Rakeem Lawrence | Actor & Educator

Interview

Tell us about what you do

I’m an actor and a teacher. A teaching artist in theater and I just really love the theater because I think it speaks to the masses. We heal people, We entertain people and I think we really teach people about the human condition. That’s really what I love about it. theater is therapeutic even, it connects with some of our deepest emotions, from pain to joy and It shines the light on topical issue that needs to be addressed

Tell us about what you do

How did you get involved in Theater?

I did a couple plays in high school, but I didn’t really know that you could have a career in it until I went to college and and I had some friends that took it seriously ,then I start taking a couple of musical theater classes and then I fell in love with it. I went to graduate school and then I started working professionally auditioning

Tell us about theater from an educational perspective

I teach at the Community College of Aurora. , I love it. I get to work with a lot of kids that probably don’t know as much about theater. They don’t know if they even want to study theater. I give them a foundation and their understanding grows. theater helps people with communication skills, like speaking with confidence in front of other people. Young minds understand the worth in their point of view and how important that is there is articulate and speak their mind on certain issues. I think that’s lovely.

What are some tips that you would give to people in your industry?

always learn and watch other people act. try to be in the room and just take every opportunity that comes your way. as a person of color, as a black actor, we have to remember that Just because a play wasn’t written with you in mind doesn’t mean that your point of view on it is not valid.