Today we’d like to introduce you to Andréa Agosto.
Andréa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My name is Andréa Agosto, and I’m an actress, educator, and illustrator. My parents were both in the military, so we moved around quite a bit. Georgia, Florida, and when my parents divorced, my time was spent between Puerto Rico and whatever state my mother would be stationed in, like Kentucky and Kansas.
I got into theatre in high school. I wanted to sing, so I auditioned for our school musical. The theatre teacher told me I would be great for the theatre, and told me to join. So I did. And I’ve been doing my best to stay on the stage ever since. In fact, I myself am now a drama teacher in Chula Vista Middle School’s SCPA program. Not only do I teach the Drama classes, but I am the Advisor for our school’s drama club, Spotlight, and we have a couple of productions each year. I moved here about 5 or 6 years ago from Albuquerque. While I was going to school for my teaching credential, I still carved out time for theatre and would act even while going to school. I still act as a teacher. Well, I would still be doing live theatre if I had the opportunity and means to do so safely. I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with a few theatre companies around town, and I really enjoy sharing theatre with my students. More than that, I really still love the theatre for myself and continuing with participating in Zoom plays, acting and directing.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Life’s been a weird ride. Not even a year ago, I got the news that my grandfather’s condition was deteriorating. I had to book a flight on the date of the All-City Auditions, so I could fly out to be with him with the little time we had left. I auditioned, jumped into a Lyft, like I ran off the stage to get into my Lyft, and went to be with my family. He passed. I mourned with my family for 24 hours, before having to jump on a plane and then onto the stage for our final dress rehearsal of “Significant Other.” It was a whirlwind of all the emotions. But, you find ways to keep going, even if it’s just that you have some little bit of normalcy to cling to.
I still have difficulty booking Latina roles, despite that, I’m fluent in Spanish (which isn’t a pre-req for proving Latinidad), and that I’m Afro Latina. The amount of melanin in my skin is often seen as too high for Latina roles, even though Latina is an ethnic identity that is not the same as race. I’m definitely ready for a broader view of Latin@/xs and Black women to grace our stages and our screens. I still go in for Latin roles regardless, but I’m still waiting to be Anita in West Side Story. Fingers crossed.
As an educator, when I first started a Drama Club, I had no money. But I had these faces eager to learn and get to work, so I put my money where my heart was and funded our productions before we could begin active fundraising by selling tickets. As a drama teacher, I feel like I’m constantly having to fight and prove drama’s worth as a class. The arts are generally seen as expendable. Even now, I’m concerned about the possibility of not having a drama teaching position next school year, even if we reopen.
Additionally, it can be very difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance sometimes. I teach I act, I have an online store, and I’m, you know, still a person at the end of the day. It can get overwhelming. Actors, artists, performers, and teachers all have one very important thing in common: our work requires a lot of our hearts. We give and sometimes, we can give too much. I’m used to bringing the candle at both ends and scratching out the middle. I’m still working on time-management because while I love and appreciate all the opportunities I’ve been given, I also like sleeping once in a while.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am most known for my work in the theatre. I love being able to create, tell stories, and of course, dress up. It’s fun. One of my favorite things about being a performer and an actress is that there’s always something new to learn: a new perspective, a new way of speaking, a new way of listening, feeling, etc. It’s beautiful. If theatre were a ball of yarn, I’m a kitten: not letting it go and playing with it until I’m passed out.
Starting my acting career in the midwest was difficult for many reasons. But I continued. I wasn’t going to quit. Then I moved and still kept looking for opportunities. When I moved to San Diego, I was like, “I’m not really gonna try to do theatre like that,” which was a lie. I have done more theatre here than I’ve done anywhere I’ve lived.
I love doing monologues. In high school, for competition, we had to learn 10-minute monologues, so I’ve had lots of practice working on monologues for long periods of time. This skill and experience had come in handy a couple of times when I was fortunate enough to do in Diversionary’s “Bull in a China Shop” and MOXIE’s “Dance Nation.” Those characters were extremely fun, and it felt great to be doing something in my wheelhouse that I hadn’t done in a bit. My art is something I do on the side. I paint, linocut, graphic design, and illustrate. I sell that stuff in my Redbubble store.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would make sure to have very clear plans for myself by buying a planner. That would be the first thing. Then I would schedule in sleep and free time. There’s not much that I would do differently, other than to believe in myself more and trust my instincts. That was something that I think may have held me back before as a performer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.andreaagosto.com
- Email: info@andreaagosto.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/andrea.agosto.acts
- Twitter: https://www.redbubble.com/people/andreanagosto/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@andreariquena
Image Credit:
Melissa Schantz – Personal Photo
Darren Scott – Dance Nation Photo
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