When actor Henry Crater accepted the role of Jack Kelly in the Virginia Theatre Festival’s production of “Newsies,” he did not expect a bunch of college kids to correct him.
During the festival’s media day, Crater innocently mentioned his younger brother, Luke, was a “rising sophomore” at the University of Virginia, which hosts the Virginia Theatre Festival.
“Second-year,” a group of current students in the cast said.
The festival’s 2026 season was not Crater’s first introduction to the University. That came much earlier, through his parents. Dana Crater graduated from UVA's College of Arts & Sciences before she started at the School of Medicine, where she met her husband and Henry’s father, Scott.
Dana and Scott Crater stand in the lobby of 鶹ƽ drama building after their son’s performance. The couple met at 鶹ƽ School of Medicine. (Photos by Kelly West, University Communications)
“There’s the campus/Grounds thing too, and my mom would always correct me growing up. I didn’t realize how seriously people took it,” said Crater, who earned a fine arts degree at the University of Michigan.
Crater’s parents, and more than 20 other relatives, all came to Grounds to see him during the musical’s opening weekend. The festival’s production of “Newsies” runs through Sunday.
Dana Crater said it was “amazing” to watch her son perform not far from where she and her husband met roughly two decades earlier.
“It’s a beautiful theater, and probably the biggest he’s performed in,” Scott Crater added.
Henry Crater got his start in community theater near Fort Myers, Florida, when he was 6. He loved it right away.
“I kind of sucked at sports, but I loved rehearsal. I could be myself, and I loved the people there,” he said.
Henry Crater, center, poses with his siblings, Luke, left, and Adrien, right. Parents Dana and Scott, right, join nearly two dozen relatives who watched Henry perform. (Photos by Kelly West, University Communications)
At 10, he got an agent and tried to make it on Broadway, but he was “kind of old” to make it as a child actor, he said. He continued acting in community and regional theater. By the time he was a teenager, he knew he wanted to attend a conservatory-style program and act professionally. He auditioned at 10 schools and ultimately decided on the University of Michigan.
When a request to audition for “Newsies” landed in his email inbox, he knew he wanted the gig. “I saw it was at UVA, and I was like, ‘I have to go in for this,’” Crater said. “It just seemed perfect.”
He sent in an audition tape. He received a callback for an in-person audition and, eventually, a dance call, during which Crater joked that he “held on for dear life.” Director Matthew Steffens – also a UVA alumnus – offered him the part. It was fitting, as “Newsies” was the first show he saw on Broadway as a child, and one of his favorites, according to his mother.
But Henry Crater is not the first person in his family to perform on Grounds. Dana was the music director of the Sil’hooettes, an all-women a cappella group founded in 1989. Mother and son have compared notes on arranging music, since Henry Crater is also a composer.
Henry plays the role of Jack Kelly in “Newsies.” (Photos by Tristan Williams)
“I always tell Henry that we actually had to listen to the tape, rewind it, and listen again and handwrite all the musical notes while I was arranging the song,” Dana recalled.
Opening weekend served as Part 2 to a recent family reunion, Henry Crater said.
“I happened to have a family reunion in West Point, which is between Charlottesville and Richmond, the weekend before rehearsals started,” he said.
The show has also allowed his parents to point out the landmarks in their own relationship.
