After getting accepted into every collegiate theater program he auditioned for, Jalam Sutton finally decided which offer he would take: the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University.

Sutton, 17, has been involved in theater for five years, but his passion for music and theater started at a young age.

“I have always loved music and dance,” Sutton said. “Growing up, the musical movies were the movies that I wanted to watch … And I’ve always been a dancer, even without the training.

“I remember being in elementary school and going to basketball summer camps, and I would get in trouble by the coaches because I was over by the radio dancing with my basketball instead of shooting and using that time to get better at basketball.”

Sutton auditioned for his first musical, Revolting Children: Musical Revue, in 2014 after seeing an advertisement on Facebook.

“I was texting my friend, and I was like, ‘This would be so cool,’ And he was like, ‘Audition,’” Sutton said. “And I looked, and the auditions were that day in three hours. I was terrified. But I was just like let’s see what happens. I auditioned, and I got in, and since then I just stuck with it.”

Sutton has gone on to perform with various theater companies such as the Leeds Center for the Arts, the Winchester Players, Georgetown Community Theatre, the Kentucky Conservatory Theatre and UK Opera Theatre.

The Winchester native also graduated from the Governor’s School for the Arts in 2018 after studying drama for three weeks.

“I just knew that I enjoyed being in front of people,” Sutton said. “I love making people laugh. I love making people feel entertained like they don’t have to focus on whatever might be going on out there. I love to spread positive energy. And that’s been something about me for as long as I can remember.”

As a senior at George Rogers Clark High School, Sutton also participates in National Honor Society, Beta Club, International Thespian Society, the Cardinal Singers, the Positive Behavioral Intervention Support Committee and the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Committee.

Sutton has also been working as a host at Applebee’s for two years to pay for dance lessons at a Lexington studio.

Sutton said he started looking for colleges in the fall of 2018. He slowly shortened his list of 36 schools to 15 to nine and then finally six.

“I just kept narrowing it down,” Sutton said. “Once I decided the six, we began to schedule auditions, and we traveled to each of the schools. And since then, I’ve been accepted into every program.”

Sutton was accepted to the theater programs at Austin Peay State University, Northern Kentucky University, the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and Point Park University, Rider University. Western Kentucky University also accepted Sutton.

“They just started to come in one by one,” Sutton said. “And it wasn’t until I got my last acceptance that I knew I was doing the right thing. Because as an artist, you always have the fear of rejection. As humans, we have the fear of rejection. And so when I got the first acceptance letter, I was happy. But I wanted to get into other schools because that wasn’t my first choice. And then I got the second and the third.

“And I was like, OK, I’m on a roll.’ And I was afraid of that crash. But once I received my final acceptance, I felt unstoppable.”

Auditions were a combination of singing, dancing and acting, Sutton said.

“In the years that I’ve been involved in theater, one thing that I’ve learned is that

you shouldn’t treat an audition as an audition, as you want someone to pick you, or you need to be cast or anything like that,” Sutton said. “But you should treat it as a chance to show off what you love to do.”

Despite his many accomplishments throughout his theater career so far, Sutton said auditioning for colleges was terrifying.

“I had my doubts on if I could get into these prestigious programs,” Sutton said.

For some auditions, Sutton sang “She’s Got a Way” from “Movin’ Out,” a 2002 jukebox musical featuring Billy Joel songs and “I’m A Bad, Bad Man” from “Annie Get Your Gun,” a 1946 Broadway production based on famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

Sutton also performed monologues from “Strange Interlude,” a 1929 nine-act play, “Look Homeward, Angel,” a 1957 stage play based on Thomas Wolfe’s autobiographical novel of the same title, and “Look Back in Anger,” a 1956 realist play written by John Osborne.

“I have a distinct style vocally,” Sutton said. “I fit on more of the modern spectrum. And I have a bright and vibrant personality. So in my auditions, I wanted to show that I wasn’t just picking material that was best for me … but that would challenge me. So I found things that weren’t typically in my character … I was trying to find things that I would have to work for.”

Sutton said he hopes his story as an African American male from a small town pursuing theater resonates with others and inspires them to work hard for whatever dreams they may have.

“Two years ago, I didn’t even think I was gonna go to college,” Sutton said.

When Sutton first started theater, he saw it as a hobby, not a career. At the time, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He knew he couldn’t afford college; he didn’t think he was smart enough to earn scholarships. He struggled with ADHD, and after being racially discriminated against even as a teen, the weight of it all made college seem out of reach, Sutton said.

“The only other person in my family to ever go to college was my mother,” he said. “And her sole purpose of going back to college, when she was in her late 30s, was to teach me that I can go to college and make sure that I knew that I could go to college.”

During Sutton’s sophomore year of high school, he landed the lead role as Harold Hill in “The Music Man.” On opening night, Sutton said he performed and gave it his all.

“I remember walking offstage and saying ‘This is it,’” Sutton said. “I can’t see myself doing anything else. That was just like the turning moment where I knew this was where I was headed and where I needed to go.”

The following summer, Sutton started to train more intensively. He choreographed his first show, signed up for dance classes, acting lessons and vocal coaching with the money he made at Applebee’s.

“I just kept working and pushing to get that extra training,” Sutton said.

In just a year, Sutton rose to the level of a competitor dancer. It was hard working paying off, he said, as he skipped lunch after lunch to practice and fit in rehearsing in every spare moment he could find.

But when he’s on stage, it all comes together, and everything fades away in the glare of the bright stage lights. On stage, Sutton’s focus is to educate, inspire and connect with his audience.

Most recently, Sutton performed in the ensemble of “Mamma Mia!” during the Kentucky Conservatory Theatre WinterFest in Lexington.

“I was a male swing. So, I understudied for not one role but three,” Sutton said. “Before that show, I’d always had like a fear of swinging because I didn’t think I was capable of doing that. Because I know how difficult it is to manage just one role.

“So to work on my role as an ensemble and do what I can do to contribute and then still do the character development and work toward three other characters was crazy. And I got comfortable knowing, ‘Oh, it’s fine … Nothing’s ever going to happen. It’s not like I’m going to have to go out and perform for them.’

“And then the first weekend, there were two performances where one of the male lead roles had to sit out, and I had to go in for him because he was harshly sick. And it was terrifying because I never did a run through; I’d never done this blocking on stage. It was all notes that I’d written down, things I remembered seeing.

“That show is another testimony to me of how much I can accomplish if I do work for it.”

As a young black male, Sutton said he’s always had a fear of being what people call “the token black,” so he said he has worked twice as hard to prove he was anything but and that he deserved the roles and spots for which he auditioned.

“When I started preparing for this call of auditions, especially, I knew it was important to prove that I was more than just a token black,” Sutton said. “ … It was to prove that I was just as strong as the other 20 kids that they were choosing out of thousands. So essentially, being an African American, and being in this art form, it is even harder for me because I feel like I have to work extra hard to prove that I’m not given benefits based on my race.”

Sutton said he also has to be conscious of how he presents himself as a black male because unlike his white counterparts, there’s not a lot of minority representation in the arts.

“When people look, to me, I have to present myself in a way that is appropriate in black culture, and making sure that we are seen in a positive light and be a good example of what black people are,” Sutton said. “And it’s been difficult, having the times where I have to watch how I respond because if I get angry, then I’m the angry black kid or watching how loud I am …”   

Looking back on his theater career so far, Sutton said he has a tremendous support system, especially central Kentucky. Sutton said he is especially grateful to Winchester Players Director Kelly Estes, GRC teacher Katherine Lowther and his mom, Sonya.

Even though he hasn’t started college yet, Sutton said he’s already been thinking about what’s next. Of course, he wants to perform on stage somewhere, anywhere, but he also dreams of opening an affordable dance-theater company.

“My biggest obstacle in this field has always been money,” Sutton said. “There’s been so many moments in my life where I’m like if I just had this training, if I just could afford this, if it were just a little bit cheaper, if they gave scholarships, and things like that, I know I could make it I know I can be so much better than I am.”

Sutton said he wants to one day give other youth what he couldn’t always have. Sutton said he’d also like to get more involved in combining social activism with theater, producing shows that touch on relevant and timely subjects.

“The thing with social theater that I’ve learned is that you’re never going to reach out to your whole audience the way you want to, but the goal is to reach out to at least just one person or to acknowledge something that needs to be fixed or something that needs to be discussed,” Sutton said.

All of that is within reach, Sutton said, as he prepares for the move to St. Louis in the coming months, a choice he mulled over for weeks.

But Sutton’s final decision came down to one question the Webster directors asked: “What do YOU want?”

“I want authenticity,” Sutton replied. “I want to learn.”

Sutton said he didn’t want to be a product but he wanted to grow as an artist, and never stop growing.

“He responded with, ‘well, I think you’ll like Webster,’” Sutton said. “That was it for me … To be told that I wouldn’t be a product but that I would be whatever I wanted to be was enough for me to know that was the right place.”