Performer talks music, majors, and the Patriots
“I’m just naturally a Muppet of a human,” Sean Hogan, ’17 said.
On a cold and rainy morning, Hogan described the difficulty in operating a puppet in the musical “Avenue Q.”
Hogan was in deep thought. If he were a Muppet, which one would he be?
After a few moments, he grinned.
“You know, I think I had this same conversation with my family,” Hogan said. “My brother and I were debating which of us was Kermit. My sister’s probably Miss Piggy.”
Hogan, an English and musical theater double major, has been a mainstay in the Saint Joseph’s University Theater Company since the spring of his freshman year, having most recently starred in the company’s production of “Carousel,” and is currently preparing to take the Bluett Theater stage in February for “The Who’s Tommy.”
While he is best known on campus for his performances, the Baltimore native was more involved in sports in his early life.
“My sister was really into [theater] from as early as possible, and I was just like, ‘Nah, I want to play baseball,’” Hogan said. “So I played sports and didn’t really do theater until middle school.”
With his sister involved in theater and his mother working at the school, Hogan found himself staying after school more and more. An interest in acting started at age 14, when he convinced the drama department to present “A Christmas Carol” in the winter as “an excuse to play Scrooge, [since] I had the book memorized.” A musical element was also present as early as elementary school, when tenor Hogan was the only boy in his school’s choir.
“I sang because I wanted to show off,” Hogan said. “I was in three acts in the school talent show; I think I sang Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now.’ And I was in bands all throughout high school.”
In high school, Hogan returned to sports, taking the field as the quarterback of his football team. But when an injury left him unable to play, he went back to theater. Playing Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables” during his senior year proved to be a turning point for his future aspirations.
“Once I played Valjean, I was like, ‘I like this too much. I can’t not do this,’” Hogan said.
Seeing that St. Joe’s offered the chance to act in musicals without requiring a musical theater major, Hogan chose it over Fordham University, and entered his freshman year intent on studying writing.
His first role was Harry the Horse in a 2014 production of “Guys and Dolls,” and from there his credits grew to include performances as Tony in “West Side Story,” Princeton in “Avenue Q,” John Wilkes Booth in “Assassins,” Cinderella’s Prince/The Wolf in “Into the Woods,” and Billy Bigelow in “Carousel,” developing a wide acting range and avoiding typecasting.
While he’s performed throughout each of his four years at St. Joe’s, Hogan only became a musical theater major a few months ago.
“I wasn’t a double major until this [school] year,” he said. “I was just an English major who did theater. But the department convinced me to minor, and from there they convinced me to major.”
Hogan’s decision to pursue musical theater was supported by his family. His older sister performs with the Second City in Chicago, and his younger brother is a songwriter.
“Our parents are cool with it, which is nice,” Hogan said. “If this ends up working out down the road, I’m going to have a very boring story, because my family have been nothing but supportive my entire life.”
When asked what questions he would have for his future self, Hogan paused. “Should I stay on the East Coast?” Hogan said. “If I’ve made it in 10 years, that’s what I want to know. Also, how long does Tom Brady play? When does Tom eventually retire?”
