Woodbury’s own Aleks Knezevich is starring as Danny in the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres’ current production of Grease. Knezevich, who attended Woodbury High School, decided to join choir his junior year. Through the people in that choir, he took a chance at theater. “The only show I ever did was my senior year,” Knezevich says. “It was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and I played the role of Pharaoh.”
After high school, Knezevich got his degree in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota and spent time writing music. “I did one community theater production with Heritage Theatre Company,” Knezevich says. “It was Seussical and I played one of the Wickersham brothers.” While taking a year off after graduation before applying to medical school, he was cast as Danny in Grease at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson.
After attending medical school at the University of Iowa for a year, he decided to audition for the Jekyll and Hyde national tour and received the lead role. He dropped out of medical school after the tour. “I said, ‘forget medical school. I’m going to be an actor.’”
Before that tour, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres offered him the role of Flotsam in The Little Mermaid after he sent in a video audition. Since then, he’s played roles including Gaston in Beauty and the Beast and Lancelot in Camelot at Chanhassen.
The role of Danny is something that Knezevich has enjoyed. “I’m 31 and it’s been awhile since I was 18. I’ve got a different set of worries and responsibilities in my life now. To connect to that time, it’s kind of fun. It brings back memories,” he says.
The show runs Tuesday through Sunday until October 28.
Dinner at 6 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 11 a.m./1 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday; 4:30 p.m./6:30 p.m. Sunday.
