Skip to Content
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • flickr
  • WAGNER.EDU
  • A-Z
    A
    • Academic and Cultural Enrichment
    • Admissions
    • Alumni & Friends
    • Anthropology Department
    • Arts Administration
    • Athletics
    B
    • Biological Sciences Department
    • Bookstore
    • Business, Nicolais School
    • Business Office
    C
    • Calendar
    • Campus Life
    • Campus Services
    • Center for Academic & Career Engagement
    • Center for Intercultural Advancement
    • Center for Leadership & Community Engagement
    • Center for Spirituality
    • Children & Teens Programs
    • Commencement
    • Communications & Marketing
    • Conference Services
    • Continuing Education
    D
    • Dance Program
    • Dining Services
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    E
    • Early Childhood Center
    • Economics Department
    • Education Department
    • English Department
    • Expanding Your Horizons
    F
    • Film & Media
    • Film & Photo Shoots
    • Financial Aid
    G
    • Gender Studies
    • Government & Politics Department
    • Give to Wagner
    H
    • HawkTalk Blog
    • Health & Wellness
    • History Department
    • Holocaust Center
    • Honors Program
    • Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform
    • Human Resources
    I
    • Information Technology
    • Institutional Advancement
    L
    • Library
    • Lifelong Learning Department
    M
    • Math & Computer Science
    • Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures
    • Music Department
    N
    • Newsroom
    • New Students Hub
    • Nursing, Evelyn L. Spiro School
    P
    • Performing Arts
    • Philosophy & Religious Studies Department
    • Physical Sciences Department
    • Physician Assistant
    • Planetarium
    • Pre-Health Science Program
    • Pre-Law Program
    • President’s Office
    • Provost’s Office
    • Psychology Department
    • Public Safety
    R
    • Registrar
    • Residential Education
    S
    • Sociology Department
    • Student Engagement and Activities
    • Student Government Association
    • Study Abroad
    T
    • Theatre
    • Theatre Season
    • Title IX
    V
    • Veteran’s Resources
    • Visual Arts Department
    W
    • Wagner Fund
    • Wagner Magazine
    • WCBG Student Radio
    • Writing Center
  • QuickLinks
    ONLINE
    • Directory
    • Follett Discover Access
    • Handshake
    • Mailport
    • Moodle
    • myWagner
    • OneLogin
    ON CAMPUS
    • Events Calendar
    • Job Opportunities
    • Library
    • Registrar’s Office
    • Theatre Season
    • Visit Us
    • Webcam
    MORE RESOURCES
    • For Employees
    • For Faculty
    • For Current Students
    • For New Students
    • For Community
    • For Alumni
    • For Parents
Wagner College Newsroom
  • Events
  • Stories
  • Contact
  • Newsroom MENU
    • WAGNER.EDU
    - Prev Article Professor Pawk is ‘Genie’ in Broadway’s ‘Beautiful’ - Next Article
    April 17, 2019 Share
    Share on Facebook
    Facebook
    Tweet about this on Twitter
    Twitter
    Share on LinkedIn
    Linkedin
    Pin on Pinterest
    Pinterest
    Email this to someone
    email
    Text Size
    Michele Pawk

    Michele Pawk, a Wagner College Theatre professor and Tony Award-winning actress, began playing the role of Genie Klein, Carole King’s mother, in the Broadway production of “Beautiful” on April 2.

    Pawk was hired for the role by “Beautiful” producer Paul Blake, former long-time executive producer at The Muny in St. Louis, the country’s oldest and largest outdoor theater.

    “I’d worked for him twice before,” Pawk said, but noted that nothing really prepares you for joining a high-profile, highly successful show that is already in its sixth year on Broadway.

    “It was terrifying, like jumping onto a moving freight train,” Pawk said. Fortunately, “the actors I’m working with are sensational.”

    Pawk was asked to play the role of Genie through the summer — provided she could start this month, several weeks before the end of the semester at Wagner College.

    “They’ve been wonderful,” Pawk said. “They told me, ‘We’ll work around your teaching schedule,’ and they have. They’re ‘dark’ on Mondays — which is my heavy teaching day. And I can’t do the Wednesday matinee until after commencement — but they’ve worked it out, just like they said they would.”

    Since debuting on Broadway in 1988, Michele Pawk has been nominated four times for Drama Desk outstanding actress awards, winning the 2003 Tony for best featured actress in “Hollywood Arms.”

    After joining the Wagner College Theatre faculty in 2010, she immediately put her Broadway experience to work as the director of WCT’s “Seussical.” Ten years earlier, Pawk had originated the role of Mayzie LaBird in the show’s Broadway version.

    Pawk has continued directing for the Wagner College Theatre — “Merrily We Roll Along,” “Rent,” “Little Shop Of Horrors” — while also teaching classroom courses like Acting V, Directing I and History of the American Film.

    And, in her “spare time,” she continues to perform on the professional stage. In 2011, for instance, Pawk played in the highly acclaimed Playwrights Horizon production of Adam Bock’s “A Small Fire,” which earned one of her Drama Desk nominations.

    “It makes me a better teacher, in a way,” Pawk says. “I have to go out and practice what I preach.”


    Thanks to the Staten Island Advance for the feature photo used for this story, which first appeared on the cover of the Oct. 7, 2010 issue of the Advance Weekly Entertainment section.

    Michele Pawk (courtesy Staten Island Advance)
      • Homepage Feature
      • Theatre & Speech Department News
      • Wagner News

    Popular Stories

    • Report card Report card

      Fall 2022 Dean’s List

      January 25, 2023

    • Pinning Dec 20221 Pinning Dec 20221

      Nursing completion ceremonies, photos & video

      December 20, 2022

    • Aarti Ivanic1 Aarti Ivanic1

      Welcome, Dean Ivanic!

      April 28, 2021
     

    Related Stories

    Report cardHidden Image January 25, 2023 Fall 2022 Dean’s List Wagner College announces undergraduate honor rolls for fall 2022 semester
    Pinning Dec 20221Hidden Image December 20, 2022 Nursing completion ceremonies, photos & video Here are the videos, and links to the still photos, from the Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing completion ceremonies in December 2022
    Gina Fuentes Walker Cut Out Silhouette Number 2549 2014 cut acetate1Hidden Image November 22, 2022 New exhibition by Gina Fuentes Walker ‘On Thought & Process’ runs in the Wagner College Gallery thru Feb. 3; gallery reception Dec. 13
    main hall building imageHidden Image November 16, 2022 2022 Faculty Awards Dinner Congratulations to all the award winners, and to those celebrating career milestones, who were recognized at the 2022 Faculty Awards Dinner, held Tuesday evening, Nov. 15, in the Faculty Dining Room.
    Gentlemans Guide1Hidden Image November 14, 2022 WCT’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide,’ Dec. 1-4 ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,’ a 2013 Broadway hit, plays this weekend in the Main Hall auditorium
    Nicolais School of Business KPMGHidden Image November 11, 2022 $25K grant funds micro-internship program Nicolais School of Business secures support from KPMG U.S. Foundation for training partnership between students and local businesses, nonprofits
    Verrazzano Bridge1aHidden Image November 1, 2022 Araimo listed among Staten Island Power 100 City & State N.Y. releases 2022 list of local political royalty and VIPs
    Project Pericles Debating for Democracy WinnersHidden Image October 28, 2022 Wagner students take winning stand For third year in a row, Wagner students win national competition for policy letters to elected officials
    Hidden Image October 28, 2022 Hurricane Sandy: A look back Seven years ago — on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 — we were all battening down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. See a slideshow of campus damage & recovery, and watch the video of our prep meeting just before the storm hit.
     
    • Wagner Magazine

      Stories from alumni around the world.

      Read the magazine

    • Contact the newsroom

      Media relations director Lee Manchester
      lee.manchester@wagner.edu
      718-420-4504

    • Wagner in the media

      Wagner College 2019 news coverage

      Browse Catalog

    • Visit Campus
    • Explore Majors
    • Library
    • Make a Gift
    Wagner College
    Work One Campus Road
    Staten Island, NY 10301
    • CONTACT US
    • Privacy Policy
    Back top