Singer, actor Kevin Faraci visits campus, Wallace State theatre students during Learning Communities event

HANCEVILLE, ALA. –  Singer and actor Kevin Faraci visited Wallace State recently as part of the college’s Learning Communities initiative.
Faraci, a singer for the world-famous Cirque Du Solieil shows, presented to the Learning Communities’ classes and spent additional time on campus interacting with Wallace State’s theatre students after the presentation.
Faraci, 38, encouraged each group to give one’s self as many opportunities as possible and to pursue the goals and dreams they love and care about.
Faraci, a Huntsville native, currently lives in Pennsylvania and has performed in a variety of shows as an actor and professional singer. After earning his bachelor’s degree in musical theatre — with a focus in vocal performance and acting — from Birmingham-Southern, Faraci moved to New York City and landed First National Tours of Broadway and Off-Broadway musical roles in “The Wedding Singer” and “A Stoop on Orchard Street,” while also headlining as a singer/guitarist in Manhattan’s Theatre District.
The experiences in New York City opened up an abundance of opportunities for Faraci, including abroad in Tokyo, where he performed in Cirque Du Soleil with his largest role being as the original male singer and album lead for “ZED.” The “ZED” show became the first theatrical show in Japanese history to amass 1 million in attendance.
Among other performances, Faraci has traveled globally on some of the world’s largest cruise ships and performed in professional Regional Theaters across the country. Along with Tokyo, his work in theatre allowed him to visit Samoa, Greece, Gibralter, Sydney and many other points around the globe.
In a seminar with Wallace State’s theatre students, Faraci emphasized the 10 percent rule when planning for an audition of any sort.
“When you step into the audition room, you probably only have control of about 10 percent of that process. What you do in the room in front of the casting agency or directors is the only thing you can control,” Faraci said. “I urge you to try your absolute best and seize that 10 percent.”
Faraci advised Wallace State’s theatre students to be cognizant of roles that are designed for specific ages, sizes and skill set and to not get discouraged if the students’ don’t fulfill the particular height or build of a character. Landing a role is a matter of preparation and luck, he said.
Faraci also discussed the importance of compiling a diverse song playbook, finding an actor or actress to emulate, working through distractions and finding the proper vocal coach.
“You should have up-tempo songs and ballads in your book from different genres of music. You need classical music and contemporary. Make sure you are confident in your selections, so that if a light falls down in front of you on stage, you know it well enough to continue on auto-pilot,” Faraci said. “One last thing is to find an actor, actress or singer you can identify with. Find someone you are like or have the same general skills set as and research them. They may be of similar look or carry a similar voice. Find that person and everything they’ve done.”
Faraci was a Birmingham-Southern classmate of Lauren Cantrell-Salerno, Wallace State’s Theatre Department Head.
Wallace State’s Learning Communities complements the college’s Pathways Project and each LC event corresponds to one of the four meta majors (STEM, Liberal Arts/General Studies, Applied Technologies and Health Sciences). Learning Communities events help students on their paths to success, introducing them to new ideas and experiences and assisting them with their goals.
For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu.
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