Brother Liam Fennecken (Omega/Penn State 2014) was recently featured on the Philadelphia Magazine website for an upcoming theatrical role.This an abbreviated version of the article originally published January 13, 2016.
The first thing Liam Fennecken is going to do once he gets to Philly is hit the flagship Wawa on Broad and Walnut. He hasn’t been yet, and he’s through trying to explain the store to his Once touring cast members.
“I’m so excited,” he said. “It’s such a Philly-specific thing that people just don’t understand.”
Fennecken, who grew up in Doylestown and went to Archbishop Wood High School, is making his Philadelphia professional theatrical debut this January in Once, the Irish-infused Broadway musical coming to the Academy of Music. He tackles the role of Svec, and has to do a lot more than just sing and act; he plays four instruments on stage. We caught up with the multitalented performer who received his theater training at Penn State.
I loved it. First of all, I wasn’t even looking to go into theater. I went into Penn State as an Animal Science major, which is still a passion of mine. I started going and seeing the shows and thought, "Why am I not doing that?" I really lucked out and decided that I wanted to do theater for my life. It’s such a wonderful program: All of the faculty and teachers have worked in the industry for years and are supportive and help get you connections outside of school.
I'm really excited because I've never done a professional show in Philly before, so this is it! I always did music. I did theater in high school, but it was always kind of a fun thing. I never thought of it as a career until I went to college. My parents are really excited. They bought out an entire block of rows at the Academy.