through senior years of high school attending classes at PTHS in the morning then precollege classes at Pittsburgh Musical Theater in the afternoon, where she studied acting, singing, voice and speech, all forms of dance, lighting, stage management, history of musical theater and more. With her day at PMT ending around 5 p. m., depending on the schedule, she would then head to her evening classes at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
After learning that she enjoyed theater more, Terza stopped going to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and began to focus solely on musical theater.“ Ms. Deliere, my PT cheerleading coach and Spanish teacher, was so supportive of me and my busy schedule from the get-go,” says Terza.“ She was always an understanding, positive energy that I looked up to.”
Terza graduated from both PTHS and PMT and continued on to Point Park University for one year, where she majored in musical theater, was given a scholarship and made the Dean’ s List. After her first year of college, Terza decided to take some time off to take the“ big plunge” and moved to New York City to pursue a career in theater.“ I made my own kind of college while in NYC by going to daily dance classes, auditions and singing lessons,” she says.
However, Terza actually credits her first“ big break” to her hometown.“ I feel like the first goal I achieved in my theater career was as a freshman at Point Park when I booked my first season with the Pittsburgh CLO,” she says.“ It’ s a fantastic company, amazing learning experience and highly regarded all over the United States. It was there that I got my equity card and became part of the actors’ union, which is not always easy— meaning I was officially a professional actor at the age of 19.”
From there, Terza’ s gone on to perform in the Broadway National Tour of“ West Side Story,” NBC’ s“ Peter Pan Live!,” Broadway’ s“ On the Town,” and most recently in Broadway’ s“ Aladdin.” She’ s worked with some of the biggest names in the industry including playwright, stage director and screenwriter Arthur Laurents, director / choreographer Rob Ashford, Allison Williams, Christopher Walken, Christian Borle, director John Rando and choreographer Josh Bergasse to name a few.
Terza performed as part of the 2016 Tony Awards as a member of“ On the Town,” which was nominated for best revival of a musical, best choreography, best direction and best leading male role.“ Aladdin” was Tony-nominated for best new musical, best book, best original score, best choreography and won for best featured actor.“ On the Town” also took Terza to perform on“ The Today Show.”
“ I obviously owe a huge thank-you and credit my success to my parents, Linda and Ray, who drove me to dance classes, singing lessons, auditions, rehearsals, paid for everything and were there every time I thought I wasn’ t good enough,” says Terza.“ They let me pursue and supported me through a dream that is one of the hardest careers to manage.”
When it comes to advice for aspiring artists, Terza has a lot to say.“ Have a great support system, whatever that means to you,” she says.“ Take any job no matter how big or small, because that’ s how you make connections. Go to every single audition no matter if you’ re right for it or not and don’ t lose your work ethic! Success is what you view as success, not someone else’ s view.”
According to Terza, success in her industry is being able to live solely on the income of a performer, which she hopes to continue to do throughout her upcoming endeavors.“ I get to dance around and play dress-up for a living,” she laughs.“ Nearly every day after I get dressed for‘ Arabian Nights’ and I’ m putting my earrings on, I smile to myself and say,‘ This is work?’ Sometimes, I can’ t believe I’ m so lucky to make money doing what I love.” n PHOTO BY TED ELY PHOTOGRAPHY
Terza strikes a pose in her " Coney Island " costume from " On The Town."
Peters Township | February / March 2017 | icmags. com 39