Ever since I was a kid, I have been enamored with the concept of acting and portraying someone you are not. It was so jarring to see actors in interviews talk about their characters in the third person, and I was intrigued by how they could clearly separate themselves from this being that they portray for a long period of time. That is what sparked my love for acting and theatre, and it made me realize this was something I wanted to do too.
As a kid, I quickly became self-aware that I did not want to go the traditional route in my career. I never could really give people an answer when they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up because, in truth, I did not know. I know acting was not the traditional route that people expected me to say, growing up in an immigrant Haitian family household. Theatre was new not just for me, but for my family as well, and not something that they had ever considered someone trying to pursue professionally,
The way I knew this was something serious was by doing it throughout high school. It was the class that I would look forward to every day, and being able to escape and embody myself in a different character was something that became an escape for me and something that I knew I wanted to do professionally. Very quickly, I learned the sobering truth about being a black woman within the theatre industry, and the struggles that came with that. There were multiple times when I felt as though I did not belong, and that I could never be on the same level as my peers.
This feeling and these experiences continued throughout my undergraduate career and left me questioning this passion that I had had for so long, and whether it was something that was truly for me. I felt lost about being so passionate about something that does not even have an interest in me being in its world, or only wants me in order to portray a caricature. This is when I discovered arts administration. I realized that by studying this, I could not only be the administrator in charge, but also help create change so that future people of color who are interested in theatre do not have to experience the same things I did, and end the cycle.
This past summer really amplified these feelings and not only helped me see theatre in a new light, but also helped me learn about what it is I want to focus on. This past summer, I had the opportunity to be a part of Black Theatre United’s Cohort 5 and intern at AKA NYC, where I learned about the business and marketing side of Broadway, which I had never considered before. Having this opportunity caused me to learn firsthand about what it means to work at an agency and have clients to report to within the theatre world.
Now I am currently here in the Bolz Center for Arts Administration, taking all these skills back into my studies, and continuing to challenge myself to see where my strengths and weaknesses are to improve on. After completing this program, I hope to begin my career by continuing the work I was doing regarding working at a Broadway agency and in marketing and social media. Learning about marketing within the Broadway scope and how essential it is to a show has only made me more curious and eager to contribute to this field of work, and I will use the skills I learn from this program to do so.
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