We were lucky to catch up with Helen Romeu Coombes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Helen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with many projects that have been meaningful and impactful in my career as an actor. One that comes to mind is a staged reading that I did in England in 2020 called “Insulted.Belarus” by Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik translated into English by John Freedman. Everything about the experience was unique. I was invited to participate by director and scholar Dr Bryan Brown in the UK premiere of the text, and so we were some of the first people to read and perform it. It was a play written in response to the corrupt and cruel regime of President Alexander Lukashenko during the 2020-2021 Belarusian protests, expressed in a series of intersecting monologues to represent the experiences of people in the protests. It was a protest and a cry for solidarity through the powerful medium of theatre. It was an absolute privilege to give voice to the experiences of the Belarusian people in England, in the hopes that it would educate and mobilise people, the way it had done for me.

Another unprecedented thing was that it was rehearsed and performed during the height of the pandemic via a livestream, and so this project felt special but extremely isolating due to the lack of contact that you would usually get from live theatre. Despite this, we ironically ended up reaching way more people through the power of livestreaming and communities that form on social media.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Helen Romeu Coombes and I’m a bilingual Spanish-British actor and theatre maker from Madrid, Spain, now based in New York, who has worked professionally in theatre and film in Spain, the UK, and the US. I decided I wanted to be an actor at a very young age and sought out opportunities wherever I could find them; first in the school theatre club, but quickly started involving myself in more professional circles. In Spain, I landed roles in productions like “Romeo & Juliet” and “Hooray for Hollywood!” with the acclaimed English theatre troupes The Madrid Players and English Theatre Madrid, and starred as the lead in a short film that enjoyed a film festival run across Europe, North America, and North Africa. In the UK, I became a member of the prestigious National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and made my West End debut in their show “F Off”.

Looking to hone my craft further, I studied Drama at the University of Exeter and the University of Texas at Austin and then moved to New York to concentrate my acting training further at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre’s two-year acting conservatory. Since then, I have launched myself headfirst into the theatre industry and communities in New York; in 2023, I starred as the fiery eldest Mundy sister, Kate, in “Dancing at Lughnasa” by Brian Friel, directed by Miguel Bregante (co-founder of the award-winning Chilean theatre company La Mona Ilustre) in Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. I also starred as the tragic heroine, Adela, in Reading Playhouse’s bilingual staged reading of “The House of Bernarda Alba” by Federico García Lorca at The Tank.

While doing all of this, I was also in rehearsals for an adaptation of two Shakespeare plays, “Measure for Measure” and “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, that myself and a friend and fellow collaborator were co-adapting, co-directing, and starring in; it was presented as a staged reading and industry workshop.

There are many projects that I have been extremely proud of, but 2023 has been a really special year for me, as I have worn both the hats of actor and theatre maker and have found this extremely rewarding artistically. I have also been proud of the roles I have taken on this year, as a shared theme across the board is that they are strong, complicated, and rebellious women, and I am excited to continue to bring forth those roles and stories as I move forward in my career.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The fact that we have to be naturally curious about the world and the people around us. You cannot be an artist if you’re not deeply intrigued by the human condition, by what’s going on in the world, and by people and their stories. There have been so many projects where I have had to research and read about something new, whether that be a historical event, a dialect, a movement technique, etc. And vice versa, the more I read books, listen to podcasts, visit museums, meet new people, and engage with the world around me, the more ideas I get for a character I’m working on, or a new work I want to write/devise.

I have met so many people, learned so many things, heard so many stories, because I am an artist.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

So many! I’ll give just a few examples, specifically ones I have found during my career in New York thus far.

An age-old struggle for actors is finding the right monologues. A great place to go to find them is The Drama Book Shop on W 39th St. They have a huge array of plays and monologue collection books, which can feel overwhelming at first, but the best thing to do is pick a day when you have a few hours free and really spend time perusing the bookshelves, looking for plays or playwrights you like or may have heard of and see what kind of material they have. If you’re really lost, another great thing to do is ask the people who work there for recommendations as they tend to have encyclopedic knowledge!

I also recommend finding theatre groups or communities that support you creatively and spiritually. One that I found that is Rattlestick Theater and the Global Forms Festival that they organize every year. This is a theatre festival that produces new works by immigrant artists; they also organize industry mixers and Q&A’s. I have found it so reassuring and enriching to be in an environment with people that have had similar experiences to me, living and working as immigrant artists in New York. I recommend people find similar groups for their creative journeys as it’s truly invaluable!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/helenromeu
• Instagram: @helenromeu

Image Credits
Carol Rosegg Vibeckedphoto Paola Rossi Sabira Mokhtar Antonio de Jesus