The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

Connor Olen sheds ‘odd one out’ feeling on stage




Olen

Olen

Local theater actor Connor Olen, 25, said he shows his best qualities when he is on stage.

“I’ve always had a lot of difficulty in making social connections. It’s always been something that I’ve struggled with. For some reason, I always enjoy myself the best when I’m participating in a show,” he said.

Olen, who is on the autism spectrum, said that he began acting in grade school and continued in high school and then in community theatre. He is performing in the musical comedy, “Murders of 1940,” at Playhouse 615 in Mt. Juliet. The show closes this weekend.

Olen said there was “one show in particular that I auditioned for and didn’t get. I asked the director what I could do better next time. He basically said, you need to work on your eye contact. You need to work on working with the other actors, you need to work on your speech, all things that I had heard as symptoms of (Asperger’s Syndrome). That was telling me that I couldn’t really be an actor. That really hurt.”

He said he came back stronger the next year and “I got a few more shows in high school. After I got out of high school, I went on a bunch of fruitless auditions where I didn’t get anything, and I sort of decided to give that up for a while and focus on something else.”

He attended Nashville Film Institute in hopes of becoming a director, graduating right before the pandemic. He said he had tried to direct a feature film, but the project ended because he didn’t have the budget for it.

“Before film school, I directed this short film that was based on a video game, but got lots of hits on YouTube,” Olen said. “In film school, we had to do something for our senior project, and I ended up doing a show called, ‘Being Carter,’ and it was one of those semi-autobiographical things about myself in high school, and my putting myself out there being in shows. That one is actually on YouTube, and it was actually submitted to a local film festival.”

Olen also has performed in shows at Lakewood Theatre in Old Hickory.

“Murders of 1940” cast member Tina Coccia said, “Connor always comes to rehearsal ready to work and he brings his creativity to the stage that I think the cast and the audience can feel. I think he brings out the best in everybody.”

Olen said that he, “definitely want to do more at Lakewood and Playhouse 615. They both have really embraced me with open arms and it’s good to have a community where you feel like you belong and you’re not just the odd one out.

“In theatre, they embrace the odd one out. It’s really good to be a part of that. As good as community theatre is, if this could lead to getting a paying job in acting, I wouldn’t say no to that. Also, I’d also like to assistant direct or actually direct one of those days but as of right now, I’m more than satisfied with where I am.”

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