We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gabrielle Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gabrielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was three, my mom & dad put me in a ballet class and since then, I have basically always been a part of some sort of creative job/group- whether it was cheerleading, an instrumental ensemble, theatre, etc. It has always felt like arts were a huge part of my identity!

When it came time to choose a major for university, it was between theatre and instrumental performance. I went with the former. Though I loved doing both things with my whole heart, theatre just felt… right.

I also knew that I had the opportunity to be in the University’s marching band (SOUSA FOR LIFE!!!), and other musical ensembles, regardless of my major.

In school, I had some incredible professors who were so supportive and always so willing to give me any advice, have one-on-one meetings about the art, or help I needed.

During my second year at university, I was lucky enough to become an Education Fellow for NewYorkRep theatre company. As a fellow, I was able to travel to NYC to work on staged readings, and see firsthand what it takes to run a theatre company, and what the development process is like for shows in their early stages of being produced/mounted. I was in the room with such brilliant directors and actors- rehearsals alone were absolute masterclasses. I am FOREVER grateful for this time, and to the folks I worked with. Though I am primarily pursuing acting today, my time as a fellow taught me so much as an artist in general- I would not be where I am today without it, or the help of those aforementioned professors.

I should also mention that my family was always on board with me pursuing a career in the arts. I realize that having that familial support is a privilege and I do not take it for granted. Them instilling that kind of confidence in me from day one was extremely encouraging!!!

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

I am a traveling theatre actor. Since graduating from college in 2021, I have been performing at different regional theatres all over the west coast, including California (the central coast, central CA, and the Bay Area), Arizona and Oregon, doing both plays and musicals. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time about not only my work as an artist, but about my myself as a person. Though this is an unconventional lifestyle, getting to see so many different places and meet a myriad of new dope people every few months while doing what I adore is truly a dream.

Aside from doing theatre acting, I also do a bit of on-screen commercial/voiceover work and I dabble in theatrical choreography/directing, too. I also play 3 instruments- clarinet, bass clarinet and tuba. I’m so grateful that I get to do all the things I love for work!!

Within the last two years, I’ve gotten into working with brands on Instagram! I typically work with jewelry, fashion, dancewear or audio brands as both an affiliate or as an ambassador/content creator. The work is rewarding because I am typically my own creative director on these shoots, and it allows me to tap into a different part of my creative brain. It’s also a very remote job, which is nice since I travel for work so often.

Overall- I am so SO thankful for all of the opportunities I have been given in all of the creative fields that I partake in, and I hope to continue down this creative path!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had found out about resources like Playbill.com sooner. For the longest time, I was surfing the web, looking for different regional theatres/summer stocks programs, in hopes that I would find info about their auditions on their webpages. Playbill has a “Jobs” tab where theatres post about different auditions they have and where you can submit- whether they’re online or in-person auditions! I highly recommend it. It’s free, too.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Theatre is a powerful medium; and my goal is to use it as such in the work that I do. I do theatre for a lot of reasons. For one, I love to perform. I love getting to step into someone else’s shoes and tell their story, or step into a tap shoe and tell a percussive story, or grab my clarinet and tell a story with elegant musical phrases. It just makes me feel so whole. So human.

Whether it’s a musical where patrons go home snapping their fingers and smiling with their friends, or a heartbreaking piece of theatre that makes you question everything you thought you knew; theatre is a powerful entity. It can change lives, encourage empathy and open hearts and minds… it means so much to me. I will never stop pursuing the power that story-telling has.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabzye/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaby.smith.311/

Image Credits
Lourdes Kalusha-Aguirre, Luke Jordan, Final Cut Media (CA), Brian Paulette