Elmwood Park's Jordan Arredondo brings a lifetime of acting experience to the stage at Steppenwolf
While Arredondo was growing up in unincorporated Leyden Township near Franklin Park, he performed in that first show — an elementary school musical, 'It's Saturday.'
'It was very, very fun,' he recalled. 'I got so excited and it didn't feel scary.' He decided, 'I can get down with this because I do this by myself in my room with my toys.'
Arredondo admitted that his parents didn't necessarily expect that experience would lead him to a career in the arts. 'My dad was very excited about the potential for having a sports son,' he said.
Arredondo performed onstage all four of the years that he attended West Leyden High School. 'I started with plays and then slowly got roped into musicals even though I wasn't fully wanting to do those,' he said. 'That was my little segway into the choir in high school as well.'
The actor had high praise for choir director Stacy Cunningham and her influence on him.
'She really instilled a lot of love for the arts in me,' he explained. 'She took us to a bunch of shows. And also instilled a very good hard work ethic.'
One of his favorite roles at West Leyden was playing Dr. Herman Einstein during his freshman year in a production of 'Arsenic and Old Lace.'
'I had never auditioned for a play before that,' Arredondo said. 'The farcical aspect of that show was so fun to do.' He particularly enjoyed doing the part with a German accent.
Arredondo credited his high school teacher Mark Bernstein, who directed him in several shows, with encouraging him to pursue a professional acting career. 'He saw something that I was not super aware of at the time,' Arredondo observed.
He decided to attend the University of Illinois Chicago where he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting.
Arredondo's first professional production was playing the role of Lucky in 'Waiting for Godot' with Tympanic Theatre in 2017.
'The director had a very fun twist on it,' Arredondo recalled. 'We had just come out of the 2016 election. He placed it at the border and the cast was all Latino. We were able to try anything. That was a really fun and wonderful way to enter the professional world.'
He fondly recalled his experience playing the role of Oscar in 'Sweat' at Paramount Theatre in Aurora in 2022. 'Something clicked there for myself and my family,' he recalled. 'I felt I had found a character connected to me as a person. You feel like all the training that you have done finally becomes an unconscious competence situation — something so ingrained in you.'
Arredondo has been in a number of high-profile musicals, including 'In the Heights' at Marriott Theatre, 'Grease' at Drury Lane Theatre,' and 'Fun Home' at Paramount Theatre, among others. To prepare for these roles, the actor has been taking vocal training since graduating from college in 2017. He also praised the help he received by working with music directors on those projects. 'I have taken some dance lessons,' he added. 'I intend to still get better at dance.'
He particularly loved the production of 'In the Heights' at Marriott last year, where he played Sonny.
'That production changed my life in so many ways,' he declared. 'It was a production I'd been chasing for a while, and the stars aligned. That was a show where I could bring so much of my acting training into it and go really deep into the characters and the situation. It was so wonderful to do that show in a community where that show had never been done.'
That's also where Arredondo met his future wife, Addie Morales. They will be married in August.
Even though he has had great experiences in musicals, Arredondo admitted that he prefers performing in plays. 'It's where I got my training in high school,' he explained. 'It's where I found a deeper love for what we do.'
His latest project, 'You Will Get Sick,' by Noah Diaz, at Steppenwolf Theatre through July 20, is a play in which the actor takes the role of #5.
'All the actors are labeled numbers 1 through 5,' Arredondo said. '5 for most of the show is the voice that you'll be hearing — the narration.'
He is enjoying the challenge of this role — but he can't explain why without giving away too much. You'll have to see the show to understand. For details, visit steppenwolf.org.
To unwind, Arredondo likes to hang around with his dog Liora, watch films and TV shows, and go to the movies. 'I'm also a big hotdog connoisseur,' he revealed.
Arredondo is convinced that he made the right career choice. 'More and more I find comfort and a home on the stage,' he declared.
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