By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Marlborough/Westborough – Originally from Marlborough, John Trent now lives in Westborough when he’s not travelling and working as a performer. Completing a recent six-week run with “Toy Soldiers” at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., he gladly worked a schedule that included Christmas Eve and Day, and New Year’s Eve.
“It’s festive,” he declared. “Whether or not you have family and friends to be with during the holidays, it’s a neat environment to be around tens of thousands of people sharing a good time.”
Beginning this March, Trent will live and work for 13 months in Osaka, Japan, where he’ll portray a wand keeper at Harry Potter’s Wizarding World in Universal Studios. For 15 years, he has booked gigs at theme parks through the Florida-based Unity Productions. With “Toy Soldiers,” he performs an interactive street show with guests including synchronized marching and mimed robotic statues.
“We get to play with people in the park,” he explained. “Sometimes we’ll grab a stroller or someone’s fun Christmas hat and have a good time with it, which definitely gets their attention.”
His interest in performing began while attending Our Lady Preschool in Marlborough. There, the Sisters of St. Chretienne cast him in school plays. In recent years he has visited nuns who taught him at the site, now Our Lady’s Thrift Shop.
“One of the nuns would play the piano a lot and we’d get to sing along,” he recalled.
Trent attended grades one through six at Immaculate Conception School with the Sisters of St. Joseph. He fondly remembers a particularly entertaining nun.
“Sister Margaret was a load of laughs,” he said. “She’d sing to us and skip around the room.”
In seventh and eighth grades, Trent went to what was then known as Marlborough Middle School. As a seventh-grader, he performed in the school’s production of “Bambi.”
“I played the owl, the show’s narrator,” he noted. “It was a big undertaking with all my lines and a lot of time onstage. I thought I pulled it off all right.”
After freshman year at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Trent transferred to Marlborough High School (MHS) where most of his friends went. At age 15, he was cast in the musical “Grease” with a Northborough youth theater group, which prompts memories on and offstage.
“Some of the guys in the group were old enough to drive,” he said. “One of them took me out for a ride in his 1972 Mercury Comet.”
Following graduation from MHS in 1990, Trent worked as a driver for pharmaceutical company. A co-worker encouraged him to switch gears and pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
“He stirred up my interest in acting again,” Trent relayed. “I jumped into doing any kind of live performances.”
That’s when he began his relationship with Unity Productions. It’s also when he became accustomed to working holidays. Trent welcomed the new millennium performing New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
“They have a great show with fireworks at the end of the night,” he explained. “It’s a lot of fun being there for New Year’s Eve.”
Additionally, Trent has acted in about 20 films.
“Working on films has been a big influence in my life,” he said. “It’s nice working with different directors and actors with different levels of experience from college students to seasoned professionals.”
Having previously performed 10 times in Japan, he’s looking forward to returning for a 13-month run.
“The Japanese people are wonderful and I’ve made some very good friends there,” he said. “I’m glad for all the travelling and adventures. I’ve had lots of pretty colorful experiences.”