Kevin’s Story: Living out his Passion for Acting

Who is Kevin?

Kevin Mange is 31 years old and lives in North Andover, Massachusetts. He describes himself as funny and friendly. Some of his favorite things include making videos, acting, and swimming competitively with Special Olympics. On most days, he volunteers in the community with other people from his service provider, the Plus Company.

What is Kevin’s job?

Kevin has worked for several years for the Canobie Lake Park’s entertainment department as a character actor, playing different creatures depending on the season’s featured show. He has worked for several summers on their “critter crew,” supporting the show as an usher or acting as one of several animals in their daily critter show. From mid-September to Halloween, Kevin works every weekend as a zombie or other scary character for the park’s ScreamFest show. Kevin has also worked for Cherry Hill Programs at the Rockingham Mall, acting as one of their Easter bunnies in their spring display at the center of the mall.

Finding the Job

Kevin has had a love of entertaining and acting since he was very young. He also learned to make videos on his iPad. “I had two dreams about wanting to be an actor and wanting to start my own TV series,” he says.

In 2018, Kevin was a client of the Plus Company’s day services when he began working with Mike, his current job developer. They had begun to get to know one another and were talking about employment when services were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When services started back up again remotely, Kevin and Mike met one-on-one over Zoom to talk about career paths and Kevin’s goals. Mike followed Kevin’s strong interests in acting and making videos, and thought he might like working for Canobie Lake Park, an employer in the same regional employment collaborative (Employment First Massachusetts partnership) as the Plus Company. Mike knew that the park was reopening and hiring people for a variety of seasonal positions. Kevin was very interested, and Mike supported him to apply to be one of their character actors. Kevin was hired for the summer and went on to work at the park for other seasons. The job turned out to be a great fit.

Mike also supported Kevin to find a weekly volunteer opportunity at North Andover Community Access Media to learn much more about making and editing videos. Four years later, as a part of that volunteer opportunity, Kevin now hosts a weekly talk show on topics that interest him and the show’s guests. The Community Access Media station is close enough that Kevin can walk there from his house. He does community volunteering and other activities with the Plus Company three days a week and works on his competitive swimming at the Y on Thursdays.

Kevin’s Supports

Kevin gets a ride to his acting jobs at Canobie Lake Park from his mom or someone at his service provider. He clocks in, gets into character with costume and makeup, and heads to his workspace, which is called a “haunt” during the Halloween season. For the current Halloween season, Kevin acts as one of the zombies who have taken over a hospital called Pinecrest Sanitarium. Kevin and the other team members are assigned their characters and use scripts to learn what each character’s personality is and what to say and do. Once they know their parts, they have some room to make up lines and facial expressions as long as they stay in character.

Kevin seems to have found an ideal combination of activities because he has maintained his routine for several years. He has become so comfortable at his paid and volunteer jobs that he generally knows what to do at any given time. He and Mike check in once a week to review how things are going, address any issues, and look for additional opportunities to develop Kevin’s skills.

What does Kevin think of the Job?

Working as a character actor lets Kevin use his gifts for facial expressions and body language.

"It really kind of plays to Kevin’s strengths, the character actor role," says Mike. "Kevin is a guy who really has a desire to communicate and express himself. He’s very articulate and likes to be thoughtful and careful about what he says. But with nonverbal expressions, when he’s wearing the costume, it really is something where he gets to utilize his full potential and communicate at a very high level."

Kevin is looking into future opportunities to do more paid acting and is excited to continue making videos.

“In the future, I would like to expand my TV series. But how I would expand it is if there are some people who would be willing to be part of my TV series. I would like to have some TV shows that I can help make the way I see them.”

Speaking as someone with experience working at a local public media access  station, he adds:

“I know I don’t own the shows, and that I would have to respect their guidelines. I admire leadership. I want to go above and beyond and show what kind of leader I can be, leading by example and learning from mistakes.”

Advice for Job Seekers and Supporters

• Kevin tells other people looking for jobs: “Do not be nervous. You can be nervous, but you don’t have to be totally nervous.”

• Mike suggests that professionals follow their clients’ lead.

  "If you’re going to support someone to chase their dreams, find a job, find a career path, it really is about listening to what they want to do because that motivation is going to be what makes it or breaks it. You’re going to face challenges, you’re going to be nervous. But if you can walk through that, that’s where accomplishments will materialize."

• As for employers, communicate directly with the individuals you hire. Job developers and coaches can assist if they’re needed, but only if employers are treating the individuals they hired as the employees they are. Be open to a job coach being a reasonable accommodation to that employer/employee relationship but mainly stay open to the talent and possibilities that come from working directly with the right individual.