51 Quotes by Natasha Rothwell

I have always gravitated toward levity and my parents; I'm sure they have a VHS tape of me when I'm making jokes and trying to make faces when the family was taking a picture.

I've always been kind of precocious, but my journey sort of solidified when I was in college and majored in theater. That's how I knew I wanted to spend my life writing, telling, and performing stories.

Black women have earned the right to be basic.

I remember writing monologues and one-act plays and stuff in high school. I had a project in English that was just a short book of limericks. It was so weird. I enjoyed the challenge and rhyme of it. I was always putting on plays and stuff.

I've always performed. From the time that I was little, I was pretty precocious and always gravitated toward performing arts. But I was scared at first, deciding to do it for a living. So, initially, I majored in journalism, and I was pretty miserable.

Teaching theater, I felt very lucky. In a world where there's few options for someone who graduates with a theater degree, trying to figure out how to make rent and pay the bills, I always gravitated towards teaching jobs and things like that. I wanted to stay close to my passion as well.

When I was a teacher, I definitely noticed bullying happening, and I noticed people choosing to be quiet when they should speak up. And so for me, as a teacher, it wasn't just about advocating for students who were being picked on but trying to teach the bystanders how to speak up and not be afraid.

I feel like theater in high school seems to be sort of like the safe haven for the outsiders and people who don't necessarily fit in. And it was a come-as-you-are sort of class, and it's a come-as-you-are after-school activity.

What I loved about playing Ms. Albright in 'Love, Simon' is that, so often, when we speak of allies in the queer community, we don't really get to see what it means be an active ally. I love that she can step into this world with these kids and be a truth teller.