Jared Keeso, right in white t-shirt, the creator and star of Letterkenny, and Listowel native, talks to drama students at LDSS during the 71st annual Sears Drama Festival, alongside teacher Stefanie Webster, left in black. March 24th, 2017 (Photo by Ryan Drury)Jared Keeso, right in white t-shirt, the creator and star of Letterkenny, and Listowel native, talks to drama students at LDSS during the 71st annual Sears Drama Festival, alongside teacher Stefanie Webster, left in black. March 24th, 2017 (Photo by Ryan Drury)
Midwestern

Letterkenny Star Speaks At Sears Drama Festival In Listowel

With the Sears Drama Festival happening at Listowel District Secondary School, local hero and Letterkenny creator Jared Keeso stopped by to talk with the students and share his experiences.

Keeso says it feels great to come home and share his story.

"It does feel really good, I felt bad that I missed it last time around when they hosted Sears here. But I'll make up for it this time around," he says.

The Sears Drama Festival is in its 71st year, and brings hundreds of schools together to showcase their plays and productions by students in competitions all the way to the provincial level and beyond.

Keeso shared his experiences on the road to success with the students, and says having Letterkenny win a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy was really gratifying.

"It was a bit surreal, considering where we started. In Toronto that night, we had the whole cast there, and we kept our fingers crossed. You wanna win, but there was nothing but surprise on our end that we did. It was such a stacked category. Mr. D is so funny, Schitt's Creek, Kim's Convenience, I mean, we were up against some excellent shows. It was cool to have us all there and celebrate."

Keeso fielded some questions from the students, and says one piece of advice he got as a young actor always sticks with him when talking to students aspiring to get in the business.

"There's lots of good advice, but the simplest that I was ever given and gave me the biggest boost was pack your bags," he says. "If you wanna be in theatre, you can pretty much do that anywhere, but if you wanna be in film, you have to move to a city that's a film centre like Vancouver or Toronto. That's the first step."

Jared Keeso, creator and star of Letterkenny, stops to take photos with drama students at ther 2017 Sears Drama Festival. Jared stopped by his old high school LDSS in Listowel to share his story and advice with students. March 24th, 2017 (Photo by Ryan Drury) Jared Keeso, creator and star of Letterkenny, stops to take photos with drama students at the 2017 Sears Drama Festival. Jared stopped by his old high school LDSS in Listowel to share his story and advice with students. March 24, 2017 (Photo by Ryan Drury)

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