This week’s Campus Celebrity is probably the definition of an actual campus celebrity at BC. If you’ve ever walked more than five feet with Nate Richardson, A&S ’13, chances are you were forced to a halt when someone who knows him stops you guys to say hi. After the fifth interruption, you probably start to wonder, is this kid the mayor of Chestnut Hill or something?
No, he’s not, but Nate has formed a strong identity on campus through his involvement with the arts. A theater major and member of the BC Acoustics, Nate got his first taste for music and dance when his parents began taking him to events such as ballets and operas. Soon after, he began studying ballet at a studio, and later moved to the Boston Ballet, where he trained until he was 14. At this point, however, Nate explains that he got a little bored with the focused and intense ballet atmosphere and began to get involved in musicals once he got to high school.
If you know Nate, you know it is not out of the ordinary whatsoever for him to bust a pirouette in the middle of the Plex or serenade you with a romantic ballad while waiting in Hillside. Knowing this, some may be surprised to learn that he would get extreme stage fright when doing big shows. I’m talking can’t-breathe-get-me-an-inhaler stage fright. Yet, by the time Nate reached his senior year, he was much more comfortable on the stage, landing a main role in the musical, The Producers, and considering theater for his future.
Hailing from neighboring Newton, Massachusetts, Nate always knew Boston College was on his prospective college list, since his father is an English professor here. However, when he began his freshman year, he immediately considered transferring. Thankfully, he got into the Acoustics, BC’s crazy co-ed a cappella group instead. Nate explains, “Getting chosen by this group was fate. It’s so rare to find a group like the Acoustics—they changed everything for me.” Nate had a lot of vocal training prior to college, mostly for musical theater. Singing mainly pop and rock songs was definitely a new, but welcomed, challenge. Additionally, Nate, a newly-declared theater major at the time, was told by many people at BC that he would be getting himself in over his head by committing to both a cappella and theater. So far, he’s been able to make it work, opening the door for other theater kids to do the same.
So we know Nate can carry a tune, but what really makes him a campus celebrity (besides the fact that, as of press time, he has 1,718 Facebook friends and his everyday statuses often get upwards of thirty “likes”)? When I ask him about his celeb status here on campus, I expect this response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnsMCnAxxzo&feature=related ), but Nate explains simply, “I think people at BC are often pretty reserved, whereas I’m really comfortable in myself and am not afraid to break away from the mold; I think a lot of people are drawn to that. It’s my philosophy that you can be a lot happier if you spend less time caring about what others think.”
Nate’s good attitude is definitely a contagious one. For example, you know those kids who are just great greeters? The kind that have the biggest smile on their face when they see you, as if you’re the best thing to ever happen to them and always go to give you a huge hug? Nate is definitely one of those kids. He never fails to make you laugh (or to channel his inner Nicki Minaj on a Friday night/Tuesday afternoon).
So where can you catch Nate next? First up, this Friday, October 28th at 7:30 in Devlin 008. He’ll be performing with the Acoustics at their annual Halloween Invitational. As the official Superfan of the Acoustics (you think I’m kidding… you have no idea), I can tell you that this show, which features two groups from other schools and BC’s own B.E.A.T.S, is not one to miss! However, if you can’t make it, Nate will be performing again next weekend in the play, “Dark Play or Stories For Boys.” Featured in the Bonn Theatre (in Robsham), November 4th and 5th, the play examines the different personas we can assume under the mask of the Internet today and the consequences when this is taken too far. Nate has multiple parts in the play (one of which being a slutty Asian girl—guaranteed hilarity), so be sure to come out and support him and the arts at BC!