Louisville Magazine

NOV 2017

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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20 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 11.17 Chase Phillips Actor When Chase Phillips was five, he'd dress up in costumes, pop into his mom's room in their Shively home and put on performances. "He used to do puppet shows and would create the whole stage out of a box," his mother, Stephanie Nelson, says. "He actually said he wanted to be a child actor when he was five." Now Chase is 10. And for the past month or so he has been playing young versions of Ber- ry Gordy, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson in the touring production of Motown: The Musical (in Lexington in April). "You're not nervous because you're gonna mess up," Chase says. "You're nervous because you want to do good, which means you care." Chase's kindergarten and first-grade teachers at Wilder Elementary told Nelson her son should attend Lincoln Perform- ing Arts School instead. Nelson decided to let Chase, well, chase his dreams. "He actually told me that he loved acting so much that he didn't care if any- one ever came to see him," Nel- son says. Chase performed in Macbeth at Actors Theatre. His dream role is Barack Obama. Mowtown, based on Gordy's book To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Mo- town, debuted on Broadway in 2013. When Nelson heard auditions for the touring show were being held in Detroit, she and her son made the trip. Chase auditioned in front of Gordy, who founded the Motown record label. What was Chase's reaction to being cast in Motown? "The very first thing he did was scream and thank God and Jesus," Nelson says. Chase is onstage for about 30 minutes per show. The role

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