Exploring Theatre as a Queer Actor

I’ve known I was gay since I was probably about 15 years old. But I stayed in the closet for quite some time due to fear of how people would react, especially when it came to my life as an actor. I feared that I would be cast differently or not considered for roles because I was gay. 

Once I got to college, I was at a point in my life where I felt comfortable enough to say that I was gay in my classes, to my professors and friends, etc. My classes here at Arcadia have truly allowed me to explore my identity as a queer woman.

As freshmen, we read a play called The Children’s Hour in my scene study class that discussed the love one woman had for her oldest best friend in a time when being gay would ruin your life. I found solitude in this play and comfort in the fact that I am so proudly able to share my sexuality in my classes. I was not a part of the scenes from the play in class, but I did direct a scene from it for the Under Siege freshmen showcase in my sophomore year. 

I took a Theatre for Young Audiences course with Kathryn Petersen my sophomore year, and our final project was to create our own theatrical company and season. I chose to center plays on young LGBTQ+ kids and reached out to a Texas theatre for information about their new play about a young trans boy. Aside from exploring queer plays and roles specifically for myself, I truly want my work as an artist to tell the stories I wish I could have had as a child and teenager.In my junior year and so far as a senior, I have been able to explore even more plays by queer playwrights, including The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly and The Perfect Fit by Lia Romeo. This semester, I’m also working with Katherine Wilkinson, who is a queer director acting as our resident visiting artist for this year, and that experience has been one I never will forget. 

Arcadia’s theatre professors and students have been so incredibly supportive and welcoming as I have explored my journey as a queer artist.