Debuting Artist: Tiernan Troyer

Prior to Big Fish, I was working on my degrees in Theatre and Music at CSU! Last November I played Chip in our production of Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was an insanely fun experience. As of December 2023, I’m now freshly graduated, and I’m excited I get to work on Big Fish at OpenStage so soon after getting out of school!

Well, I love music— especially punk, indie, and alternative rock in most of its forms— so I spend a lot of time writing and playing and listening to that (my favorite band right now is Skating Polly). I also play a lot of video games, usually single-player story-based games like Baldur’s Gate and The Last of Us.

I heard about OpenStage through Noah! He and I worked on a lot of shows together during my time at CSU, and he always sent out notices about shows and auditions happening here.

It’s gotta be “Time Stops.” Maybe it’s a little sentimental, but I just love the trope of witnessing the love of your life and feeling the entire world melt away around you. Plus, since we already know how things turn out for Edward, we know that he means every word he says— he’s going to marry Sandra, and the two of them are going to stay together until the very end. It’s really, really sweet.

So far, it’s been the Alabama Stomp. I’d consider myself more of a “mover” than a “dancer,” as it were… so I’ve definitely spent a lot of extra time in my garage practicing choreography. But once I get it down, there’s no denying how much fun it is!

Big Fish is about dreaming, it’s about empathy, and it’s about learning to see the people you love for who they truly are. I think the show succeeds in a big way at reminding us that it’s the people we know that make life worth the living. If we learn to love each other not despite our differences, but because of them— then our relationships become based in true understanding and an appreciation of what makes a person uniquely themself, thus allowing us to live in each other’s hearts in more fulfilling and authentic ways. And also… maybe we could all stand to romanticize life a little more.

Tough one! I really enjoyed playing Melchior in Spring Awakening a couple years ago, but I also had a strong personal attachment to the role of Johnny in a production of American Idiot back in 2019.

Well, my dream is to move to LA and audition for films and write music out there! I’m currently collaborating on a recital at CSU with one of my former music professors, and I’m also acting in a short student-directed horror film. My dream roles would naturally be Pierre or Anatole from Great Comet of 1812.