A graduate of Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Kyle Taylor Parker is in the traveling production of the musical, "In the Heights," which was performed in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee native Kyle Taylor Parker had his future figured out at age 5, when his mother, Lorraine Lathen, took him to his first Broadway show, "Annie." He says he doesn’t know if it was the lights, the music or the magic of losing himself in the story, but he knew he needed, somehow, to get himself on that stage.

So he took singing, dancing and acting lessons. He put on shows for his family — and charged them admission. He applied what he was learning at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts and Milwaukee High School of the Arts to work in professional theater productions.

"I was very fortunate to grow up around professional companies, like First Stage Milwaukee and The Rep," Parker says. "I was employed by the Florentine Opera Company in their children’s chorus, and did that for three years until I got too old and my voice changed."

By the time he graduated at age 17, Parker was ready to study the arts at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

"My biggest dream is to have a multifaceted career," he says, which would include acting, directing, casting and writing. "Half the battle is learning how to carry yourself in the theater. It is a business; it’s show business. You are your own manager, you’re building contacts, you’re representing yourself. If people don’t think you’re professional, they may not want to work with you." That means leaving your personal drama at the door, he notes, and putting everything you have into your character.

One of Parker’s most exciting experiences was being selected to perform in "Broadway’s Rising Stars" at New York’s Town Hall. About 20 performers from the top arts schools in the country are chosen to participate.

"They coach you and you put together a showcase for agents, producers and people in the business," Parker says. "You’ve proven who you are and they stand behind you and say, ‘I believe this person is really going to make it on Broadway.’"

One of Parker’s odd jobs in New York was selling souvenir T-shirts at the Tony-Award-winning Broadway hit "In the Heights."

"I used to sneak in every night and take notes," he says. Today, at 24, he is in the traveling production of the musical, as a dancer and understudy for the romantic lead. The show has taken him across the country, and brings him home to the Milwaukee Theatre this month.

"I just really love the community of Milwaukee. It’s a very tight-knit theater community and everyone knows everyone," Parker says. That’s the kind of community that is portrayed in "The Heights," he adds, "and you don’t get a lot of that in New York."