I earned my Equity card while working for several seasons at the Cleveland Play House. I was honestly scared to take my card at first. I wondered whether I would be able to find work anymore for having become Equity, whether anyone would hire me and whether or not that was the right step for my career at the time. I didn’t know if I was really ready to do it. I grappled with those thoughts for a while and, despite my inner saboteur, I took the leap of faith and joined. Since then, being a part of Equity has been a badge of my commitment to holding my work to a certain standard.
I recently moved from Cleveland to New York in order to grow as a stage manager. The culture here in New York City is definitely different from that of regional theatre, but I’m very lucky to have the career that I‘ve made for myself thus far. My favorite part of working in this city has been all of the growth that I’ve witnessed in terms of diversity and representation. Back at home, I was one of only two Equity stage managers of color. Here, however, I am one of many more who strive to represent diversity in theatre.
