OLEAN, N.Y. (WKBW) — When the band starts to play at Shea's Performing Arts Center and the stars of "Ain't Too Proud" take the stage, there's one person sitting away from the spotlight, making sure you can hear the magic.
"And if something goes wrong backstage, audio wise or something like that. It's my job to fix it, to make sure everything's running continuously and smoothly," said Shaughn Bryant of Olean.
He's been touring with the show for the past eight months as the sound engineer. It all started with community theater and trips to Shea's with his family.
"[I] saw all the big knobs and buttons and I said 'I'd like to do this one day,'" said Bryant.
He went to SUNY Fredonia and tossed around the idea of becoming an aeronautical engineer after graduation, but the theater called him back.
"He really took his career and said this is really what I want to do and put every 150% into it," said Patty Bryant, his mother.
He's worked with Spongebob the Musical, Jersey Boys and more, allowing him to see the world. During the pandemic, he came back home to stay with mom and dad, itching to get back to it.
"It was crazy to be go, go, go and all of a sudden to be sent home...you'd sit there and think 'what do we do now?', you kind of felt lost," said Bryant.
As soon as he could he got back on the road. This week, he's back home.
"To be here now is really truly euphoric, to go up walking in through the audience and walking in through the stage door," said Shaughn.
His mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and nephews will all be watching the production, Ain't Too Proud, feeling extremely proud.
"It does the heart good...we're very proud," said the Bryants.
You can still get tickets to Ain't Too Proud, click here.
Wednesday, 7:30pm
Thursday, 7:30pm
Friday, 7:30pm
Saturday 2pm, 8:00pm
Sunday 1pm, 6:30pm
