Actress Maddie Casto on Loving Theatre, Loving Herself, and Defining Her Own Success

By Meg Hale Brunton

For Actress Maddie Casto, musical theatre wasn’t a career choice, it is simply who she is. Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, while most kids her age were watching cartoons, Maddie was singing along to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals with her mother, who was a singer. “We would just sing together,” she recalls, nostalgically, “and we would harmonize, especially the later it got in the evening.”

When Maddie showed up for her first day of Kindergarten, she knew she was a little different from the other kids in her class. “I said, ‘I like South Pacific and Carousel,’ and they said, ‘We like The Little Mermaid,’” says Maddie, admitting that she had not seen the Disney movie at the time. “That just wasn’t the big thing for me.” She also remembers dressing up as The Phantom of the Opera every Halloween for about nine years during her childhood.

Maddie found solace in the choir at her church, which she says had a great music program. Then, she joined Kinderchoir, a professional year-round children’s choir that operated out of Otterbein College. Through Kinderchoir, Maddie was able to go on tour and got the opportunity to sing in incredible performance spaces around the world, including Carnegie Hall and The Vatican. 

Maddie was also quick to dive into the local theatre scene, doing productions since she was a child. In high school, she got involved in the drama department and before she knew it, was President of Thespian Society and participated in local theatre competitions. Maddie also acted in Summer Stock, and was even invited to perform in the All Ohio show.  “I was very, very lucky growing up; my parents were very supportive,” Maddie says, adding that she also gained a great deal of support from teachers, directors, and peers in her profession. “I got a taste of professional shows, and thought, ‘Oh, I can do this for a living.’”

Photo Credit: Nick Fancher

For college, Maddie’s dad took her to audition at the top ten theatre schools in the country. “I’m not your typical chorus girl at all,” the 5 '5 actress says referring to her curvy frame and moderate dance skills. She recalls auditioning with 5’9 girls in leotards, wearing 4-inch character shoes. “That was my first eye-opener of what the industry was that I was about to hop into.” 

Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio had been recommended to Maddie, as a particularly good musical theatre school. So, she auditioned there as well and was accepted. “I could not have been luckier,” says Maddie. “It was the greatest program for me at the time. All of our professors were professionals. They had amazing insight and were very real people, but they didn’t let us slack.” The school also offered periodic Master Classes taught by guest professors like Tom Jones and Sutton Foster.

During college, Maddie continued doing professional theatre performances, including Annie with the West Virginia Public Theatre, and August, Osage County with The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio. She went on to do two other productions with The Human Race after graduating college: Change, and Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical. Those were to be her last two productions before heading to New York.

Maddie started her New York journey the summer between her junior and senior years of college after landing an internship at Binder Casting. “It was my first time living in New York,” she says. Her big project was helping them cast the children in The Lion King. “I had no idea what I was doing,” she admits. Maddie spent all summer reaching out to elementary schools in the New York boroughs, letting them know about the auditions. She also handled all the mail and remembers seeing hundreds of headshots come in every day, and how many photos of beautiful people ended up in the garbage. 

“I got to be a New Yorker,” Maddie remembers. “I saw a show every Friday. I was getting paid peanuts, but I would save all of my money and go see one show a week.” After graduating from Wright State in 2011 with her BFA in Musical Theater, Maddie officially moved to New York with a friend from school where she shared an apartment with seven other girls. 

“I auditioned like a crazy person,” Maddie recalls of that period. “I’d get up at the crack of dawn, drag myself downtown with my audition bag and wait in line to maybe get seen.” She would keep her catering uniform in her audition bag so she could go to her catering jobs straight from the audition (or leave before auditioning if the line was too long). 

In March of 2012, Maddie got her first New York acting gig doing a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a Shakespeare company in the East Hamptons. This started off a whirlwind score of acting roles across the country. Her next show was a yearlong national tour of a children’s play called How I Became a Pirate with The Rose Theatre out of Omaha, Nebraska. That was followed by a show called The D-Word (Ditched, Dumped, Divorced and Dating), which she did for four months in Las Vegas, Nevada. Maddie also did a year and a half stint as a Springhouse Entertainer at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. In 2016, Maddie did a world premier of a remake of the 1950s film The Brain that Wouldn’t Die! 

Photo Credit: Myers Dinner Theatre

She got her first gig in South Carolina at a theater called 34 West in Charleston. The show was called Boogie Woogie Bugle Gals, and Maddie particularly enjoyed it because it reminded her of the old Hollywood musicals that she used to watch with her mom. “The 40s and 50s are probably my favorite time,” she says. Maddie went on to do six shows with 34 West, during which she would move back and forth between New York and Charleston for work. In 2015, while doing a Christmas show with 34 West, Maddie met her husband and decided to stay in Charleston. 

For the past five years, Maddie has been working with a company called The Black Fedora, a theater company that does murder mystery comedy shows in Charleston. “It is silly, it is funny, I love working for them,” she says. Maddie also gigs around town doing her own one-woman vintage show, in which she sings in 40s costume and hair. A few years ago, she also started her own social media company, 193 Media Management.

“I’ve dug into the Charleston theatre community here and I’ve met some really amazing people,” says Maddie. “It’s a blast!” Last year, she partnered with Charleston friends,  Brandon L. Joyner, Kirsten N. Granet, and Brooke Rash, to create Shortwave Kitsch, a theatre company that produces a 1940s style radio show live on stage. Featuring six half hour episodes (one being released on YouTube each month), the show is complete with songs and commercials.  

Now, ten years after graduating from college, Maddie offers this recommendation to all budding young actors: “Make sure you want to do this and nothing else,” she says of theatre. “If there is any question, then it’s not for you.” She encourages them to take as many lessons as possible, including voice, dance, and acting lessons. 

She also says that moving to New York or Los Angeles can be great for your career, but it’s certainly not a necessity. According to Maddie, it is much more important to surround yourself with a strong network of people to support and love you no matter what. “You can live anywhere and make a living doing theatre,” she says. “You have to find your own definition of what it is to ‘make it’ and be proud of that.”

“I’ve struggled, but I’ve been incredibly lucky,” says Maddie, looking back on her journey. As an actor, she says she has learned one lesson that has gotten her through when she has doubted herself: “Embrace yourself as a person, no matter what your type is, just be proud of what you have to offer.” 

To learn more about Shortwave Kitsch Theatre Company, or to follow them on Instagram, go to:  www.swkradio.com and @swkradioshow