THE FRIDAY FIVE: Austin Ryan Hunt of Nashville Shakes' TWELFTH NIGHT

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to BroadwayWorld Nashville's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find onstage throughout the Volunteer state. This week the spotlight shines on Austin Ryan Hunt, who not only just started the final semester of his senior year at Lipscomb University, but was also among the opening night cast for Nashville Shakespeare Festival's winter season offering of Twelfth Night.

His resume includes a wealth of roles for the Lipscomb Department of Theatre (LDoT), most recently in West Side Story, which followed roles in such diverse musicals as Hairspray, Les Miserables and The Pajama Game.

Twelfth Night, directed by Denice Hicks (NSF's award-winning artistic director), runs through January 25 at Belmont University's Troutt Theater and will complete its 2015 run at Lipscomb University's Collins Auditorium on January 30 and 31. In addition to playing Curio, Austin also choreographed the production, which features original music composed by Rolin Mains.

Get to know more about Austin Hunt, then make reservations (and be quick about it) to catch him in Twelfth Night...

What was your first "live onstage" taste of theater? I actually started performing onstage before I had ever seen a live performance. For my 13th birthday my mom finally bought me tickets to see Wicked in Chicago. It was so magical. I remember sitting in my seat during intermission thinking how cool it would be to be able to perform for a living.

What is your favorite pre-show ritual? A double shot of espresso followed by a power nap. Just as I'm waking up the caffeine kicks in and I'm ready to go!

What's your most memorable "the show must go on" moment? Oh, heavens. I performed as the featured dancer in a 30-minute country review show this summer at Hershey Park. We had a cast of six singers and two dancers. One day we were already down one cast member and my dance partner got sick five minutes before places. We didn't have time to re-block the entire show so my dance captain just looked at me and said, "Choose your own adventure! Make the formations pretty! Good luck!" I ran around for 30 minutes jumping in and out of numbers, covering tracks I had never rehearsed, performing impromptu solos in place of my partner work. It was so much fun! And getting through that show as a cast was so rewarding.

What's your dream role? Well, playing Riff this past fall was definitely a dream come true. I could do that show for the rest of my life and be completely content. But Newsies is currently the show I'm sick about. I know deep in my soul that I was born for that show. The story, the music, the dancing...I will be in it someday.

Who's your theatrical crush? How about two? Cause nobody could watch Patina Miller dance through Pippin and not be attracted to her. She's a true performer. But really Mairi Dorman has my heart. She's the cellist from The Bridges of Madison County cast recording. I really love cello.

pictured at top (left to right): Austin Ryan Hunt, Antonio P. Nappo and Daniel Mark Collins

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