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“It was tailored to trigger the switches in my brain that
hadn’t been turned on before,” Jeremy said. He saw
improvement, but couldn’t afford to continue with the
program. Then a friend suggested that he audition for
Catch Me If You Can with The Naples Players. Jeremy was
cast in the ensemble and began rehearsing on a regular
basis. While he was thrilled to get the part, he didn’t realize
how much The Naples Players would change his life. Jeremy
found that rehearsing musical numbers was similar to some
of the treatment he received for his issues. “Moving around,
I was able to express myself at rehearsal and on stage,”
he said. “Like treatment, it helped me turn on the switches
that were never switched my whole life.” “The more I did
musical theater, the more I listened to music every day.
“The more I danced and the more I exercised, the more I
spent time with my friends and my community,” Jeremy
said. Four years have passed since his first show with TNP
and Jeremy said he feels as if musical theater has cured him
of some of his problems. He’s able to sit and read for
extended periods, and his stutter went away. Plus he can
work his creative muscles on the stage where it’s okay to
fidget, to move about and shout all in the name of fun.
“The Naples Players became my life because I realized how
much I needed theatre,” he said. “And it’s a family. It’s a
community. But also for me, it’s a remedy.” Jeremy credits
The Naples Players with giving him a sense of community,
for supporting him personally and as an actor, and for
helping to improve his disorders through work he enjoys
and can do for free. “I don’t have to search for answers
Jeremy Giovinazzo backstage during White Christmas anymore because I know where I belong:
at The Naples Players.”

Jeremy Giovinazzo as part of the ensemble in Chicago

Life in Naples | January 2020 41