When Nicky Wood walks onto the stage at the CFE Arena to collect his degree on Friday, he may be one of the few ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ graduates who wonβt be nervous.
Wood, a 20-year-old theatre studies major, is more at home on stage than anywhere. And after commencement, heβll move straight into a busy professional life in theater.
βIβm coming straight out of college and going into a professional theater as a choreographer, which is fantastic,β Wood said. βMy full-time job for the past 15 or 16 years has been school. As excited as I am to move on to the next step, I had that moment of realization that Iβm changing gears and moving on to the next part of life. It is bittersweet β I have loved it here.β
For Wood, it was clear that his path to professional theater included ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½. At a statewide thespian competition, he talked with college theater program representatives. He fell in love with ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ and didnβt apply to any other university.
But ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ needed a little convincing. Wood said he was told his SAT scores made him a poor candidate for admittance. So he reapplied until he was admitted.
βWhen somebody tells me I canβt do something, I take that as a personal challenge,β he said.
He excelled at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ and is expected to graduate magna cum laude. Along the way, he has been involved with five Theatre ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ productions: The Music Man, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Arcadia, Nine and, most recently, as assistant director and choreographer of Hair.
Outside ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½, heβs performed with professional theater groups and in community theater, on board a Norwegian cruise ship, done some voiceover work and appeared on the television show Burn Notice.
Wood has been hired by Starstruck Academy and Theatre in Stuart, where heβll be resident choreographer for the professional theatre group. Heβll also serve as the interim director of dance in the childrenβs academy, teaching students jazz and ballet.
At the same time, Wood produces, directs and sometimes stars in his own shows. He has a Gershwin revue opening New Yearβs Day at the Barn Theatre in Stuart.
At ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½, Wood minored in event management through the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, and wrote an Honors in the Major thesis through the Burnett Honors College. He has plenty of drive and perseverance, but credits ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ and his professor and mentor, Theatre ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ artistic director Earl Weaver, with helping him grow.
βOne thing I like about ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½βs theatre program is the impactful relationships you can create, the mentorships you can develop between professors and students,β Wood said. βAs large as ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ is, the community is so tight and the support is so strong, 60,000 turns into 60.β