entertainment
S T A R R I N G :
A New Generation
of Performers
Montclair’s cast of home-grown actors grows bigger
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS PEDOTA
And in a town that
attracts families who
appreciate the arts, where
the schools offer endless
opportunities for students
to perform, the list is sure
to grow longer. So, which
new names will we be
repeating a decade from
now? It could be any — or
all — of these four, whose
talents were nurtured
in the Montclair public
schools.
24
BACK TO SCHOOL 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
H
ooked on acting since
After high school, she became
playing Rainbow Fish
a theater major at Northwestern
in a Nishuane School
University, joined an a capella group,
play, KC Schlossberg
and performed in musical theater
grabbed every chance
productions there. “Performing got
to build her perfor-
competitive, but people became writ-
mance skills during her time in the
ers and producers, too. If someone
Montclair schools.
didn’t get into a show, she’d do her
“At Hillside, you could take dance
own production,” she recalls.
instead of gym,” she says. “I really
Schlossberg woke up for acting
didn’t like gym, so I took dance, and
class at 8 a.m., and rehearsed dur-
I liked it.” She took African dance
ing the evening. Her diligence paid
class at Glenfield, won the lead in
off during her senior year showcase,
the sixth-grade show, and listened
which called for her to do a five-
intently to
minute scene
guest speakers
and sing
who addressed
before a room
students about
full of agents
their different
and casting
areas of artis-
directors. Her
tic expertise.
performance
28, LOS ANGELES RESIDENT
Her acting
won her rep-
KSCHLOSSBERG
teacher, Miss
resentation
@KCSCHLOSSBERG
Long, offered
from an agent
KCSCHLOSSBERG.COM
her another
and manager
opportunity,
in New York,
available to a more select group: To
and she moved back east. An Off-
train in New York with her acting
Broadway workshop for a musical
coach husband, Anthony Abeson,
called F#%king Up Everything — “It
known for working with Jennifer
was a comedy, not vulgar at all,” she
Aniston and many others. “We drove
says — earned her an equity card and
into the city twice a week,” she says.
union status.
“I was 15 or 16, and everyone else
A steadier employer was the
was in their 20s.”
commercial film industry, and she
Bolstered by the coaching she
tapped into it in a big way by work-
received for upcoming auditions, she
ing with six different commercial
took classes and performed in week-
agents at the same time. “They were
end showcases in hopes of getting
all competing with one another, and
representation.
that works well,” she says. She did
KC
SCHLOSSBERG
Here’s a trivia quiz: Name
actors who came from
Montclair, or call the
town home. You’ve got
Sterling Hayden, Olympia
Dukakis, Frankie Faison,
Savion Glover, Christina
Ricci, Stephen Colbert and
Patrick Wilson, to name
just a few.