Stepping into a New Spotlight: Gabrielle Burton’s Next Chapter

By Makayla Varner

Within just a few short months, Gabrielle Burton has earned both national recognition amongst the theatre community after winning the Irene Ryans regional award and has also been accepted into a top university with an outstanding acting program.

Her journey to national recognition first started in Greensboro, North Carolina, as she competed with her acting partner against hundreds of other participants. During that week that she spent participating in the festival, Burton was crowned the Irene Ryan winner of region four.

Her next step involved taking a trip to Washington, D.C., from April 15 to 19. In total, there were eight regional winners who traveled to D.C. alongside Burton, where an array of activities and classes were provided for them before auditions.

“D.C. was phenomenal,” said Burton.  “When we got there, they made it very clear that though we were there for a competition, they encouraged us to not think of it that way.”

The Kennedy Center made sure to encourage the eight participants that this wasn’t just a competition—it was a chance to make connections and learn from other talented people who were from different theatre disciplines.

The eight winners had plenty of opportunities to connect and learn from the individuals surrounding them—they were with each other around the clock doing activities including eating dinner together, show viewings, and classes that not only helped prepare them for their performance, but also gave them tips for the future after the competition comes to an end.

Even following their trip to nationals, all eight participants were incredibly serious about keeping in contact afterwards, said Burton. The group of newfound friends have been keeping in touch on social media—all of whom are just doing their best to be supportive of each other’s journeys.

While there were a number of things Burton made sure to take away from the experience, the keynote speakers made an especially important mark on her. They taught her the importance of bridging artistry with advocacy, said Burton.

This essentially means that, while you can choose to tell stories simply for the fun of it, you can also tell stories and use your work to help people.

“I’ve always kind of thought about the service aspect,” said Burton. “But I think they gave really clear tools in order to do that and sort of solidified that that’s not something you necessarily have to wait to do or get to a certain point to do.”

The Kennedy Center only announced the first and second place winners, which Burton was not a part of. She did, however, win the Excellence in Vocal Performance award and a scholarship from Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

As nationals continued throughout the week, even more exciting news had already crawled to the surface—news that would determine Burton’s future education at graduate school.

University of California San Diego (UCSD) got back to Burton mid-March with news that she was one of the eight students accepted into their acting program! This university has between a 16-39% acceptance rate with just around 500 people auditioning for a spot in the acting program alone.

This university has been a dream of Burton’s ever since Fall of 2024 when she initially started researching graduate schools. One of the biggest perks is the free tuition, said Burton.

“I love the UCSD audition process so much,” said Burton. “I think they really know how to treat people like humans.”

Sometimes actors are treated as objects—something that can just be simply moved around as if they weren’t people with their own separate personalities, said Burton. It was not only a refreshing experience for Burton, but also one that solidified her desire to attend UCSD.

Another aspect that Burton is looking forward to is the diversity within the acting program—in just her cohort alone, they were all people of color. The professors as well are also diverse in both racial and career backgrounds.

UCSD mixes their faculty members between those who have been in the game for a long time with people who have been hired within the past five years, said Burton. With the addition of professors who are persons of color, UCSD is constantly inviting new voices into the acting program.

“I just wanted more perspectives in my toolbox and to be taught by someone who looks like me,” said Burton, who expressed her excitement in the diversity present at UCSD.

Beyond solely academic goals and the traditional theater, Burton is also planning to step foot onto a new stage: Film acting.

A lot of what Burton has learned about stage work actually comes from a lot of film actors and is an artistic medium that she plans to dive further into, said Burton. Film, compared to traditional theater, has an entirely different audience and is capable of reaching people on a different level.

Looking back, Burton’s trip to D.C. was not only an incredible learning experience, but also one that solidified her love of acting and provided valuable lessons which she will surely be taking with her as she starts her next chapter at UCSD.