And Peggy tour's Christopher Henry Young talks about finding your voice through the arts, creating your own path, bringing your all into every room you enter, and trusting in the work.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, we are speaking with performing arts around the country about how the shutdown of theatre performances continues to affect their lives and work.

Today, we speak with Christopher Henry Young, who is currently in San Francisco performing in the "And Peggy" company of Hamilton, about how COVID-19 has affected the state of live performance in the Bay Area. Here's our conversation...

I feel very lucky to know a few people who are on tour with this amazing production, and I decided to get one of them to talk to me and all you readers out there about what it’s like to be in such a popular show. I immediately thought of my friend Christopher Henry Young (he/him/his), who is this month’s epic interviewee.

From an early age, Christopher Young was familiar with expressing himself. The 2009 Central graduate began dancing at age six. Now, he’s performing “on Broadway” in San Francisco. “I started dancing at age six because my parents thought it was important to try activities that were both artistic and athletic. I played Little League Football and baseball and danced,” Young said.

Sometimes, when you ask, you receive. So it was for Rolland Janairo, the new executive director of the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League. A few months ago, he attended a performance of Hamilton in San Francisco, went back stage to meet the actors, pitched Christopher Henry Young on coaching a gaggle of high school debate students, and "his eyes just lit up."

Casting has been announced for the third national tour of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. Performances will begin January 8, 2019 at the Teatro UPR in San Juan, Puerto Rico for a limited three-week engagement before moving to San Francisco.

Theatre Under The Stars is excited to introduce you to the cast of its upcoming production of The Wiz! A hip re-telling of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz is a jubilant tale of friendship and adventure. With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, and book by William F. Brown, the original production won seven Tony Awards® when it opened on Broadway in 1975 including Best Musical. 

Belmont Avenue is leaving the Great White Way. A Bronx Tale will play its final performance on Broadway today, August 5, 2018. The show will have played 29 previews and 700 regular performances at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street). The show began previews Thursday, November 3, 2016 and opened Thursday, December 1, 2016.

Juneteenth is a world-wide celebration to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. Traditionally, Juneteenth services and events around the world have focused on community and education. I remember last year, a couple poignant moments were Christopher Henry Young’s choreography to “Rise up,” and the repetition of “yesterday was Emmet Till, Emmet Till was yesterday,” by a FAIR participant, who popped up from the audience unexpectedly.

“Fresh” and “new” are probably not the first words that spring to mind when you think about the 65-year-old Broadway classic Guys And Dolls, that is unless the Guys And Dolls you’re thinking about is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival revival now wowing audiences at Beverly Hills’ Wallis Annenberg Center For The Performing Arts.