Amarillo native Tevae Vontrell Shoels made his Broadway debut in Aladdin in 2025 after growing up in theater programs at Amarillo Little Theatre and the Amarillo College Summer Youth Musical.
He’ll return to the show this May as the standby for the roles of Genie, Babkak and Sultan. But just a month into that run, he’ll come home to headline From ALT to NYC, a special fundraising concert for ALT. For tickets, visit amarillolittletheatre.org or call 806-355-9991. (Full disclosure: I’m on the ALT board of directors.)
Tevae spoke with me in April about growing up in the arts in Amarillo, the deep well of support he found here, and the full circle moment that performing in Aladdin represents for him.
Chip Chandler: How did you find ALT?
Tevae Shoels: I didn’t get involved with it until actually after Summer Youth Musical when I was in eighth grade. A bunch of the kids were from ALT, and (Palo Duro High School theater teacher and frequent ALT actress) Shannon Mashburn actually was kind enough to get me a scholarship to go to camp that summer.
Chip: You’ve talked about how hard it is for someone from a somewhat lower income background to find theater and the arts.
TS: None of my family was involved in any type of arts at all. My mom … played basketball. My dad played football. For a lot of low-income kids in the south, specifically, sports is the way out, right? You go to college, go to the NFL, you get out and come back and help your community. For a while, I was like, maybe that would happen. I played football up to my freshman year of high school, but it really just started not to feel like my thing. I didn’t know scholarships [for the arts] were possible. I just thought all these kids have parents that can afford for them to do theater. I never thought that was something that was accessible to me. Even my mom was like, I would love for you to get to do theater, but I can’t afford to take off work to take you to rehearsals. Jason [Crespin, ALT’s managing/artistic director] actually used to pick me up for class at the Chili’s right by Tascosa. And that’s actually how Harrison [Stringer, now ALT Academy director] and I became very close because once he got a car, he was my ride to and from places. It’s always the little things you don’t think about. So I’m very thankful for that.
Chip: What has theater given to you?
TS: Just to be honest and be myself and be OK with what that person is. It has definitely taught me to be more social and really connect with people on a deep level, because understanding people helps you act better.
Chip: So, then, what do you hope that you can bring to theater?
TS: We’re so unique, so different. You know, there’s a quote I read recently that was like, the world cannot exist as it does without you in it right now. And so just remembering that even who I am as a person influences the industry, it influences how one person perceives a story, right? Maybe what I have to say affects an audience member in a way that they really needed to feel it. Just existing with my background, with my lived experiences, I feel like I just bring something fresh and unique to the industry.
Chip: When did your New York dream begin?
TS: I came for the first time when I was 16. I came with my high school choir, and Linda Hughes [longtime Amarillo College Conservatory Theatre for Children director] sponsored the trip for me to go, because I was not able to afford to go. She just told me she believed in me. She said, “I just know when you get there, it’s gonna feel right, and you should experience it.” As a young gay boy, it was so special to see, where people were just being themselves out on the street, just seeing what was possible for me. And then the first show we saw actually on the trip was Aladdin … and immediately I was enamored with the genie.
Chip: After rediscovering your love of performing in Texas, performing at Disney World and elsewhere, and graduating from Baylor University, what was next?
TS: I left Disney in January of last year, moved to New York. I’m auditioning, auditioning, auditioning. I went to 77 auditions in the span of my first three months, and I booked three things. One of those was Disney Cruise, and so I was, like, I guess I’ll go back to the Mouse. So I started rehearsals for that in the summer… and then right towards the end of rehearsals, I [auditioned] for Aladdin and then got [hired] the day before I was supposed to get on the ship. I had to leave Disney Cruise, but it was for a role I’d wanted to play since I saw it when I was 16, so it just felt very full circle.
Chip: How do you make a role like Genie your own? I mean, obviously, there’s the cartoon, there’s Robin Williams, but then it’s had a long life on Broadway already. So how do you put yourself into that?
TS: I got a note from my director right before I opened, which was to find three moments in the show that were Tevae’s moments, whether it be the way I read a line, the way I ad lib a line. [Genie’s humor] is very different from mine, because I have a pretty dark sense of humor and the genie’s very light and free. So there are lines that are a little bit more dry or dark that get a laugh out of people, and those are the Tevae moments, and I will tell you like, my Tevae moments get the biggest laughs in my show.
Chip: What does it mean to you to be asked to come back to ALT for this special event?
TS: I mean, I love that place. It’s an honor to get to come back and perform in this capacity … It’s such a special place to me, knowing that that’s where I started doing theater. Everyone at ALT just took such good care of me and supported me … It’s so formative to who I am today.
