I was first introduced to theatre as a young girl, visiting New York City with my parents every year. I practiced my craft through plays, musicals, musical revues, and local Shakespeare tours. But it wasn't until an English teacher encouraged me to enter The English-Speaking Union's Shakespeare competition that a career in theatre was opened to me. It was as a regional finalist that I met Kristin Linklater, the internationally acclaimed vocal coach, who encouraged me to formally audition for Emerson College in Boston where she was the head of the acting program at that time. 

For the next four years, I performed in every production I could get my hands on. I participated in all aspects of theatre - backstage, the production office, the scene shop, and through regional theaters (such as at the Huntington Theatre Company's Young Critics Institute, as an acting apprentice at the Dorset Theatre Festival, as an acting intern at the Worcester Foothills Theatre, etc.). My studies led me to live in Europe, studying acting in the Netherlands and exploring human nature in a new country every week. I graduated with a BFA in Acting, cum laude.

It was immediately upon graduation that I launched onto the DC theatre scene with a national theatre tour. After a second tour, I settled in the DC area, forming relationships with local theatre companies, including as a company member for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and Rorschach Theatre. I continued work as a teaching artist and acting coaching for both school and professional productions and showcases, and as part of partnership programs, including the Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Alliance Partnership and the first-ever Baltimore Partners for Advanced Learning. It was at that time that I also began an active regional commercial and industrial career, while continuing staged readings, play development, and play reading for theatre companies to consider for their seasons. The game changer for me came with becoming the Director of Community Engagement for the new Ally Theatre Company -- combining my passion for advocacy and activism with theatrical storytelling.

With the pandemic came changes, personally and professionally, as I watched my industry put on hold. The necessary pause hopefully being taken advantage of by theatre companies to evaluate themselves and make their own changes for the overall health of the theatre community. Time will tell. 

I look forward to whatever the future will bring as theatre doors continue to open and stories are no longer on a computer screen.

Cheers!

Valerie Fenton