Acting authentically

After many performances on the Benson Auditorium stage, Abby Smith (’03) graduated from Harding University as a music major with a theatre minor not sure exactly what she was going to do with her love for musical theatre. Fifteen years later, she found herself on the Broadway stage cast as Mrs. Puff in “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.”

“I come from a performing family, so I’ve been around the arts all my life,” Smith said. “I fell in love with musical theatre because it uses music to carry the emotion of a story. I am so moved by great theatre, and I have always wanted to be a part of that. There is nothing more powerful than watching someone open their heart on a stage and take you on a journey — it changes you on a spiritual level to see yourself in the emotion of a dramatic experience.”

After graduation, the intimidation of moving to New York City and a secured internship led Smith back to Houston where she had grown up. She worked for three years with the A.D. Players Theatre gaining invaluable professional experience before deciding to attend graduate school at Oklahoma City University, one of the only graduate schools in the nation with a concentration in music theatre. After graduating from the two-year program in 2008, Smith made the move to the Big Apple, going to countless auditions, taking classes and finding jobs in the meantime.

Her love for and experience with children’s theatre that had been fostered in Houston helped Smith land her first job after moving to New York City — a national tour of “James and the Giant Peach.”

In September 2015, her agent asked about her skills in playing instruments and tap dancing, and as a result, she took some classes to prepare for her audition for “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.” After researching choreography, watching the cartoon and preparing character voices, she got an audition and multiple callbacks that resulted in being cast as Mrs. Puff for the Chicago and Broadway productions.

“Doing this show has absolutely been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Smith said. “It has definitely been the most rewarding thing, too. I’m so proud to be a part of it.”

In addition to her Broadway debut at the Palace Theatre, Smith also has caught the spotlight of the television cameras on season two of “Orange Is the New Black” and the first season of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” but musical theatre, on or off Broadway, is where her passion truly lies.

“What I feel is most important to me is being my authentic self and not compromising that based on others’ judgment,” Smith said. “I am who I am always! I can have confidence knowing that I’m always being my best authentic self. There is room for anyone and everyone in the theatre business. You just have to stay true to who you are, work hard, be kind, and eventually it will find you.”

— Megan Ledbetter