About Me
Interview featured in VoyageLA Magazine
March 2021 http://voyagela.com/interview/life-work-eric-renna-rancho-santa-margarita/
Eric Renna: “I take pride in knowing that there is not only a place for me, a gay Latine actor, in the theater industry but a need for my specific voice and artistry. However, this belonging wasn’t always apparent. I have loved musical theater since I was a kid in junior productions at my elementary school. I find my joy and purpose in acting, singing, and dancing. I just never really had enough faith in myself to actually pursue theatre as a career until college, even after falling in love with it in high school. Now that I am pursuing it, I have never been happier. One of the most rewarding things theatre has given me and that has gotten me to where I am is pride in my Mexican, Italian identity. I was never really in touch with my Latine ethnicity until I had the opportunity to portray some incredibly inspiring Latine roles and experiences. I’ve grown in my fight for representation, especially after the pride I’ve experienced performing on stages surrounded by BIPOC artists telling stories that don’t usually get heard.
I am now cultivating this passion at the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts and the Thornton School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Acting and a Minor in Musical Theatre. I currently facilitate weekly discussions and a monthly, educational digital series on diversity, equity, and inclusion as a board member for USC’s student-run theatre company Musical Theatre Repertory. I help produce innovative and inclusive musical theatre for all student artists while also serving as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Liaison for the School of Dramatic Arts. There I work as a conduit for dialogue and communication between the faculty and student body regarding our school’s anti-discriminatory restructuring.
I have recently had the privilege to be a part of many fulfilling musicals, with some favorite roles being Benny in In The Heights, Gabe Goodman in Next to Normal, and Chino in West Side Story. I have built communities with theatre bodies like One More Productions: GEM Theatre, The Del Rey Players, the Loyola Marymount University theatre department, and now the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts. I plan on taking my love for theatre and advocacy to the theatre and film/television industries of Los Angeles and New York City the second that I’m out of college.”