Audrey Romero (she/they/them) is a Mexican-American multidisciplinary theatre artist who is an actor, dancer, writer, teaching artist, community advocate, and student. Romero is currently an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas, pursuing a double B.A. in Theatre Performance and Latin American & Latino Studies with a minor in Communication.
Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Springdale, Arkansas, Audrey has been immersed in communities rich in Latinx culture. She celebrates her community through theatrical storytelling by exploring narratives written by people of color, women, and queer artists. She collaboratively works with other diverse artists to create shows that we find meaningful to our identities and communities.
Romero has majorly collaborated on new play developments. Recent credits for readings include: Madeinusa in This Bitch: Esta Sangre Quiero (Adrienne Dawes), Lastly Figden/Faith Moore in Arkansas Public Theatre’s Radio Series Amanda Kill (Barry Combs), Cap/Stage Manager in Hold Fast (Curbside Theatre), Angie in Bigg Dealz (Lauren Ferebee), and Ximena in Big Money (Lauren Ferebee). University of Arkansas credits include: Donalbain/Fleance/Young Siward in Macbeth, Officer in Tartuffe.
She is a Resident Actor and Teaching Artist for Trike Theatre, a professional theatre for youth and families in Bentonville, Arkansas. Their latest project is a bilingual retelling of the Tortoise and the Hare story titled La Tortuga and the Hare, where she plays Hare. This play tours public schools, including Springdale Public Schools where there is a large Hispanic/Latinx population. They hold workshops and perform an interactive play to children as young as 4 years old. She finds this part of theatre meaningful because it exposes children to social and emotional learning through theatrical storytelling.
Romero spends her time reading, biking, dancing, and volunteering in her community. She’s grateful for her family, friends, and community that gives more than she can ever give back.
Check me out! audreysromero.com
IG: @audreysdirtylaundry
Interview with Audrey
Audrey was commissioned to film a monologue with OZCast, a weekly variety show, this past February. Her performance is available here at 9:57-11:10. We chatted with her to hear more about her experience with it and beyond.
Could you take us through the creative process behind the monologue (i.e. choosing the monologue, the filming and presentation of it, the character choices, the message in relation to the theme, the context of the monologue prior to your performance and how you might have changed it, etc.)?
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northwest Arkansas arts service organization CACHE created a weekly variety show called OZCast that showcased local talent. I was invited to be on an episode where I performed a monologue from Shakespeare’s Henry VI.
At the time of this presentation, I was taking a Shakespearean acting class at the University of Arkansas. Our teacher Steven Marzolf taught us the First Folio Technique which uses the first original collection of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare gives the actors “clues” with the exact way in which the plays were written. I loved the class and the work, because it opens an actor up to the many complex emotions and situations people approach.
The character I portrayed, Joan of Arc, is a powerful teen who claimed to be sent by God to help the French army against the expansion of England. Despite everyone’s doubts, she led the army in many victories. At the time this monologue takes place, she is captured by England and is accused of using witchery and “evil spirits” to help her. She proclaims her holiness and strength were not faulty, and that they themselves were the ones who were corrupt.
I liked the complexity of good and evil that’s in this character. I can relate to not liking the leadership of some because of their corrupt and selfish motives as opposed to the betterment of the group. I also love that some Shakespearean plays have strong female characters who are intelligent, witty, and powerful. This is a character I want to continue to explore, as well as other characters, because in Shakespeare it doesn’t matter how I look like, it matters if I can truthfully play these character’s feelings. And that’s what I’m always trying to work on as an actor!
You mention in your bio that you "celebrate [your] community through theatrical storytelling by exploring narratives written by people of color, women, and queer artists". How has your heritage and experiences informed the way that you perform and create?
My experiences as a theatre student and actor in training has been a whirlwind of gratitude and difficulty. In White American Theatre (WAT), stories written by and for people of color, women of color, and queer people of color are not prevalent unless you do some digging. It was hard loving theatre and navigating a space that did not invest in narratives that were attached to my identity. How was I supposed to grow into my most authentic self and advance as a queer Latinx artist?
Though I’ve come to some tough realizations within organizations and structures of theatre, I learned quickly that if no one was going to give you opportunities, you have to create them. WAT was not going to teach me about Latinx playwrights, Latinx theatre history, acting for Latinx plays. Like every other diverse artist, it felt like I had to work three times harder than everyone to get a good education. My only option was to collaborate with other diverse artists to find new plays, find artist resources, and to create. I have worked with a variety of arts organizations that service different audiences and tell stories. Though I would still be involved in productions at the University of Arkansas, I was also working through different avenues to fulfill my need to be involved in the communities and to be my most authentic self.
The majority of my work is on new play developments, which means I act and devise with other artists and playwrights to create new works. Projects like these encapsulate the fun I have doing something new, creative, and collaborative. I always try to bring my whole self to projects – which can mean I bring my anxiety, my excitement, my worries, and my courage. As an artist and a community member, I am always walking with my experiences with rage and love and hope. I want to be heard, but more importantly, I want to uplift others.
Do you have a favorite writer or a role model, who continuously inspires you to tell stories? Or do you have a memorable performance that inspired you?
I love Issa Rae! She is someone I really admire as a creator, writer, actor, and producer. I’m always inspired by her work – beginning with her web series The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, where they really did DIY theatre! She really created an opportunity for her and others to be a part of a story she needed to share. It was very grassroots and it’s exciting to hear about the creative ways they accomplished to make their series the best it could be. She’s now a creator, writer, actor, and producer on her own HBO show Insecure (which is my favorite series!) Even in the show, she is motivated to strengthen her community in gentrified Los Angeles by organizing local arts and food events. Issa Rae even brought actors that were in her web series to work on the HBO show. I love that she is always emphasizing how to bring others up with you. It’s really the community that you create the most meaningful art with. Black women and Latinx women are not given the space, and she always takes initiative to take up space and make space for other people.
“I found that any time I asked permission, the answer tended to be no, so I had to make my own yeses.”
“Who’s next to you? Who’s in the trenches with you? Who’s just as hungry as you are? And those are the people you need to build with.”
Lastly, as a Theatre Performance and Latin American & Latino Studies major, what do you feel is still lacking in popular culture and media today regarding the portrayal of Latin American and Latinx women stories and characters?
Like any career industry or societal structure, Latinx women and Black women are not given the opportunity to take up space or lead. In “popular culture and media today,” portrayals of Latinx characters are typically through the lens of White American society, which is not inclusive, anti-black, and elitist. Large corporations exploit the stories of communities who have been deliberately minoritized.
Though I am an actor and lover of the arts, I am a member of the community first, and what our communities need are far more important than the stories large corporations monetize off of. Our communities need higher wages, housing, worker’s rights, immigration defense, education, social services, healthcare, and so much more. We do also need the arts and theatre. We need to explore narratives and ideas that occur in our society. We must use creativity and collaboration for communities to listen, heal, and thrive. Theatre pushes people to take action all in a magical way.
I feel like media and culture is trying to catch up with “progressive” stories right now which I’m sure is great, but I’m worrisome that it is also performative since their profits are not invested into the communities they exploit. I’m more interested in communities and artists coming together to create stories that are meaningful to their culture and identity. I’m more interested in stories changing how the audience feels and pushing them to make a change. I’m more interested in our communities getting their needs met. I’m more interested in uplifting people through the arts. What’s lacking is WAT’s and society’s redistribution of power and money to Black women, Latinx women, queer people, working class people, so that THEY can influence what happens in their own communities and their own contribution to “popular culture and media.”