Joshua Thone: Life and success after the Center Stage Program
Joshua Thone is a UW-Milwaukee Panther, attending the Peck School of the Arts. He has been on the Musical Theatre BFA track since he graduated from high school in 2022. And he’s soon to be appearing in New York City as a vocal competition finalist! But you may recognize him as an alum of our very own Center Stage High School Musical Theater Program.
We caught up with Thone to learn more about his latest adventures and what he thinks was most beneficial about his involvement in the Center Stage Program.
Thone participated in the 2022 Center Stage High School Musical Theater Program, the same year he graduated from Appleton’s St. Francis Xavier High School. He was also nominated to represent the program at The Jimmy Awards®/National High School Musical Theatre Awards® in New York City.
He said the program taught him many valuable lessons. First and foremost?
“Authenticity. Truly embracing it onstage AND off,” said Thone. “We can fuse so much of ourselves into the energy we bring to the stage.”
The importance and impact of learning to embrace his own authenticity is something he said is compounded by the nature of live performing art.
“Someone in the audience can take that and be inspired in their own regard. I learned that this art form is very beautiful in that way,” said Thone.
Now, Thone works as a Theatre Ambassador for Peck School of the Arts at UW-Milwaukee. He helps lead information sessions and gives department tours to prospective students each week. He is also a content creator for the greater UW-Milwaukee social media accounts. You can see his work at the handle @uwmilwaukee on TikTok and Instagram.
Over the summer, he toured the state as a Principal Singer/Dancer with Kids from Wisconsin, a nonprofit that empowers Wisconsin’s youth through performance and music enrichment experiences and provides music residencies in underserved communities.
And he has even more on the horizon, because he will be performing in New York City on behalf of the American Pops at Lincoln Center on January 19th as a Finalist of the 8th Annual NextGen Vocal Competition.
Thone said he feels that the Center Stage Program was a pivotal part of his journey.
“My core memory was getting to bring/represent my high school production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ to the big P.A.C. stage,” he recalled. “It was wild!”
The Center Stage High School Musical Theater Program is an educational initiative of the Fox Cities P.A.C. with support from corporate partner Fox Communities Credit Union. Additional partners in this program include Johnson Financial Group, Nicolet National Bank, Angelo and Jennifer Ninivaggi, Schneider Foundation, Star98, WFRV, and Wipfli LLP. Programs like the Center Stage High School Musical Theater Program are also supported in part by contributions to the Center’s Annual Partner Campaign.
