Albany-raised actress named performing apprentice at famed theater company
By Carlton Fletcher
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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Famed Children’s Theatre Company has named Tyler Susan Jennings and Davon Cochran as its performing apprentices for the 2024-2025 season.
“I am thrilled to extend a warm welcome to Tyler and Davon as our newest performing apprentices for the 2024-2025 season,” CTC Casting Director Raiyon Hunter said in a news release. “Their exceptional talent and passion for theater shine brightly, and I have every confidence that they will bring remarkable energy and creativity to our productions.”
CTC’s Performing Apprentice Program is the nation’s leading apprentice program for emerging actors. The program offers an opportunity for gifted young actors age 19 and older. PAs have the unique opportunity to perform on stages alongside Children’s Theatre Co. resident acting company members, equity and non-equity actors, student actors, and locally, nationally and internationally renowned guest artists, who have included Itamar Moses, Philip Dawkins, Lisa Portes, Henry Godinez, Timothy Douglas, Eric Ting, Kia Corthron, Nilo Cruz, Naomi Iizuka, Lloyd Suh, Michael Mahler, Alan Schmuckler, Jerome Hairston, and Cheryl West, among others.
PAs perform in named roles and as understudies and take part in readings and workshops of new works. They participate in workshops on resumes, audition pieces, and techniques for monologues and songs. They also gain experience in other departments at the theater to help grow their professional development. Performing apprentices have gone on to prolific careers in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York, and other major theater regions and in some cases, became CTC Acting Company members.
Brooklyn-born and Albany, Georgia-raised, Jennings’ love for the theater began in the sixth grade when she got her first ensemble role in her school’s spring musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Tyler received a bachelor of arts degree in both Music and Theater Performance from Spelman College in 2021. During the summer of 2018, she studied the Meisner Technique at the Maggie Flannigan Studio in NYC.
During her time in the Spelman drama department, Jennings acted in two student short films as well as landing a principal role in a student-directed production of Nilo Cruz’s “Anna in the Tropics.” After college, she was an extra in the movie adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen.”
Jennings said she is excited to take to the Children’s Theatre Company stage as a performance apprentice for the 2024-2025 season. When not on the stage, she enjoys baking for loved ones, reading a good book on her kindle, and playing tag with her 2-year-old cat, Simon.
Cochran is an actor, singer, dancer and recording artist from Philadelphia.
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