How a Charlotte actor landed his first Broadway show, and made history along the way
Liam Pearce discovered a passion for singing and theater while growing up in Charlotte. Now, he’s found his way to one of the world’s most coveted stages.
Pearce, 24, currently stars on Broadway in the groundbreaking musical, “How to Dance in Ohio.” Based on the award-winning 2015 documentary of the same name, the musical follows the adventures of seven autistic young adults in a counseling group, as they prepare for a spring formal dance.
Each of the show’s leads are authentically cast with autistic actors — a first for Broadway.
That includes Pearce, who was diagnosed at age 5 but didn’t share it widely until he was in college.
The production, which began its Broadway run last November, recently announced it was closing Feb. 11. But Pearce’s journey with the show goes back nearly 2½ years.
He recently spoke with The Charlotte Observer from his backstage dressing room at New York’s Belasco Theater about his journey to Broadway, how he came to embrace his autistic identity and what he plans to do next.
From rock to musical theater
Pearce got his start performing with School of Rock, an afterschool music program, with locations in Charlotte as well as sites around the country.
“It changed my life,” said Pearce, who participated from age 9 to 16, developing skills on guitar, bass and voice. He excelled and went twice on national tour as part of the program’s “AllStars” group, which features the top 1% of School of Rock students in the country.
Pearce loved performing and wanted to explore it more, so he auditioned for Northwest School of the Arts. The school doesn’t have a rock music track so Pearce opted for musical theater, something he already enjoyed.
He got in and became immersed in the program.
Studying musical theater for half the day at school was exciting and inspiring, Pearce said. Soon he started performing in community theater productions, too, including at Theatre Charlotte which was only a 10 minute walk from home.
“I would not be the performer I am or the person I am today without the opportunities I had in Charlotte,” said Pearce, who was twice nominated as Best Actor for The Blumey Awards, the Charlotte region’s high school musical theater awards competition, hosted by Blumenthal Arts.
Pearce is part of a growing list of former Blumey Awards participants who have gone on to perform on Broadway, including former NWSA alums Reneé Rapp and Eva Noblezada.
Getting cast in ‘Ohio’
After high school, Pearce studied musical theater at New York’s Pace University. He first got involved with “Ohio” during his senior year.
What started as a one-week gig developing a new musical turned into a several year journey for Pearce through workshops, an out of town tryout in Syracuse, New York, and the excitement of all the promotional pieces that go into taking a show to Broadway.
But in the beginning, no one knew what was in store for this new musical. And just like the rousing anthem his character, Drew, sings in “Ohio,” Pearce was “Building Momentum” with his own career.
He was busy auditioning and snagging roles while simultaneously working a day job at Barry’s Bootcamp, a fitness studio in New York.
He spent July 2022 in St. Louis, performing in “Legally Blonde” at The Muny, the country’s oldest and largest outdoor amphitheater. The following summer, he performed in “Rent” at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, a Tony Award-winning regional theater.
That’s when things really started to heat up with “Ohio.”
Pearce was in his dressing room in between the matinee and evening performances of “Rent,” when he jumped on a Zoom call with the “Ohio” production team. Ostensibly to schedule some New York city promotional events and discuss plans for recording a four-track promotional EP, the producers suddenly announced the show would be heading to Broadway in the fall.
“We were all just kind of like, ‘Whaaaat?’ ” Pearce said. “It was crazy. Everybody was crying. I immediately called my mom and my best friend and then told some of my close friends in the cast that I was working around at the time.”
Now, as the show winds down on Broadway, Pearce is reflecting on the tight-knit bonds he developed with company and creative team members while working on the musical.
“Some of these people I would consider my best friends,” Pearce said. “I feel so supported and loved every time I come into work. Like, the fact that this is my job is crazy. I’m getting paid to do a musical and play with people who I’ve just been… such fans of for the past 2 1/2 years.”
Creating an original Broadway cast album for the production, which came out mid-January, was also thrilling.
“I grew up listening to OBCs nonstop.” he said. “And to have the opportunity to be heavily featured on one now that young people will listen to just like I did at their age is truly so unreal and emotional to think about.”
Welcoming audiences into a new world
For Pearce, the show’s unique story and approach to casting has also been an essential part of the experience.
“Ohio” brings people into a neuro-divergent world, he said, “as opposed to having autistic people bend the way that they see the world and bend the way that they want to interact, according to neuro-typical norms.”
That’s something that has clicked with many audience members, too.
“It’s been incredible to see young autistic people at the stage door and… on Instagram DMs being like, ‘Hey, I saw the show tonight. I can’t believe how much I resonated with what you were doing on stage. I’ve never seen myself represented in any way like this before,’ which has been so beautifully overwhelming.”
That sometimes includes kids as young as 8 years old.
“When I was 8, I never would have, like, dreamed of saying that,” he said. “It’s so heartwarming to know that the show is opening so many doors and making people who are similar to me feel so much more comfortable in their skin and in their brains to just express that part of themselves to anybody and everybody. Which I just love.”
Pearce didn’t share much publicly about being autistic while growing up. He and his family knew how to manage it and address certain needs, he said. But at the time, he also realized there were misconceptions about autism and a potential stigma of being labeled as such.
“I didn’t want that attached to me when I knew that I can function on my own and just, like, deal with the world on my own, in my own way,” he said.
Building social skills with other kids was one area that was especially challenging growing up. Getting involved in musical theater at school and in the community definitely helped.
“I think theater really brought that out of me a bit,” Pearce said. “I really was able to connect a lot more with people because I was learning about connection on stage.”
In college, Pearce started being more open in sharing about being autistic. Being part of the “Ohio” production has given him a deeper understanding and appreciation of himself and his brain.
“It is so affirming to… be in a room with all of these other autistic actors,” he said. They have similar access needs and can openly talk about resources or challenges, he added. That’s something Pearce used to simply deal with internally when he was younger.
What’s next for Liam Pearce?
Pearce hopes the show will help springboard him into other roles and opportunities. He’d love to keep creating new works, develop his own music career and even perform on TV and film.
“I just want to keep working and I never want to have to work a desk job again,” he said.
“You never know the future and I’m prepared… for anything. But the hope is that this is just the beginning of a lot more to come.”
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This story was originally published February 7, 2024 at 5:57 AM with the headline "How a Charlotte actor landed his first Broadway show, and made history along the way."