By Jasmine Prince
If you told me a year ago that I was going to perform in West Side Story on a stage in front of REAL people I would have never believed you! But now looking back, this crazy life journey was 10 years in the making. My love of theatre and performing first flourished at Reavis High School’s theatre department. At Reavis I had the pleasure of being taught by a passionate and inspiring team of coaches and directors who saw theatre as a safe space for self expression and personal growth. We put on some pretty spectacular musicals and plays we were quite proud of and our Contest Play and Group Interpretation season was always fiercely competitive placing in state every year (Shout out to Contest Play for their State Championship win this year! GO RAMS!!).
Flash forward 10 years and life happens! I am now happily married, finished graduate school, give back to my community, and work my dream job as a certified pediatric nurse in Chicago. Even after accomplishing many goals and reaching many milestones, I still found myself yearning for something more.
West Side Story has always held a special place in my heart because it was the first time I saw the Latino population represented on Broadway. To see people who looked like me perform onstage was unreal and to say it made me proud to be Latina is an understatement. Not only is West Side Story filled with beautiful music and exciting choreography, it also explores complex racial issues that still apply to modern day America. The last time I saw West Side Story in Chicago the urge to jump out of my seat to dance and sing with the Sharks was still there, so I decided it was time to get back to theatre. I started taking musical theatre jazz dance and ensemble performance classes at Old Town School of Folk Music as a way to practice self care (very important especially if you work in the healthcare field to help preserve mind, body, and soul). Although I love a good Salsa night in the city, I have absolutely no professional dance experience and it was over 10 years since I was on a stage. I learned jazz dance basics with a lovely and very patient dance teacher and my musical theatre ensemble family showed me that is was possible to get over my adult acquired case of stage fright and perform with grace! Over the course of 6 months I was slowly building up confidence and was starting to believe that getting back to theatre was an actual possibility.
My husband quickly noticed how much happiness performing arts brought to my life and challenged me to set a goal to audition for a musical in the coming year.
To help me with that goal he surprised me last Christmas with personal voice lessons with the ridiculously talented and fun Rachel Williams at Voice Power Chicago. Rachel has such a unique approach to help both seasoned and rookie performers bring out a voice you might not have known was in you. Shortly after I stumbled across Acting Out Theatre Company’s website and was amazed at the professionalism of their performances and how much fun the cast and crew were clearly having. To my delight I saw that they were having auditions for West Side Story so for a month prior to auditions I practiced, practiced, practiced! If I wasn’t working at the hospital I was working on my stage presence and rehearsing lines, dances, and lyrics. I knew it was the chance of a lifetime so I put in my vacation requests at work, I drove the hour plus commute there and back to their dance workshops (I still do for rehearsals), and made sure I prepared to the best of my ability for my very first musical theatre audition. It was so surreal to audition alongside so much talent and to say I was nervous is an understatement! It is an absolute honor and privilege to be a part of this amazingly talented cast of West Side Story as Shark girl Teresita.
I want to thank Acting Out Theatre Company team for welcoming me with open arms and reteaching me the ropes of putting together a fantastic production. I want to thank my family, friends, co-workers, teachers, and especially my husband for all their encouragement and support because without you guys I would not be here!
Don’t forget to buy your tickets because you are all in for a REAL treat!
