Delaware native Carly Ciarrocchi has made her way to stardom in New York City, but she will never forget the state that contributed to her status.
Background
Ciarrocchi is a host of Sprout’s Sunny Side Up Show, the first 24-hour preschool destination available on TV, on demand and online for children ages 2-6 and their families. Her dream started when she was 8.
“I saw an audition notice for a community production of Peter Pan in the Delaware News Journal. My mom says I brought her the paper, asked her to drive me to the audition and apparently added ‘I think I can be Peter Pan.’ I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for the directors and I got the role of one of the Lost Boys.”
Ciarrocchi spent the next 10 years performing in as many shows at the Wilmington Drama League as possible, until she fell for the whole experience of theatre. As a young girl, Ciarrocchi joined the WDL’s mentor program that matches young members of the theatre community with an adult on the board of directors. It was there the young actress learned how production logistics were handled, how the team picked the seasons and more.
“I loved it. My senior year of high-school I even co-directed a production of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors at the WDL.”
Ciarrocchi says although she never really had any big parts in the shows she performed in, she loved making live theatre. Upon graduating college, the Delawarean moved to Chicago to study improv and work odd jobs, in addition to performing and auditioning.
Ciarrocchi recalls one of her day jobs at an early childhood enrichment center called Bubbles Academy where she taught music and movement classes to moms and babies. When her agent heard about the Sprout audition, she thought it might be a good fit. She was right.
The young actress moved to Philadelphia to start hosting Sunny Side Up in 2012 and then moved with the company to NYC in 2014.
Chicago’s Redmoon Theatre – Stilted Server (Photo credit: Austin D. Oie Photography)
Role Models and Aspirations
Growing up, Ciarrocchi had many role models and limitless aspirations, many of which she found at WDL.
“I was very much inspired by the environment at the Wilmington Drama League. One of the unique things about community theatre is that it’s truly an all-ages experience. The adults in the productions were my peers, my colleagues and I wanted to emulate their work ethic and their commitment to collaboration.”
Ciarrocchi studied theatre at Northwestern University in Chicago, not realizing that Chicago is a uniquely ensemble-focused town when it comes to the arts. She describes Chicago’s professional theatres, like Steppenwolf and Lookingglass, as having a core group of people who perform, direct and write the shows in a given season, changing jobs depending on the project.
She says it’s also a city that values the well-rounded theatremaker – the type of person that can’t say they’re just an actor, because that doesn’t quite cover it all. Ciarrocchi now identifies with that. Her favorite experiences as a performer and as an audience member comes from projects that involve a sense of shared ownership.
“When I made the decision to go to college to pursue theatre, I honestly didn’t know exactly where it would take me. I didn’t have a clear focus like ‘I want to be a Broadway star!’ or ‘I want to star in a movie!’ I think I just knew I wanted to continue to chase the very specific and very awesome feeling of making something with a group of creative people that gets performed for other people to enjoy and be entertained or provoked by.”
Perks of the Job
“I feel so lucky to get to do what I do,” Ciarrocchi says.
Sunny Side Up is live from 9 a.m.-noon every weekday, with segments usually lasting three minutes and appearing between all the programs that run on Sprout during that block of time.
Ciarrocchi says there are a handful of segments that occur in the same form daily including a dress up segment, a segment about kindness that highlights messages kids have sent them throughout the week and several segments celebrating Sproutlet viewers’ birthdays. There are also a handful of segments that are written by the host and puppeteer just for a given week with original songs, games, recipes and sketches.
“I love creating my own content. I get to try new things all the time, I get to repeat and expand characters and sketches that I like, and on the flip side of that, I get to start the next day fresh if something doesn’t go quite as we had planned.”
Ciarrocchi says she feels very honored to share mornings with families all over the country and help her viewers set a tone for their day.
“…since we are live, we get to interact with our audience in realtime via our website, and I absolutely love hearing what our audience has to say about whatever theme we are celebrating on a given week. I suppose my least favorite part of the job is the early call-time. But honestly, I’m a morning person, so that’s not even that bad!”
NBCU Cable Upfront Party 2015 (Photo: carlyciarrocchi.com)
Delaware
Ciarrocchi visits her home state a few times a year. She’ll visit her parents and friends that are still in the area, grab a few bags of coffee beans at Brew Ha Ha on her way out of town and spend some time at the Alapocas Run trail.
The young actress has a long list of favorite things to do in Delaware including visits to Rockford Park, eating pizza at Kozy Korner, dinner at Bangkok House, trips to the Greek Festival, the Italian Festival, the Flower Market, the art museum, Funscape, Charcoal Pit, Hot Nails on 202, Pizza by Elizabeths and the bars in Trolley Square on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
“I think it’s as simple as Delaware is home. The magic of Delaware for me is wrapped up in how grateful I am to have been a part of so many amazing communities growing up.”
Ciarrocchi mentioned her love and involvement with the Wilmington Drama League, but she was also very involved with her high school, Archmere Academy. All six of her siblings went through Archmere and many of them were there at the same time. She has great memories from high school that include her friends and family.
“People have all sorts of relationships with where they come from. I am who I am in large part because of my experiences at the Wilmington Drama League and Archmere…and Wawa, of course. Wawa is magic.”
Check out Wilmington Drama League, Archmere Academy and Sprout’s Sunny Side Up Show.
