Rockford Sun

Performing Arts Alum Erin Farsté (‘15) Thrives in Twin Cities Theater Scene

Performing Arts Alum Erin Nicole Farsté (2015) had done theater her whole life, but never considered it as a career until her senior year of high school. It was during her senior year that her friends encouraged her to look into Rockford University’s Performing Arts program, after Farsté saw RU’s Performing Arts Booth at a college fair she attended.

Farsté graduated from RU in 2015 and immediately started auditioning for productions all over the country through the group United Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA), which is based in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Her current role is the understudy for the role of “Mother” in Children Theater’s Company production of Corduroy, based on the classic 1968 Children’s book. The production runs now through April 2. The Children’s Theater Company is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and tickets can be found on it’s website.  

During her senior year of high school, Farsté recalls her mother telling her theater would not be beneficial and to be realistic, so Farsté originally planned to be a doctor. 

“I was one of those people that was like, well I have to prove it to you,” Farsté said. “This is the only thing I can do. I actually auditioned for the (Missouri) state show, which was Jekyll and Hyde that year for the Missouri Thespian Festival.”

Farsté, who is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, got cast in the show and told her mother, who was still not convinced. Later though, Farsté said she finally stood up to her mom and told her she wanted to do theater full time and study it in college. She then attended a college fair at the Missouri State Theater Festival where she found the Rockford University booth and met Timm Adams. 

“Everybody in my cast was like, Rockford (University) is amazing and a big deal and you’re so lucky,” she said. 

Once she was at RU and accepted into the BFA program, she became a member in acapella group Vocal Collective and worked with different professors within the theater department that inspired her. When she worked on the show “The Trojan Women” it set off her love for Greek theater. Farsté said her favorite musical she performed at RU was “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”

Original source can be found here