View original article published in the Scranton Times
GIA MAZUR / PUBLISHED: MARCH 26, 2017

 

Erin Malloy-Marcinko performed on stages all over the country and even at sea, but it was in her hometown of Scranton where she took on her most meaningful role.

The Hill Section resident imparts lessons she learned in her performing career to the 38 students of Erin Malloy Voice Studio, where she gives one-on-one voice lessons out of a space inside Northeast Music Center, Dickson City. She also works with high school students as a music/voice teacher at summer arts institute Arts Alive with a team of professional artists.

“Teaching is very rewarding for me,” said Malloy-Marcinko, who also gigs around the region as a professional singer. “If I can help these kids, especially performing-arts kids, with the experience from my performing life and career, it’s the most amazing feeling.”

Seven years ago, the Scranton Preparatory School graduate came home from New York City to regroup and ended up forging a new path.

“With all of my background in performing, being with national tours and 16 years in New York City, I never in a million years thought I’d end up back here,” Malloy-Marcinko said. “But I really love teaching. And I really love musical theater, and working at Arts Alive fulfills that for me.”

As a kid growing up in the Hill Section, the acting bug bit Malloy-Marcinko as she watched her older sister, Maura, perform. Malloy-Marcinko longed to be under the stage lights, too, and her older sister led the way there. Malloy-Marcinko took dance classes at Ballet Theatre of Scranton and performed in local and school productions throughout her adolescence. Unlike many of her peers, Malloy-Marcinko never had to beg her parents, Robert and Marilyn Malloy, to pursue her passion.

“They supported me and my career at every step,” she said. “But once I started, there was no stopping me. I was going to be a performer.”

At 19, Malloy-Marcinko packed her bags and moved to New York City. She studied musical theater at American Musical and Dramatic Academy, a performing arts college and conservatory, where she trained rigorously to hone her performance skills.

Throughout her final semester and after graduation, Malloy-Marcinko — who earned membership in Actors’ Equity union when she was 21 — started landing jobs, including a role in a national tour of “A Chorus Line” directed by Baayork Lee, and original cast member of the musical. Her status as a “triple-threat” — an actor, singer and dancer — helped her land roles like Maggie, which she portrayed with 13 touring companies of “A Chorus Line,” (“I should just write it across my whole resume,” she said); a national tour of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”; and Belle in “Beauty and the Beast” and Megara in “Hercules” for Disney Cruise Lines.

“It was just so much fun. I got to see so many places and do what I love. And who would not want to be a Disney princess?” she said with a laugh. “New York was totally my home, too, but after 16 years, I really started to get burnt out.”

At 33, Malloy-Marcinko looked for a change of pace and set her sights on Los Angeles. She returned to Scranton to re-group before moving out west, but she never left.

“There’s no other place where the people have such a connection to each other,” she said of her hometown. “The traditions and the way people here care about one another, I think it’s really beautiful. And I love this community and how much they cherish, and give back to, the arts.”

While in NEPA, Malloy-Marcinko met her now-husband, jazz musician Marko Marcinko, through a mutual friend who suggested she sing with Marcinko’s band. The couple married four years ago, and she credits her husband with introducing her to jazz singing, the style she performs throughout the region and which she calls “so freeing.” The two also understand the other’s artistry.

“We both need time to create, and that support is totally there,” she said. “If he goes on tour or I go do a show, we’ll work with what we need to keep working in our fields.”

Malloy-Marcinko also found sobriety when she returned home. She reconnected with her youth and her roots, which helped narrow her focus and stop the haze of drinking. She hopes to teach these kinds of real-life lessons to her students before they pursue a performing career.

“You’re under a lot of pressure and facing rejection,” Malloy-Marcinko said. “I tell the kids they need to have a healthy habit — something they can go and do when pressure is intense.”

Another saving grace of Malloy-Marcinko’s life is yoga, which she’s done for almost two decades. She practices six times per week and is an instructor at Jaya Yoga, Clarks Summit.

“Yoga is a religion to me,” she said, noting that she traveled to Thailand for yoga-instructor certification. “I don’t know if I would be sane if I didn’t have it.”

Malloy-Marcinko teaches voice and yoga by day and fills the rest of her time singing with bands. She performs a weekly Skytop Lounge gig with Doug Smith Orchestra, nights with some her husband’s groups and more throughout the region.

And she still answers when the theater calls to her. While she wishes there were more Equity options near her, she doesn’t let that stop her. Recently, Malloy-Marcinko traveled to New York City for the day to audition for Broadway shows. While it feeds her creative spirit, it also factors in to her work as a mentor to young artists.

“I never had to take a job that wasn’t in my field,” she said. “There are many ways to make your living in this profession. As long as you have the passion, the talent and drive, you can make a living as a full-time professional artist.”

Contact the writer: gmazur@timesshamrock.com, @gmazurTT on Twitter

Meet Erin Malloy-Marcinko

At home: She lives in Scranton’s Hill Section with her husband, Marko, and two beagles, Hadley and Cooper. She is the daughter of Robert and Marilyn Malloy and the daughter-in-law of Glenda Marcinko and the late Patrick Marcinko Jr. She has two siblings, Maura Malloy Hammond and husband, Tom; and attorney James Malloy and wife, Lynn Kadri Malloy. She has a nephew, George.

At work: She owns Erin Malloy Voice Studio, Dickson City, and is a music/voice teacher for Arts Alive; yoga instructor at Jaya Yoga, Clarks Summit; and professional singer.

Inspirations: Strong women from her life, such as her mother; her sister; her former dance instructor and current colleague, Joanne Arduino; her grandmother, the late Marion Norton; and her former dance instructor, the late Constance Reynolds

Aspirations: To continue to inspire young people to follow their dreams in the arts, to own an animal sanctuary, to travel more, to practice yoga until she’s 90 or older, to see and encourage more women to get involved with politics or run for public office, to adopt a child from a different country and to be on Broadway (“I’ve done a lot, but it’s the one thing that’s not on my resume that I just wish was there,” Malloy-Marcinko said.)

Diversions: Traveling, yoga, adopting animals and politics

Aversions: Bullying, closed-mindedness, uncompassionate people, bigotry, misogyny, inequality, negativity and non-peace

Quote:“Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu,” Sanskrit for “May all beings everywhere be happy and free.”