Leanne Antonio
Social media is a beautiful thing. Things like this that you are doing — just connecting with other artists — is a privilege we have now that we didn’t have before. At 7 p.m. every day I have my performer friends come on and say something that brings them joy… We can still make art and hopefully inspire others to stay positive. I am seeing artists creating videos and posting and writing positive messages or short stories — different things we can do since we can’t necessarily work from home.
I hope it will, at least for a time. We are human and we tend to revert back to a specific way of being. I think this is a wakeup call to appreciate the things you have. Personally, I didn’t realize I had so much privilege doing a show I love every night. I didn’t appreciate being with a group of people who also loved what they were doing. Certain privileges were taken away and now I can fight for them more and appreciate this more. I think this was a wakeup call for America to not take things for granted.
Born in the Bahamas but Jamaican by decent, Leanne and her family migrated to the U.S. during her last year of elementary school, giving her and her brother the opportunity to grow up in America. Leanne is a member of the Musical Theater class of 2019 at the University of Michigan and humbled yet very proud to be a Wolverine. Most recently, she played Ashley Rose in the world premiere of ONE HIT WONDER directed by Hunter Foster and Choreographed by Jen Jancuska. Following that, she had the pleasure of working with Jack Plotnick and Seth Rudetsky, playing Levora Verona in their hit Broadway Show DISASTER at the Connecticut Repertory Theater. Although her love for theater grows with each passing day, Leanne's favorite hobbies still include kicking back with my friends and eating at the dinner table with my family.