{"id":1357,"date":"2018-04-26T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T19:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2018-04-26T16:45:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T20:45:04","slug":"anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Anissa<\/a>

Anissa Felix ’13 is appearing in the recently opened musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical<\/em> on Broadway. Photo by Geoff Greene ’04.<\/p><\/div>\n

An<\/b><\/span>issa Felix \u201913<\/b> knew New York. Her parents had grown up there. Her grandmother still lived there. She was 9 the first time she watched a Broadway show. A few years later, she was learning to navigate the city.<\/p>\n

But it was not until she traveled there as a UMW student for a 10-day marathon of theatre and interviews with actors that she believed she\u2019d someday end up on a Broadway stage. She did \u2013 as a swing in Motown: The Musical<\/i> \u2013 less than two years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a college student, Felix had traveled to the city as part of an extraordinary UMW course that has connected theatre students with New York theatre professionals since 1994. It was during that class\u2019s 2012 spring break trip that Felix met Natalie Joy Johnson \u201900<\/b>, who\u2019d climbed her way from Klein Theatre to Broadway. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome kids dream of being astronauts and the president. My dream was to be an actor,\u201d said Felix, who grew up in Manassas, Virginia. That ambition was as old as her memory; before she was performing in her kindergarten talent show, she was dancing on her family\u2019s hearth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson was proof that it was possible. \u201cSomebody who went to my school, who walked on the same campus \u2013 that to me was amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Felix is among the UMW theatre alumni on Broadway. After Motown <\/i>came Sunset Boulevard<\/i>. She was deep in rehearsals for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical <\/i>when she sat down with the latest Ideas in Performance class visiting New York in March. Summer<\/i> opened in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

Felix moved to the city two days after she collected her theatre degree from UMW. She\u2019d gotten into every university she\u2019d applied to, but she chose Mary Washington for its inclusive and comprehensive theatre program. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so welcome. I felt like the program was small enough so I\u2019d be able to get a lot of individualized attention.
\nIt was intimate enough where the professors knew your name,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she didn\u2019t have to wait until her junior year to act in a theatre production. That wasn\u2019t the case at other universities. \u201cI wanted to do it now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Which also is why she moved to New York nearly as soon as commencement was over. She got a job to pay the bills \u2013 working as a personal assistant to an actor. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe introduced me to a ton of directors when she found out I was an actor. I ended up booking my first jobs from working for them as baby sitters and assistants,\u201d Felix said. Then she got a job as a receptionist at an editing company. Her boss\u2019s wife would call and talk theatre. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLater on, I found out she was the associate director of Motown<\/i>. They had lost a swing. They were looking for an immediate replacement to cover all the female parts. She called me in to audition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And just like that, Felix landed on a Broadway stage that had once seemed so remote. During a Washington, D.C., stop on the national tour, she stepped into the role of Diana Ross. In the audience was Gregg Stull \u201982<\/b>, the theatre professor who\u2019d created the capstone course and who more than two decades later is still bringing students to New York as part of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Felix shared her story with the latest class, she thought about how recently she\u2019d been in their shoes. And how one day, they might be in hers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anissa Felix \u201913 knew New York. Her parents had grown up there. Her grandmother still lived there. She was 9 the first time she watched a Broadway show. A few years later, she was learning to navigate the city. But it was not until she traveled there as a UMW student for a 10-day marathon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15641,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"subheading":"","yoast_head":"\nAnissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage - Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anissa Felix \u201913 knew New York. Her parents had grown up there. Her grandmother still lived there. She was 9 the first time she watched a Broadway show. A few years later, she was learning to navigate the city. But it was not until she traveled there as a UMW student for a 10-day marathon […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Moyer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Moyer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Moyer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\"},\"headline\":\"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\",\"name\":\"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage - Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB.jpg\",\"width\":710,\"height\":601,\"caption\":\"Anissa Felix '13 is appearing in the recently opened musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. Photo by Geoff Greene '04.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/\",\"name\":\"Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine\",\"description\":\"University of Mary Washington\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6\",\"name\":\"Laura Moyer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laura Moyer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/author\/lmoyer2umw-edu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage - Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage","og_description":"Anissa Felix \u201913 knew New York. Her parents had grown up there. Her grandmother still lived there. She was 9 the first time she watched a Broadway show. A few years later, she was learning to navigate the city. But it was not until she traveled there as a UMW student for a 10-day marathon […]","og_url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/","og_site_name":"Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine","article_published_time":"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Laura Moyer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laura Moyer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/"},"author":{"name":"Laura Moyer","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6"},"headline":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage","datePublished":"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/"},"wordCount":615,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/","url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/","name":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage - Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB-300x254.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-26T19:08:20+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-26T20:45:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/files\/2018\/04\/Anissa_inside-WEB.jpg","width":710,"height":601,"caption":"Anissa Felix '13 is appearing in the recently opened musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. Photo by Geoff Greene '04."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/uncategorized\/anissa-felix-finds-success-on-broadway-stage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Anissa Felix Finds Success on Broadway Stage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#website","url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/","name":"Spring 2018 Mary Washington Magazine","description":"University of Mary Washington","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/6fc32a9647cda31f7932d56ed07b41c6","name":"Laura Moyer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1da47a15264a4df4bd8ffeaffac7ab972f0548fd9c706af6021d671039dc1089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Laura Moyer"},"url":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/author\/lmoyer2umw-edu\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.umw.edu\/spring2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}