Stage & Screen Alum Joshua Park, Broadway's Tom Sawyer, Dies at 38

Joshua Park, a stage and screen alum who starred in the title role of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on Broadway, has died following a brief illness. He was 38 years old.

Soon after graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts, Park made his Broadway debut in 2001 in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It was the first Great White Way show he had ever auditioned for. “This is not what school prepared me for at all,” Park told Broadway.com at the time. “School prepared me for: ‘You’re not gonna work for the next five years, so get ready, kid.’” Though the musical, which also featured Kristen Bell, Jim Poulos and Tom Aldredge, only played the Minskoff Theatre for just over two weeks after opening, Park received a Theatre World Award for his performance.

Later that year, Park appeared in the Irish Repertory Theatre’s off-Broadway revival of Streets of New York and A Celtic Christmas in 2002. His additional stage credits included the off-Broadway musical Prodigal opposite Christian Borle and Kerry Butler, ”Master Harold”…and the Boys ad the Westport Country Playhouse and the title role in the Goodspeed Opera House and subsequent national touring production of Pippin.

On screen, Park appeared in a series of low-budget horror films: The Bog Creatures, Fort Doom and Blood Relic. He also participated in many developmental readings and festival stagings of new works, including A Merry Jewish Christmas and Like You Like It.