My Journey To Theatre

As my first blog post, I thought the best way to start would be to introduce myself and explain why I’m writing this in the first place.

I LOVE THEATRE!

It is my passion and my first love. From acting to directing to spotlight operating to devising. There is not an area of theatre I haven’t fallen in love with (except marketing…). I feel so blessed to be working in the Arts and can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.

That being said, I didn’t always love it. My introduction to this AMAZING industry wasn’t the clear path many of my colleagues had. But to fully explain it, and myself, I’ll start from the beginning.

I was born in Okinawa, Japan, to the best parents in the world. I’m not Japanese, just a military kid. After moving back to the United States before my first birthday, I had a pretty normal childhood. As normal as a half Puerto Rican and half white redneck family can be. I was drinking horchata and sweet tea for as long as I can remember.

If you’re not Hispanic or southern, these are two drinks everyone should try at least once in their lives. If you haven’t tried them, stop reading this, buy/make them, then come back.

When I was in elementary school, I thought I had found my reason for existence. Gymnastics. I know, little 9-year-old Irene was an athlete, not a very good one, but an athlete nonetheless. I did it for five years, and after one embarrassing competition and my local gym shutting down, my dreams vanished faster than my last paycheck. I thought my life was over. Until this thing happened: life.

Fast forward to middle school. I did my first semester when my parents decided to homeschool me and my older sister. I didn’t like it at the time, but looking back, my parents made the right decision for our family. For one main reason. My health isn’t the greatest. I was 13 when I had my first spinal surgery. I had something called tethered cord, which I’m not going to get into right now, but all you need to know is that it sucked. The surgery went well, but unfortunately, complications developed a few days later. Complications that never got better. I am writing this post at 23 years old, with a decade of chronic back pain under my belt. I can function, but my pain is constant and intense.

Just so you know, I am still capable of doing my job. Felt the need to make sure you were aware of that…

All this to say, the dramatic shift of lifestyle from barely an athlete to sometimes bedridden was a major challenge for me to work through at 13.

Now, to where theatre comes in. Being stuck at home and often needing help to do things like getting out of bed and using the bathroom (thanks, mom) didn’t leave me much to do. So I read books and watched TV. While my body could never be as active as before, my imagination flourished. I loved getting to know the characters and worlds these writers created. I watched pretty much everything but horror (having an active imagination has its drawbacks, and I value my mental health 🙂). I went through all the phases. Barbie movies, Power Rangers, anything and everything supernatural related, Golden Age films, movie musicals, silent films, noir, Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Disney’s Latin American projects, German fairy tales, anime, sitcoms, and every BBC Masterpiece production known to man. You get the point. I probably spent too much time watching TV, which might explain my early need for glasses…

But then, I discovered pro-shots, live theatre performances that were professionally filmed. I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough of them. The rest of my high school career was spent obsessing over theatre. I would find totally-legal-definitely-not-slime-tutorial-or-bootleg productions 😉. Theatre opened my eyes to how beautiful and exciting the world could be. To quote one of my favourite musicals, “the world is ya erster”. Live theatre took a lonely and depressed kid wanting to run free and transformed her into someone who was only limited by her imagination. I could be anyone, do anything, go anywhere.

Since I was homeschooled, I couldn’t do theatre in high school without paying a lot of money. Thankfully, there was a playwright/director at my home church named Tamara Adams. She was like an aunt to me and knew I was interested in theatre. When she wrote a new play entitled “The Journey Continues”, a sequel to one of her previous works, she let me join the cast. She just needed someone to be onstage to help with scene transitions and not distract from the plot, and I jumped at the chance. This was it. I was going to outshine the leads and let the world know I was the next Ethel Merman or Sutton Foster. That didn’t happen (thankfully), but that show accomplished what I needed it to. It made me realize that no matter what, I wanted to do theatre for the rest of my life.

I graduated from high school in 2020, finished community college in 2021, and decided to get a bachelor’s in theatre without any other theatrical experience. No training, no speaking roles, no tech experience. Nothing. But I did it. And I loved every second of it. I got accepted into UNC Charlotte (GO NINERS!) and graduated with a BA in theatre! I studied performance and what we called 3D (directing, dramaturgy, and dramatic writing). I learned from the best professors, had classes with the most talented people, and had the experience of a lifetime. They helped foster my knowledge and skills in different areas of theatre and gave me what I was truly longing for: community. I basically lived in my theatre department and wouldn’t change it for the world.

One of my graduation photos by Chloe Shade.

That leads us to now. I graduated in December of 2024 and am writing this in June of 2025. I’m in the weird post-college-pre-first-job stage. Thankfully, those amazing parents I mentioned earlier are letting me stay with them while I figure this next stage of life out. I have big plans and even bigger dreams. Which is why I decided to start this blog. Not only does it allow me to stretch my writing muscles, but I can hopefully be a light for someone interested in or already working in the Arts. I want this blog to help foster community and knowledge in the industry I love.

So, now that you know a little about who I am and why I do what I do, feel free to write your theatre journey or at least promote your theatre work in the comments below. I would love to get to know you as you get to know me (and I’m always down for a good collaboration).

Until next time, here’s a quote from the amazing Broadway performer, Ben Vereen: “At the end of the day, give up your worries and give thanks for the journey.”