Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebekah Freeland.
Hi Rebekah, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Ever since I was a kid, I have been obsessed with performing. Taking classes and being in musicals every single day that I could. I knew from the moment I set foot on a stage that I was meant to stay there. I started out at TexARTS academy in Lakeway Texas and have since gone back and done professional shows there as well. I devoted my entire childhood to the academy and didn’t get the chance to be a kid. I knew that if I didn’t get ahead now there would be so many people ahead of me, and I would never be able to catch up. I was in choir and theatre all throughout middle and high school. I stopped going to TexARTS and devoted all my time to high school theatre. I learned from my teachers Nikki Guckian and Adam Poynor who have taught me so much not just about theatre and music but about life. I ended up landing my first pre-professional gig my summer of my junior year as Bridget in bring it on the musical with summer stock Austin. I was so grateful for such an amazing opportunity and learned so much from my experience and playing such a fun character. After spending all of senior year auditioning for colleges and being in high school shows for the last time, I got cast in my first professional show at my old studio. I was an ensemble member of the full Monty at TexARTS. I was so excited to work with such talented and wonderful people that genuinely taught me so so so much. It was my first time getting paid for my talent, and it felt right. I knew this is what I was going to do now more than before. I now currently go to Missouri State University for a musical theatre BFA. I have been told by many people that I am the strongest person they know. The only reason they think that is because of the battles God has trusted me with. I have learned to take these trials as a blessing and look what I have to learn from it instead of wallowing in the anger. Forgive those who wrong you and pray for them. Wish them nothing but kindness and be the example. I know I’m going to make it in this business because I will never give up. I’ve gone through much more than I’ve said in this interview, and I know that each of those experiences has helped one or more people around me as well as myself. I also learned to never pride yourself on your secrets. Every time I meet someone new, I am an open book. Anything they want to hear, I will tell them. My testimony on certain subjects has made others more open about their experiences. I’ve had countless people open up to me about their hardships and ask for help because I wasn’t scared to share. I’m put on this earth to help others and inspire them whether that’s on stage or in real life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
During my period of isolation senior year, I was in the midst of college auditions for musical theatre programs. I auditioned for 28 college programs as well as starring in both our senior musicals and music directing one of them. There were times in the audition process where I felt like I was nothing. I wasn’t talented enough, skinny enough, intelligent enough, and so many other doubts that crept in the back of my brain. This craft I had dedicated my life to and loved stopped loving me back. I felt so defeated and beaten down that life just seemed to cease to matter. I put on a happy face and tried to mask it, but deep down, I knew that I wasn’t content with my life. I turned to my friends and family in these moments and with their support, I felt like enough.
Now onto college, I got to Missouri State University as a Musical Theatre major. The first few weeks, I wanted to start fresh. Stop the drama and be at peace for once in my life. But I forgot one little thing; I was a theatre major. I quickly learned that being best friends with theatre majors wasn’t in my best interest. I needed an outlet other than singing and dancing. Something that was my own.
During my first semester, I felt more alone than I’ve ever felt before. I would go to bed sobbing and call my parents telling them how much I wanted to come home. There was a series of events that happened in my friend group that I ended up getting isolated just like I did in high school. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had such extreme trauma that I never healed from, and it all just came pouring out in the middle of my dorm room. My anxiety was so bad I threw up every time I felt anxious and would start sobbing the moment I was inconvenienced. It pushed me to the point where I didn’t want to live anymore. I attempted suicide and, thankfully, did not succeed. During this time, I didn’t go to any of my classes. I couldn’t bring myself to go out of my dorm room let alone out of the building. The weekend after my attempt, I was a victim of sexual assault. I didn’t know it was sexual assault at the time, but after talking to my therapist, it was very clear it was. I was so traumatized from this experience I couldn’t look in a mirror for weeks. I couldn’t go to dance class because I would have to look at myself in the mirror, and I knew I just couldn’t. Through many sessions of therapy, I have started to heal from the trauma that I have experienced not just in my first semester but in my life. I’m no longer questioning my talent, and I know exactly what I need to do in my life. I need to be on stage, inspiring people and telling stories that need to be told. I need to stand in the face of adversity and take bullets for those who can’t. — now when I wrote this interview months ago I never thought of how much I could change. I used to think that theatre was my life’s one goal and purpose. But I stand here to today as a former musical theatre student who is pursuing Public Relations. If you had ever met me before these past six months you wouldn’t recognize the person you see. And to be honest, I don’t recognize her anymore either. I used to be this born again Christian and now I believe in the universe and manifesting and all of these amazing things I never would have known about if I hadn’t stepped out of my comfort zone. So many more trials have come and gone since I wrote those words and many tattoos have been added. I am proud of myself and who I am and am stepping into my best self. I am openly gay and loud and also terrified for what comes next. But that’s the funny thing with change, you never know it’s happening until you look back and see it all in the rear view mirror.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a professional actor that has many talents. I can sing, act, dance, songwrite, play guitar and piano, and much more. I’m known for my performances in musicals and my singing. I’m classically trained in piano and voice. I’ve been writing songs since I was in 7th grade. I also specialize in hip-hop dance which I didn’t know I loved until I was cast in my first pre-professional production of Bring It On the musical with Summer Stock Austin where I played Bridget.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Austin is very eclectic. It has so many different types of people that you are surrounded by diversity. Everyone is very accepting and so supportive of the arts. What I don’t like about Austin is how in its growing phase, many minorities are starting to be shrunk because more people are coming in. For example, our street lined with gay bars used to be an entire district. Now we are known for dirty six, a street lined with bars that is known for being swarming with homeless people and sexual assaults. We used to be pushing the minorities up, but now it just seems like all we care about is tourism.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rebekah_freeland
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@bekahboo04
- Other: www.tiktok.com/rebekahefreeland
Image Credits
Chloe Storm
