#458: Shonica Gooden // Hamilton on Broadway // Part One

The Hamilcast: A Hamilton Podcast

Gillian Pensavalle

Newyorkpodcasts, Newyorkpodcasters, Hamilton, Theatre, Hamiltonpodcast, Musicals, Daveeddiggs, Foundingfathers, Leslieodomjr, Hamiltonchernow, Broadwaypodcast, Chernow, Alexanderhamiltonchernow, Arts, Podcasting, History, Podcasts, Femalepodcasters, Ham4ham, Gillianpensavalle, Linmanuelmiranda, Americanhistory, Alexanderhamilton, Broadway, Musicalpodcasts, Performing Arts, Theater, Hamiltonthemusical, Hiphop

4.5 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shonica Gooden (Hamilton Broadway's Woman 4) was born and raised in Atlanta, where she focused on what was supposed to be a thriving modern dance career. She had zero interest in musical theatre and didn't see herself as a triple threat. Luckily, her teachers at DanceMakers of Atlanta did see her as a triple threat and strongly encouraged Shonica to audition for Bring It On. This led to callbacks and work sessions with Alex Lacamoire and Andy Blankenbuehler, and it would prove to be the start of a beautiful friendship with The Cabinet.

Shonica had the incredibly unique experience working with Andy Blankenbuehler in the pre-production phase of Hamilton, and she was one of the dancers Andy called to help him visualize what would end up being the choreography in the show. It was a shock to everyone (especially Andy) when Shonica turned down the opportunity to be a swing when Hamilton was transferring to Broadway. As Shonica explains, it was a terrifying decision that ended up being the right move.

Plus, Shonica talks about being a mother on Broadway including not feeling guilty about having a child, what needs to change in the industry, refusing to make excuses, and teaching her son that being busy is normal because she's not giving up her career anytime soon.

Shonica on Instagram

The Black Artists Dance Collective

Mutha Podcast

///

Gillian's Website

The Hamilcast on Twitter

The Hamilcast on Instagram

Join the Patreon Peeps

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm Stage in Stages, Lynn Manuel Miranda, and you're listening to The Hamelcast.
0:05.1	Boots and cuts and Boots and cuts. Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Hamelcast. I am Jillian. And today I cannot believe it. We've heard so much about her. The lovely Shanika Gooden is here. Hey, Shenika. Hey, I'm so excited to be here. My bestie is ringing your praises. Terrence Martin. Look, back at you. We, the listeners are, we can, we're just also excited.
0:39.4	We're also excited.
0:40.7	But before we do anything else, Cheneke, can you just tell me and the listeners your pronouns, please?
0:44.7	Yes, she, her, hers.
0:46.5	Thank you so much.
0:47.6	I saw a little cat just come into the screen.
0:50.0	Oh, my goodness.
0:51.0	This is our lovely cat, my son. Debo. We call him Debo. He's so sweet. And I was not a cat person, honestly, until I met Debo. And now I just can't imagine my life, him not being in my life. So I'm a cat person now.
1:08.6	I love that so much. I am an everything person. I have a dog named Fiona, but I'm a little allergic to cats. So I'm a cat person now. I love that so much. I am an everything person. I have a dog named
1:12.4	Fiona, but I'm a little allergic to cats. So I love them and they love me, but it's a little
1:16.6	bit of a, I got to be prepared. I have to bring my claret in with me if we're going to. Oh, boy.
1:21.9	Shadika, you are currently woman four on Broadway. Yes. you were in cats the Broadway revival bring
1:29.1	it on the musical hello yes Cinderella the American Dance Machine the national tour of
1:34.3	Matilda piece of my heart sister act a lot of TV film Fossi Verdon big fans of Fossi Verdon
1:38.9	on this pod yes what was and of course founding member of the black artist dance
1:43.3	collective and you also serve as the
1:45.3	executive artistic director uh we're going to get into all of that you have a course coming up we're
1:50.1	going to talk about that we're going to talk about terence martin uh i'm just so excited to hear about
1:56.3	like your whole life journey your life story being a mother in this industry, being a performer.
2:02.7	I just, I can't wait to learn all about you, Shanika.
2:05.2	Yes, I can't wait to tell you about all of that.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Gillian Pensavalle, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Gillian Pensavalle and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.