Levittown Actor Takes Part in Summer Production

Levittown is home to many talented individuals - including actor Rory Meditz.

The 2005 Division Avenue High School graduate, who was born and raised in Levittown,  is making his name known in the community theatre circuit. After successful stints in university productions and other companies, Meditz will be taking a role in the interactive production of “Jack and the Princess Who Never Laughed” with the Airmid Theatre Company, which will be performed at Nissequogue State River Park in Kings Park this summer.

Tricia McDermott, the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of the company, explained that Meditz is a new member who was introduced to the group by another performer. The company is unique because it is the only one in the world that recovers, collects and produces classics by women playwrights, McDermott added.

“We have a couple of new local people – and Rory is one of them,” she said. “Our goal is to give local professionals, with the proper training, a chance to work with us...The majority of our actors are professionally, classically trained actors and many are union members. It is often a mix of local and Manhattan based actors.”

“It is in an open field and I thought it would be a very different experience for me,” said Meditz in reference to the show in Nissequogue Park. “This is the first time I am really working with a Long Island community theater company.”

Meditz started having an interest in theatre during his junior year at Division Avenue High School, but was first involved as a senior when he took his first theater class and “fell in love with it from there.” He said that this was something that he always wanted to do and was initially put off of pursuing it because he didn’t know how to get started.

“I’m primarily into acting,” he said. “I got into it pretty much from being a movie nerd and watching a lot of T.V. and always wanting to be in those show… In theatre you are forced to go on the journey with the character.”

He continued his education at Nassau Community College and Pace University, where he was able to take part in a variety of school productions. A relatively recent graduate of Pace, Meditz has since been working with a group in New York City. He has played in Hamlet at the Red Room Theatre and also took on the role of the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland.”

“I never really considered myself to be a theatre kid before I majored in it during college,” he added. “I really wasn’t privied to how much community theater there is in Long Island. At Pace, there were a lot of kids from Long Island that were in my same year.”

His advice to other young actors seeking to get into local theatre is to “just look around and see what they can find.”

The production of "Jack and the Princess Who Never Laughed" is the first in a series of children’s shows. As part of the Summer Theatre Festival, this production will be performed outside from July 5 to July 22. For additional information, please visit the company’s website.