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Growing up just outside NYC, I was lucky to have early exposure to the arts. At my first Broadway show at age 6, I turned to my parents, pointed to the stage, and told them that's what I was gonna be when I grew up: one of the people up there on stage. Theatre bug caught!
I started working toward that dream and broke into the NYC theatre scene, getting to perform at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Signature Theatre, Theatre Row, and on national TV. Bounding through school during the day and darting to my call time in NYC when the bell rang, I was living the life of my dreams.
As I shuttled between suburban sidewalks and city streets, I found the dreams I had settled on so early on were expanding. I knew with increasing certainty that the Broadway stage was the goal that lit my heart ablaze, but also found myself mesmerized with the science of the mind. At 15 I began conducting neuroscience research, and became fascinated with the intersection of science and the arts. As I originated roles Off-Broadway, starred in regional shows, and led my own research, I began to recognize that my art was my science & my science was my art--and that all of it together was what made me me.
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This belief was the backbone of my education at Penn State, where I graduated as the first student in the musical theatre program to earn a double major (even getting to serve as valedictorian for both the theatre & psych departments). I think I spent my whole graduation day pinching myself.
During my time at Penn State I was fortunate to perform in several mainstage musicals such as Brigadoon (Fiona) and A Chorus Line (Maggie), work on many devised and new works, study theatre abroad in London and Ireland, and even become the voice of Penn State singing the Alma Mater in a national commercial that aired primetime on ABC-TV and got over 2 million views online. I was also thrilled to dive deeper into my other passions in the arts, developing my skills as a playwright & director and producing 4 original plays, beginning my journey as a songwriter and releasing my first two singles on Spotify (find out more about my music & plays under the 'writing' tab), and truly merging my scientific and artistic passions through an interdisciplinary honors thesis between my musical theatre and psychology degrees in which I wrote, directed, and produced an original play called Lonely Together and ran a concurrent psychological study looking at emotional responses in audience members through my position as a researcher in the Penn State Empathy and Moral Psychology Lab (more info under the 'research' tab).
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In the two and a half years since graduating college, I’ve been having a blast. . .
. . . following my passion for performing as it's led me onto stages in New York City and across the country regionally and on tour, playing dream roles such as Elizabeth in the premiere of a new Pride & Prejudice musical, Phoebe in A Gentleman's Guide..., Hodel in Fiddler On The Roof, Brenda in Catch Me If You Can—and even roles beyond my wildest dreams, like Madison, the newest character in the American Girl Doll universe who was written for the American Girl National Tour and was inspired by me! . . . . . . continuing to connect theater and science by premiering my solo show, The Science of Love: A Night of Songs & Psychology (which to my amazement went on to win the 2023 BroadwayWorld Award for Best Solo Show); working as a performer & artistic associate with the science-theatre company Transforma Theatre on a new play about AI; becoming a researcher & commissioned playwright in the University of Chicago’s STAGE (Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration) Lab developing a play about quantum physics; and working as a Certified Artist in Health with the non-profit Only Make Believe, performing interactive theater for children in hospitals . . . |
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. . . and expanding into new passions for digital design and marketing, helping run the social media for 14 Broadway shows as a member of the team at Marathon Digital; working as the Press Agent for Off-Broadway company J2 Spotlight; and now taking on my new role as Director of Marketing & Communications for Virtual Stage Lab, a new theatre/film production company started by Tony Nominee Paul Gordon, Broadway writer David Goldsmith, and me that will launch this February with the goal of expanding accessibility in the arts.
I'm beyond honored and grateful to be living out my dreams of telling stories that matter. These days I find I'm just as giddy as the 6-year-old who yearned to be among the twinkling lights of the Broadway stage. |
