“Hamilton” performer spends afternoon with Nursery Road Elementary students

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Stephen Carrasco, who plays the role of Samuel Seabury in the touring show of Broadway’s “Hamilton,” spent the afternoon with students at Nursery Road Elementary School in Columbia.

The students were allowed to ask any questions they like to the actor, dancer, and singer — including how it feels to perform to such a large audience eight shows a week, and if he still gets nervous.

ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams spoke with Carrasco after the event, first asking him what he hopes the audience feels after leaving a performance of “Hamilton.”

“I hope they think of the history they know in a different way. I hope it’s opened their eyes to seeing the world and shaking what they know, and made them think about it a little deeper. I think the wonderful thing about “Hamilton” is it takes something we all know, American history, and gives it a very specific form of view, which is really cool,” he says.

Carrasco has also performed in shows like “Wicked,” “Ghost,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and “Kinky Boots.”

Art and theatre, he believes, are so important in all their forms — pushing people out of their comfort zones and forcing them to be more vulnerable.

“And deal with issues or things in their life they haven’t really faced. And it continues to help people get beyond themselves and I think that’s so cool. And we need to keep going forward. That’s why this country was founded, and where we’re gonna continue to go, you know?” asks Carrasco.

Carrasco’s advice to the young students? Always be yourself.

“Nobody can be a better you than you can be, and sometimes that involves learning how to maximize what you may see as your weaknesses and use them as your greatest strengths. I shared with the students today that I really disliked my voice for so long, I wanted it not to be raspy, not to be congested, not to be high, but it’s what makes Stephen Carrasco… Stephen,” he says.

Lisa Brooks is the school’s music teacher.

“I hope they take away is the fact that after seeing this professional, that that’s what this person does for a living. That they can see if that’s the direction they want to go in that they could. And that it’s possible. And I think he was really encouraging to them and I thought that was amazing for them to see, and I hope they heard that. That they can do whatever they want, and be the best them that they can be,” Brooks says.

Principal Karey Fisher says the school is considered an ABC school — or Arts and Basic Curriculum school, with partial grant funding used for Carrasco’s visit.

“Hamilton” can be experienced at the Koger Center for the Arts through March 10th.