Film Reel
"...if you're really lucky, you get to be on stage and say things that are absolutely true, even if they're made up. You get to do things that feel more real to you, more authentic, more meaningful than anything in your own life. You get to speak poetry, words you would never think to say which become yours as you speak them."
- Duncan Macmillan, People Places and Things
About Me and Acting,
Lee Baladejo
Why do I act?
Acting is my religion. It keeps me honest, vulnerable, and always learning. Like church, theater is one of the last sacred places where people gather to witness stories about our shared humanity.
It is where my two favorite things intersect: learning and teaching. Every process challenges me to expand my understanding of the world, and every performance invites me to share that exploration with an audience. I am both student and teacher, vessel and preacher. The story only comes through if I can be both at once.
Acting is also how I stay connected to my culture and my ancestors. Growing up as a mixed child of immigrants who needed to assimilate to survive, I lost many opportunities to connect with my culture in traditional ways. Through the stories I tell, I am able to reclaim that connection. The words I speak, the emotions I access, and the imagination I explore feel inherited. Through them, I can locate and honor parts of myself that have often felt distant or unclear.
These stories remind us that we are never alone. That shared experience of witnessing, feeling, and recognizing ourselves in someone else is profoundly powerful to me.
