Warren Scott Friedman has theatre in his DNA!

Warren Scott Friedman has theatre in his DNA.

Friedman, artistic director for this year’s Burlington Educational Summer Theatre’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, grew up surrounded by the theatre. The son of a professional performer and the younger brother to a Broadway performer, his years have been filled with everything theatre.

As a young boy living in New Jersey and Ohio, Friedman was a community theatre professional, performing in productions such as Mame, Peter Pan and The Music Man. In those days he thought it was cool when agents wanted to sign him but his mother said absolutely not. She wanted him to have a normal childhood.

“My mother pushed me away from doing theatre because she saw my sister in the beginning struggle.” She finally warmed up to the idea but warned him, “if you do theatre, I want you to learn every aspect…get as much as you can.” Mama Friedman knew what she was talking about and Burlington Educational Summer Theatre is fortunate to be on the receiving end of those wise words.

Friedman, a graduate of Kent State University, was an acting and directing major. The Kent State years provided an opportunity to experience every facet of the theatre which included acting, directing, stage managing, pretty much everything he uses to this day. “I was like a sponge,” he reminisces, “learning as much as I could.”

Following graduation, Friedman spent several years in New York as a character actor in nationally broadcast commercials and he staged managed a number of on and off Broadway shows. These were followed by more years of stage managing, directing, educating and choreographing for cruise lines, children’s theatres, national tours, regional and community theatres.

Friedman is impressed with the BEST program, now in its sixth year.

“I’ve done a lot of programs like this but never run by a school. You’ve got this amazing person, [BEST Executive Director] John Middleton-Cox. What he’s done, how he’s built the program…it’s pretty amazing!”

When asked which part of his work he’s most fond of, there is no hesitation. “I love educating…that’s my favorite part. To teach the kids that not only can you be on stage, there’s an outlet if you don’t want to be a performer…there are so many positions off stage as well.”

The next stop on his agenda is a Pennsylvania performing arts camp followed by seven and a half weeks of rehearsals and performances of Kurt Weill’s American opera, Street Scene at Oberlin College in Ohio. Booking out as far as six months, Warren Scott Friedman has worked from Alaska to Hawaii, Massachusetts to Wyoming and beyond.

Burlington Educational Summer Theatre will perform Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, on Friday, July 25 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, July 26, at 2:00 pm. Performances will take place at the Fogelberg Performing Arts Center, 123 Cambridge Street, Burlington, MA. Reserved seating tickets are $10 for students/senior citizens and $15 for adults. Tickets are available online at www.BurlingtonTheatre.com, by phone at 781-A-FUN-TIC and at the door. Fogelberg Performing Arts Center is handicapped accessible.