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Robert “Con” O’Shea-Creal ’04 is being inducted into the 2024 Pius X Fine Arts Hall of Fame for Performing Arts. Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Con began tap dancing at age seven. His mom was signing up his sister for ballet, and signed him up for tap when she saw a class was available. Con’s tap dance teacher, Stephanie Chase, had been a Rockette in NYC, and had studied with great tap dancers there before opening up her studio in Lincoln. Con was in eighth grade when he began teaching classes for Stephanie and Bob Chase. At Pius X, Con was involved in musicals, plays, and choir, as well as track and field, cross country, National Honor Society, and Student Council. Selected Pius X theatre credits include Crazy for You (2001), Godspell (2002), and Pirates of Penzance (2004). He was also a member of the Spectrum Singers Show Choir. Con graduated from Pius X in 2004, and his four siblings are also graduates of Pius X (including Fr. Liam O’Shea-Creal ’13).
Con earned a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of Oklahoma in May of 2008. By August of 2008, he had booked his first Broadway show, launching a professional acting career spanning 12 years. His Broadway credits include Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and Side Show. National Tour Credits include Something Rotten!, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, in which Con received critical and popular acclaim for his portrayal of Bert the chimney sweep and performed the show over 500 times across the US and Canada. He has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Carnegie Hall, and New York City Center, and numerous other theaters around the country. After returning to Lincoln, he enjoyed teaching tap dance lessons as a guest instructor at Chase’s dance studio and even came back to Pius X to share his talent with our students during several call periods with our music department during Alumni Day of Catholic Schools Week. Con and his wife, Paige, have seven children, with number eight on the way. Con now resides with his family just outside Lafayette, Louisiana where he serves as the Director of Operations for a Jesuit Retreat House in Grand Coteau, Louisiana.
