretty sure we have a contractor that, we don't usually put them together. We'll help load them into the theater, but we'll let the professionals handle that stuff for us.
Juravich: Um, so tell me if someone's listening right now, what would you do to plug them seeing a show at the shortener stage? Because when people think about seeing a musical and that kind of thing, they probably think of like Broadway and Columbus. Um, what tell, tell them why they should come to the shortner stage.
Broadhurst: Yeah, well, it really does sometimes, and most of the time run like Broadway. The set is usually really beautiful with lots of technical lighting aspects, but we will hire people who work professionally from New York City and from all around to help with our shows and work in our shows. We've had some people who have been on Broadway before. So it really. Runs and feels like a Broadway show in a more, in a smaller, more intimate theater.
Juravich: All right, and Kyle, do you want to plug Shorten our stage more or do you want to tell them to try out seeing high school theater too? Hey.
Meadows: Go see any theater, support the arts, but go see Pippin as well.
Juravich: Go see Pippin as well. All right, and so that's the next upcoming show you mentioned is Pippen, right? Okay, this is Fascinating Ohio, the Teen Edition on all sides. And we've been talking to two of the Short North Stages interns, Kyle Meadows, thanks for being here, Kyle. Of course. And Michael Broadhurst, thanks for joining us, Michael.
Broadhurst: I'm so happy to be here.
Juravich: And coming up, we're gonna talk to a 19 year old who loves the bagpipes. That is when Fascinating Ohio, the Teen Edition from all sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All s sides in WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye state with an interesting story to tell. This week we have the teen edition of Fascinating, Ohio. We're introducing you to four teenagers doing amazing things. And joining us now is 19-year-old Brody Alexander who loves to play the bagpipes at local community events around Columbus. He also has a social media presence. He's known as Brody the Bagpiper, and he posts his performances. Welcome to All Sides Brody.
Brody Alexander: Thank you so much. This is such an honor.
Juravich: So, when did you learn, like, when did you start playing the bagpipes? When did you pick them up for the first time?
Alexander: I was seven years old.
Juravich: How, seven years old, so how did you discover, like how does a seven year old think to pick up a bagpipe? So.
Alexander: I had this vision before I even was seven years old. When I was growing up I heard the bagpipes constantly at this organization called Honor Flight Columbus and they're always at John Glenn International and they have, they fly out veterans to go see their different monuments and memorials and then they come back that same day and when they come there's a big welcome home and family and friends come from all over to come see their family. And there was always a bagpiper there, and when I heard that for the first time, and constantly hearing it, it just made me feel like I need to play this instrument. This instrument is too beautiful. It is touching me, and I've always loved music, but this instrument, it hit me like no other instrument has ever hit me, so I knew that I needed to play it.
Juravich: Wow. Do you live near there? Is that how you heard it? Or were you wandering around and came upon bagpipes?
Alexander: So I have a lot of family in the military. So I've a big appreciation for veterans and everything. So I would always just be there in my great grandfather's, you know, World War II hat.
Juravich: Oh, because I just.
Alexander: I love, you know, shaking the veterans' hands, saluting the veterans.
Juravich: So I'm picturing little seven-year-old Brody in a woman. No, no, no. Okay, no?
Alexander: Like one or two, like one or two. I think baby. Bernie, thank you, baby.
Juravich: Baby Brody, baby Brody in a World War II hat, waving to veterans, is that what you're doing? All right, and then so you heard the bagpipes. How did you learn? Did you have an instructor?
Alexander: So, I went to Central College Christian Academy for elementary school, and there was a sign up that said, free bagpipe youth lessons. And when I saw that...
Juravich: What are the chances?
Alexander: I know. When I saw that I knew I needed to play it.
Juravich: Okay, so who your first instructor was just someone at your school or with the sign just they put up the sign at your
Alexander: They put up the sign at my school. It wasn't a part of my school, it was just after hours, after our event. And his name is Glenn Mackie, that's who taught me. Okay. And he still teaches me today.
Juravich: Um, and did you have to, did he like loan you a bagpipe or did you buy your first one? Like how does one acquire bagpipes?
Alexander: You don't start right on the bagpipes you start on a practice trainer because the fingering and The blowing for it is just it's too difficult to just hop right onto the bagpipe so you hop on this thing called a practice channel and you learn on there and then you can graduate to the bag pipes and When I did get back pipes, I just bought them from him
Juravich: Okay, so you bought them from him. How old were you when you bought your first, your very own?
Alexander: Like nine or 10.
Juravich: Nine or 10, wow, okay. Now, you know the bagpipe is not a common instrument. Did you ever think to switch to a different instrument, one more common?
Alexander: I play six other instruments.
Juravich: Oh, what are those?
Alexander: I play violin, guitar, piano, trumpet, all percussion. I've, and then I've learned other instruments, but I didn't take lessons for them, so I don't really, you know, mention them. But I've learnt countless other instruments as well.
Juravich: You're like a one-man band. Yes. Yes, all right, but you've decided to focus in on the bagpipes When did you start playing for events? When did your discover? Hey, I can like I can play this at places for people
Alexander: 10 years old, as soon as I got my bagpipes. As soon as they got my backpipes, I got asked to play for my band teacher, not my bagpipe band, but my band from elementary school. His funeral, it was such a hard thing to do.
Juravich: Oh, wow.
Alexander: Because I was crying and it was so sudden his death was so suddenly but You know, I stood in the chapel and I played Amazing Grace and then the next event was when the Westville police officers got shot and killed, Westville officer Morelli and officer Joring. Yeah. And my family knew them and they were really close with them and I was close with and I loved them. And I went to the police station that night and played Amazing grace outside of the police station the night that they passed away. My mom posted on Facebook and it got over 100,000 views. So I got invited to the candlelight vigil. And then the funeral, and then, you know, news stations and stuff.
Juravich: Wow. Okay. So I mean, this, I mean you, this is some pretty serious reasons of playing the bagpipes. Yeah, that's very heavy and you just jumped right into it. Did you, did you learn how to play amazing grace? Is that one of the first pieces you learned? Is that a traditional bagpipe song?
Alexander: It wasn't the first tune that I learned, but it was the tune that knew I needed to learn when I was on the chanter, when I 8, 9, 7. I knew I need to learn Amazing Grace and I knew that I wanted to learn it, so I just asked my instructor, can we learn this? And then he just gave it to me and we learned it and I fell in love with the tune because it's such a beautiful tune.
Juravich: Definitely. So you recently played at Pickering Tins America 250 celebration and we do have a bit of that performance. Let's listen. So there you're obviously playing the national anthem. Do you get asked to do that a lot?
Alexander: So I just recently started playing it. My first time playing it was at the OHSAA Boys State Championship Basketball at UD Arena. That was my first time asked to play it in public. And I learned it just from listening to a YouTube video because it's not a traditional bagpipe song. And that's what I do with, you know, tunes that aren't traditionally played on the bagpipes. I just go to. YouTube or Apple music, and I just listen to it, and I figure out what they're playing, and just play it. I like to learn a lot of tunes by ear.
Juravich: So you said that there, so it's not a traditional bagpipe song. Like what's, what's a traditional bags pipe song? Amazing Grace is one.
Alexander: Amazing Grace can be on a lot of different things, right? So, Scotland the Brave, Flower of Scotland, Highland Cathedral, all those different Scottish and Irish tunes are traditional bagpipe tunes, but something like, let me give you an example. I play Don't Stop Believing. I play God Bless America, America the Beautiful. I play Carmen Ohio. All these different tunes, they're not bagpipe tones. I just heard them. You know. Heard someone playing them on the bagpipes on a video and then I just figured it out and that's really what I love to do. I love figure out different tunes that aren't traditionally played on the backpipes. You know, cause people don't know that there's more tunes on the Bagpipes than just Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace. People think those are the only tunes on bagpipes, but there's seriously so many more.
Juravich: And some maybe that you have transposed and made into a bagpipe song. Like, don't stop believing. I can't imagine the lot of bagpipers know how to do that one.
Alexander: Not a lot of them, but I've seen some but not a lot of them I really rarely hear those tunes played on the back pipe.
Juravich: And we've gotten this far without mentioning that when you perform, you usually wear a kilt too. Why is that?
Alexander: It's tradition Scottish tradition and I always want to represent my band everywhere. I go capital city pipes and drums That is my band I plan. We're going to Scotland next month for the pipe band world championships
Juravich: Wow. Okay. I'm assuming that's a competition.
Alexander: It's like the biggest competition that you could really go to.
Juravich: How many people are in this band?
Alexander: So it's so many people in the band that we have to split it in two. We have a grade four band, we have a great five band, the grade four probably has 13 to 14 bagpipers. And then. Five snare drums, and then two or three tenors, and then a bass drum, so it's a lot of people.
Juravich: Yeah, I didn't realize there was such a bag piping community in central Ohio. So it's not.
Alexander: I mean, there's a little bagpipe community, but I feel like it could be a lot bigger. That's what I wanna do. I wanna inspire people to pick up the bagpipes, influence them, and make the community so much bigger than it is right now. Because it has a nice size, but I've seen different states, different cities that have huge ones, especially in United States, but not often in the United States.
Juravich: Okay.
Alexander: That's what I want to do. I want bring it more into the United States.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio, the teen edition from all sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking to 19-year-old Brody the Bagpiper, Brody Alexander. Um, do you know much about the tradition behind playing the bagpipes? Have you like studied up on Scottish tradition?
Alexander: I need I need to study study a lot more I need a city a lot more because there's so many things that I do not know. But I'm for sure going to do that especially after I go to Scotland I'm going to learn so much there and then after I'm gonna want to learn to so much more but I want to learn more now.
Juravich: Okay, I won't quiz you on any Scottish history right now. Please, thank you. But whenever you perform for a big crowd, because I've seen some videos you perform for some big audiences, are you nervous at all?
Alexander: I've never been nervous a day in my life, and...
Juravich: How do you? Just teach me that.
Alexander: The reason is just because I was built for this, I was born for this and I've been performing in front of big crowds my whole life. Since I played other instruments, I would have recitals and I would get asked to play in the chapel at school in front all the people in the school and their families, doing solos, doing band performances or orchestra performances. I've just always been a performer and I will always be a performer and I never get nervous just because. I never got nervous during sports either. That's something that I always would see different with me and my peers. They would always be like, oh I'm so scared, I'm just so nervous and I'm like, I am ready. I'm ready, let's see what we got.
Juravich: Yeah, which sport do you do? What sports did you play?
Alexander: Basketball, baseball, football, soccer. So I was a very busy young boy.
Juravich: Yeah, I can see that. Do you still play any sports or are you just bagpipe focused now?
Alexander: So after sophomore year of high school, I decided to, you know, cut things down and just focus on the bagpipes because because my love for the bag pipes is so big and my love for the other things are big as well. But I just had a feeling that the bag pipes can take me to a really far place in life where, you know, in the future, I'm going to be going on world tours and just traveling all over.
Juravich: Yeah, let's pivot back to this world championship thing again. So you're going to next month, you're going to go to Scotland with a group of people and what's going to happen there.
Alexander: So we're gonna be there for around nine days, at least nine days. And we're going to be practicing every day, go in and go see some sites in our free time. And then the Saturday before we leave is the day of the competition. And there's over 200 different bands there from all around the world. And then we're to compete against them. And a competition goes like, You have some tunes. Put together that a band organizes and... You step up to the line and then you guys, the pipe major taps off the tempo and then he says by the right quick march and then the drums start and then you start marching and then at the point you just blow up the pipes and then you start playing and you walk into, walk in a form and then form into a circle and then, you play the tunes, you finish the tunes and then Thank you. Get out of the circle and form back up and then you walk out.
Juravich: Do you get to pick what song you play or do they tell you?
Alexander: The band does the band gets to pick
Juravich: And so, okay, well, good luck at that competition, first of all. Thank you. And then I wanted to pivot. You have a significant social media following. You're known as Brody the Bagpiper. What made you decide to start posting on social media?
Alexander: I just have a really big love for it. I love showing my bagpipes to different audiences. That's one of my favorite things to do. That's why I go out and play everywhere I possibly can because I want to introduce people to the bagpipes and social media is a great way to do that. And I've had a lot of people tell me that, oh, now they want to pick up the bag pipes because they've seen my videos and that really makes my heart warm. It really makes me heart warm and posting on social media, I should have been doing it a long time ago, But... Ever since my mom posted that video on Facebook, I knew what could happen. I knew all the different opportunities that could come from just posting one video. So my mom's always been posting videos of me on social media, but then it got to a point where I wanted to post my own. So it's not just on her Facebook, not just her account.
Juravich: Control your own destiny.
Alexander: Yes, so then I just took over and I started getting consistent and then some videos started to get bigger than the others and then the fan base just started growing and somehow I have a really big fan base in Scotland so I'm excited to go there.
Juravich: And some of your videos are kind of like prank style. Are you trying to just, do you do that to expose the bagpipes because they're a pretty bizarre instrument? Like, tell me about those.
Alexander: I'm just always thinking of different things. I'm a very creative person, so I just always have all these different ideas in my mind, and there's a lot of videos that don't get posted. I have thousands and thousands of videos. You gotta edit.
Juravich: You got to add it yourself yet
Alexander: Thousands of thousands that don't get posted just because there's so many different things that happen To the react like the reactions of the bagpipes are different than anything. I've really ever seen in my life I haven't really seen other people that are just walking on the street big content creators getting reactions that the bag pipes do just because The sound of the back pipes and the way that it makes you feel it makes You start going crazy sometimes it depends on your personality and how you are But it just makes you going it makes me start going. Crazy
Juravich: Do you have any favorite events that you've played at so far? I mean, I know you mentioned the emotion of the funerals, but maybe something else that was one of your favorites.
Alexander: Last summer I played on top of the National Veterans Museum and Memorial Right before the fireworks a red white and boom and I had an NBC four feature Interview right before it cut over to me playing and that was just a very It was a very monumental Moment for me and then I also have another moment where I actually got to fly with honor flight To go to DC with them And I got to meet all the veterans, I got to shake all of their hands, I got to hear about their stories, and then I got the play bagpipes at every single stop that they took except for the Arlington Cemetery.
Juravich: Wow. Those are both amazing experiences.
Alexander: Powerful and I have many more but you know I could keep talking about this for hours
Juravich: Well, and I'm sure that like, I mean, I do have like a video crew that comes with you. How can you you get video of all of this when you're playing? You can't hold a phone when you ever you're doing exactly. I don't.
Alexander: Exactly, exactly. I don't always have a video crew with me, but you know very soon it's just gonna start being you know a video photographer all these people are gonna be with me because of so so many things just Happen when I go out and play so I need to have that just so I can get it down and Get it in footage so I could post it and have it.
Juravich: Well, good luck at the World Championship. And thank you for coming in. This has been Fascinating Ohio, the Teen Edition from All Sides, and we've been talking with Brody the Bagpiper. Thanks for joining us today.
Alexander: It was such an honor. Thank you so much.
Juravich: And you've been listening to all sides in Fascinating Ohio on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich. Thanks for joining us.