As an Artist, I believe that everyone should be able to access theater, but also be able to see themselves up on that stage. Being from Long Island, and having a family that supports my love for the arts, I’ve had access to theater, ranging from School Productions to Community Theater (the LI community theater scene is CUT THROAT), all the way to taking the train into Manhattan to see shows on Broadway once or twice a year. I know that is a privilege and isn’t the reality for most people. Everyone should have access to the arts. Theater allows us to live the human experience in a safe place, and it makes us better people.

 

I also believe that everyone should be able to see themselves up on that stage. As a plus-size, nonbinary person there was a time when no one on the stage looked like me, the closest being Tracy in Hairspray (which is not a bad thing, she just isn’t me). I want to make sure that the people who come after me can see someone like them up on that stage, that they know that they can have this dream too. That they don’t have to push through all people saying that they are too big or too hard to place, because me and countless others have paved the way for them.