Sean Stewart took one look at the young actors in our Matilda the Musical cast and had a very un-Trunchbull thought: “They’re all so adorable!” Then came the practical question. How was he supposed to be mean to them?
If you’d been at that first read-through, you’d know he figured it out. Our cast loved him, and the feeling was mutual. Sean was already talking about their voices and calling them triple threats in the making. Crunchem Hall’s headmistress would be horrified.
The role that made him want to do this for a living
Before Sean ever got his hands on a script, he was singing for his parents, doing impressions in a toy mask, and putting on puppet shows from behind the dinner table. In fourth grade, when his friends started signing up for the ensemble of Aladdin, he did the math. Singing, dancing, and an audience? He was in. He still loves that moment when the audience’s excitement meets his own and gives him an extra jolt of energy onstage.
In eighth grade, Sean walked up to a cast list in a hallway full of kids. About three dozen students had auditioned. He found his name next to The Trunchbull and jumped for joy. It was his first major role in a musical. By the time the show was over, he knew he wanted to keep performing.
Now a senior at Voyager Academy High School in Durham, Sean has played Damian Hubbard in Mean Girls, Davey in Newsies, and Luke Castellan in The Lightning Thief. He’s also playing Danny Zuko in his school’s Grease this fall. Going from a cocky teenager trying to look cool to a headmistress who considers intimidation part of the curriculum takes two very different headspaces. Sean is having fun with the switch.
It started with a song on the porch
Sean knows ArtXecute music director Titus Pollard as “Reverend Titus,” the music director at his church, and as his vocal coach. One day, as Sean approached Titus’s porch, he heard a familiar melody coming from the grand piano inside. It was “When I Grow Up,” a song that still makes him emotional.
When Titus told him he was working on Matilda, Sean mentioned how much the show meant to him and how gladly he’d play Trunchbull again. About a week and a half later, Titus called Sean’s mom. ArtXecute needed a Trunchbull. His mom screamed, handed him the phone, and Sean was all in.
So how does someone that friendly turn into the meanest person at Crunchem Hall? “If you want me to be completely honest... I have no idea!” he says. His best guess is that committing completely in the moment lets him step out of the character just as easily afterward. He especially enjoys how Trunchbull can be terrifying and ridiculously funny in the same breath. She gets so carried away with her own ideas that you can find yourself laughing at the very person you want Matilda to outsmart.
Finding the right room
Of all the things Sean told us, this one has stayed with me:
“If you are the best in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
Sean talked about seeking out people who challenge him and listening to how other actors interpret a character or a scene. He’s putting that into practice with a part he already knows. Some of his eighth-grade ideas are coming back with him, and he’s eager to see what else he can find in Trunchbull now.
After graduation, Sean plans to study musical theatre and pursue a career as a performer. His Broadway dream role is Aaron Burr in Hamilton. He’s drawn to Burr’s complicated backstory and how differently audiences can read him. Seaweed in Hairspray, the Tin Man in The Wiz, and Orpheus in Hadestown are on his list, too.
First, though, there’s a school to terrorize. We can’t wait for you to see what Sean does with Miss Agatha Trunchbull the second time around.
See Sean Stewart in ArtXecute’s Matilda the Musical, February 5–7, 2027, at the Paramount Theatre in Goldsboro. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. Children’s tickets are $10 for the Saturday 2 p.m. family matinee. Get tickets at the Paramount Theatre.
Photo by Daniel Turbert