Adam Kantor on Stillness, Storytelling, and Broadway at The Ranch

For Broadway actor, writer, and producer Adam Kantor, the past few months have been some of the most demanding of his life. Deep in the creation of his newest production, Diaspora by StoryCourse, he’s been producing, directing, and writing nonstop. The experience has left him feeling both stretched and grateful, and now, as he prepares to teach and perform at Rancho La Puerta, he sees the week as a much-needed reset and a return to presence.

“I’ve been so deep in production… this last month has been maybe the highest anxiety-inducing time of my life,” he shares. “StoryCourse merges the worlds of food and theater, two of the most white-knuckle, finger-biting industries. So I’ve been feeling it. Tightness in my chest… all of it.”

What he’s looking forward to most at The Ranch is simple: “I really need this right now. To reframe what I do, out of the hustle and bustle and grind of New York City and into a stage set by mountains and nature, I think it’s going to be a real paradigm shift for me.”

Q: In theatre, your body is your instrument. What practices help you keep your voice, body, and mind balanced for the demands of the stage? Do you have a routine?

“I love doing yoga. I do that before a lot of shows, not all, but most. And at the very least, if I can’t do a full flow, I’ll do stretching and vocal warm-ups. Theater is a full-body sport. Singing isn’t just your vocal cords; it’s your diaphragm, your back, your resonators, breath support… really, your whole body.

And body language is such a big part of storytelling. In theater, most communication isn’t actually the text; it’s the body. So to use your body, you’ve got to be in your body. For me, stretching and yoga, vinyasa especially, help anchor me before going on stage.”

Q: You’ve said that to play Telephone Guy in The Band’s Visit, you had to learn real stillness. What does stillness mean to you?

“Stillness for me is breath and presence. Yoga was a huge part of that role because yoga has meditation baked into it. While I was standing there staring at the payphone, a lot of what I was doing was meditating and focusing on my breath, clearing my mind.

I started practicing yoga when I was a teenager studying acting with Stella Adler, and I learned Buddhist meditation in college. I really tapped back into all that work for Telephone Guy.

And sleep was huge. If I had a bad night of sleep, meditating on that stage for that long was so much harder. I found it much easier to be in my body and with my breath when I’d had a good night’s rest.”

Q: You’ve spent years bringing emotion to the stage through music and storytelling. At The Ranch, the “stage” becomes mountains, nature, and the Oak Tree Pavilion. What does performing in this setting mean to you?

“Oh, I cannot wait to get there. I’ve been so deep in production, and honestly, the last month has been maybe the highest anxiety-inducing time of my life. StoryCourse merges the worlds of food and theater — two famously stressful industries — and I’ve been feeling that in my body.

So to reframe what I do, out of the hustle and bustle and grind of New York City and into a stage set by mountains and nature… I think it’s going to be a real paradigm shift for me. A reset that I very much need right now.

A lot of colleagues of mine joke that if only we could take everything we love about Broadway and put it in beautiful nature — well, that’s what Rancho La Puerta feels like to me. I can’t wait.”

Q: You’re leading a masterclass on “storytelling through music.” What powerful lessons can a song teach us about our personal narratives, even for guests with no theatre background?

“I love teaching storytelling through song. What I always do is look at the lyric and excavate it. We get so caught up in the singing that we forget it’s storytelling first.

I’ve worked with Tony Award winners who don’t think of themselves as singers. But if you can connect with a lyric and apply it to your own life, you can transport an audience — and it can be incredibly therapeutic.

We explore questions like:

Who are you talking to? What do you want? What’s at stake?

Sometimes singing becomes a way to say something you’ve never said to someone — someone alive, someone who’s passed, or someone you want to call into your life. In a group, it can feel like a form of group therapy.”

Q: You often tell people, “You are enough… your weirdness and quirks are worthy of celebration.” What’s the first practical step someone can take this week to move past self-judgment?

“The first step is identifying the thing you hide — consciously or subconsciously — and choosing one thing you can do to hide it less.

Meditation can help with that.

Ask yourself:

What part of me do I cover up every day? Which part am I afraid people will see?

It could be clothing you use to hide something, the way you speak, a lisp, or a hat you wear because of your hairline. Doing one small thing that scares you a little and embracing all that you are allows for a freer sense of artistry, a higher sense of abandon, and a happier existence.

We spend so much of life trying to assimilate. Artists — and really everyone — are tasked with understanding their unique thumbprint and letting it shine.”

Q: What is the most unexpected place or time you’ve burst into song?

“This takes me back to college. My a cappella group was in South Africa doing arts education work, which later became a nonprofit I helped create called Broadway in South Africa.

We were walking through the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. It was breathtaking. We were quiet, just taking in the beauty, and suddenly we started singing Josh Groban’s ‘You Raise Me Up.’ It was stunning, harmony, nature, mountains. Very Sound of Music.

It’s a musical moment I’ll never forget. And who knows… maybe we’ll recreate something like it at The Ranch.”

Join us for Broadway Week, January 31–February 7, 2026, an unforgettable blend of music, storytelling, and nature at The Ranch. Enjoy intimate concerts, playful classes, and inspiring moments with Broadway stars including Adam Kantor, Eden Espinosa, Nick Adams, Monique Mead, Stephen Neely, Michele de la Reza, Van Kaplan, and Joel Waggoner. Reserve your spot and experience Broadway like never before.