Katryna Marttala
Interview Highlights
Katryna’s creative mission is to create and foster environments where nobody feels othered.
Theatre doesn’t have to be your whole life. It’s okay to have other things in your life that make you feel fulfilled, and having other interests fuels your art.
Gender is a process. Sexuality and gender are fluid, and the ways we identify can change over time. It’s okay to not have it all figured out.
Theatrical roles are very limited and limiting, especially for nonbinary and gender-nonconforming folks, who don’t see themselves represented onstage.
Content Warning: gender identity, coming out, weight loss
Bio
Katryna Marttala (she/they) is an Actor/Singer/Mover (on a good day) originally from Cibolo, TX. She graduated from the Institute for American Musical Theatre in 2018 and is currently the Associate Producer for long-running NYC Cabaret staple Broadway Sessions. Favorite performance credits include Hair, Mamma Mia, Deathtrap at the Woodstock Playhouse, and Party Worth Crashing and A Question Of Murder (Off-Broadway). Katryna is a proud member of Ring of Keys, an artist service organization that fosters community and visibility for musical theatre artists - onstage and off - who self-identify as queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists. In addition to their work in performance & production, Katryna is a dedicated educator and spends most days having their heart stolen by a rambunctious class of preschoolers.
“Doing work that I care about makes me fulfilled as a human, and in turn, as an artist.”
About Katryna
Hayley: We’re here with the amazing Katryna Marttala! Katryna, please share your name and pronouns and tell us a little about what you do in the theatrical space.
Katryna: I’m Katryna Marttala, she/they pronouns. I am an actor, singer, mover, and educator. I also produce a Broadway cabaret series called Broadway Sessions, we are now in our 13th season. I teach preschool to tiny humans. I also music direct youth productions and I have taught choir. Anything involving performing and kiddos and everything in between is my gig.
Hayley: Can you tell us about how you came to your theatre life?
Katryna: I kind of came out of the womb yelling. I was a 100th percentile child who took up a lot of space, physically and energy-wise. So it didn’t take long for my parents to get me into performing. I started by doing Shirley Temple impressions at the military base we lived on. Growing up in a military family, we moved every 18 months. This is gonna sound cheesy, but it’s my elevator pitch - it was hard for me to feel at home anywhere, so I felt at home on the stage.
For a long time, I wanted to be a singer. When I was 13, I was in a band called Septic Shock with my little brother, his guitar teacher, and 3 ER doctors. We would play rock music on the San Antonio River Walk. We were gigging every night in downtown San Antonio.
I caught the theatre bug in my 8th-grade production of The Little Mermaid, which was the first of four times that I’ve done the show. I played Ariel, Ursula, Ursula again, and then Flounder, in that order. And when I played Flounder, I unicycled.
Hayley: I didn’t know you could unicycle!
Katryna: My whole family does. My great-grandpa unicycled. He taught my mom, and she taught her four kids how to unicycle. My parents have like 12 unicycles in their garage.
So I was 17, and I was called back for Ariel. I walked in and the director said, “You can unicycle? Listen. It is my vision for this show that Flounder can unicycle. So can you drive home to your parents’ house, get your unicycle, and come back?” So I did. Wound up booking it, then almost unicycled into the orchestra pit and they cut the unicycle. I’m sure the director was so pissed.
I was in public high school being relentlessly bullied, so I left and was homeschooled. That year, I auditioned with the Magik Children’s Theatre. They had a rep company that did 11 shows a week, and it was all 30-year-old actors. At 15, I booked it, and I was the swing for Elephant and Piggie the Musical. It’s ridiculous that they let me do it, but it was such a great time. And for the first time, I had the conscious thought that I could do this for a more extended period of time.
So then I went to a performing arts high school in downtown San Antonio called the Northeast School of the Arts. I was training in classical voice, and I did the American Protege International Vocal Competition. I wound up winning, and all the winners came to New York City to do a concert in Carnegie Hall. I sang Someone Like You from Jekyll and Hyde, and I won the best performance award of the evening. That moment clicked, and I said, “I’m coming back here.”
I was a junior in high school, and I hit the ground running. Any way that I can get out of my Texas town of 500 people, including the livestock, I WILL GET OUT. I started applying to schools, and I ended up at the Institute for American Musical Theatre.
Katryna’s Creative Work
Amy: Katryna, can you tell us what you’re working on creatively right now?
Katryna: I am reteaching myself the guitar. That has been fun. The stuff that lights a fire under my ass is feeling like an artist in every sense of the word. Like, I would love to do an actor-musician show, and I haven’t yet. I would love to play Guy in Once. So I’m working on expanding myself as an artist. The short answer is no fun projects, no gigs. But also, I love my day job. So I am not self-taping for every random audition.
Amy: A big theme that’s coming up in our interviews is that a lot of our interviewees are working outside of the “ideal” theatre life and creating the theatre lives that they want to live. Theatre doesn’t have to be your whole life. You can do theatre and do other things and be a well-rounded person.
Hayley: And reframing what it means to be successful. We’ve been taught in theatre that you must live and breathe it. The old adage that “If you can do something else and be happy, go do that.” I hate that because we’re allowed to have other interests and be full human beings. That fuels our art.
Katryna: Hustle culture is so toxic. There was a point where I was going to every open call. Now, if I don’t see a place for myself in a show or room to carve a path for myself - I don’t have to 100% see myself represented, even if there’s just a glimmer… But if I don’t, I’m not just gonna submit for everything. That’s what they tell you: Submit for everything. Go to every audition. Call out of your day job to go to any audition.
Hayley: It’s just not sustainable. How are you going to pay your bills that way? It’s a very old-school mentality around theatre, and I hope it’s changing.
Thoughts on Mentorship
Amy: Have you had influential mentors in your life who have helped you get to where you are?
Katryna: Yes. My theater fairy godfather, Ben Cameron, was in the original companies of Wicked, Footloose, and Aida on Broadway, and he created and hosts Broadway Sessions. When I first met Ben, I was really drawn to his energy. We have a lot in common. I interned with him doing social media and eventually moved into a personal assistant role for him and associate producer for the show. Ben has believed in me when not many people have.
When I met Ben, I was in a long-term relationship with a man and was closeted and not myself, and I think everybody who met me could tell that I was not comfortable in the skin that I was in. Upon reflection now, I can see that there was a metamorphosis brewing. And Ben has been so helpful through all of that. I can call him any time and pick his brain about industry things or life things or relationship things, and he always knows the right thing to say.
Ben is a talented performer, and he got to a point where he wanted to be doing something more. And that is how Broadway Sessions was born. He showed me that standing on stage on number 12 and putting your arm up on this count - that doesn’t have to be what being an artist is. You can do more. So that has been really cool to get to work with him.
Also, my mother inspires me. She’s such a badass.
Amy: She taught four children how to unicycle. I’m already in love with her!
Katryna: My mother is somebody who has endured a lot of trauma. And she has grown from it into something so beautiful. Now she teaches women’s self-defense and martial arts, and she is a fourth-degree black belt. She’s one of the three highest-ranking females actively training in the United States.
Hayley: That’s freaking amazing.
Katryna: She has been in so many situations where she felt small and powerless. And in her adult life, she has come into a place where she is powerful. I think that is really admirable.
Hayley: Thank you for sharing that.
Thoughts on Gender, Sexuality, and Identity
Hayley: Katryna, how do you see womanhood as fitting into your identity?
Katryna: For me, gender is an evolving thing. I came out as bisexual in high school, had girlfriends, and then was in a 5-year relationship with a straight cis man. During that relationship, I lost touch with my bisexual identity. So when I talk about that time in my life, I refer to myself as straight, which isn’t true.
I came out as a lesbian last year. And I never did it publicly, so I guess this is it. When I say I “came out,” I just started operating under the assumption that everyone knew I was gay. I kind of yell from the rooftops about how gay I am, but I never told people. After I came out as a lesbian, I was like “Okay, this is it. This is who I am, I am a cisgender lesbian.” But I still felt the same tugging at my soul that I felt before I came out. I was frustrated.
During the pandemic, I started powerlifting. I think everybody should do it at least once because you are stronger than you think you are. Doing that, I felt very masculine. In talking about this, I’m trying to toe the line between being true to how I feel and acknowledging the world I was raised in, while also not playing into those problematic norms now. But I felt very masculine while weightlifting, and it was a feeling that I really liked.
I’m a big personality. As a human, I take up a lot of space in a room. I started boxing with Reese Lynn Scott at Women’s World of Boxing, an incredible woman who has her own women’s boxing gym in Harlem. During my first session, she told me that young women are taught to apologize for taking up space. When I went home, she told me to manspread on the subway and to stop apologizing for taking up space. I did cry. But I also started to lean in, and I started to realize that I’m not a woman.
The thing about gender is just: I don’t have one. It’s so hard to put into words because it’s so fresh. I soft-launched she/they pronouns in September. It definitely runs a little deeper than that for me, which is something I'm still unpacking, but I think that’s okay. The media makes it seem like, “You have to have your identity figured out, and then you come out.” But I am openly still figuring it out. My best friend said, “I am not a girl, but I am a girly.” And that’s kind of how I feel. I have a low speaking voice, and there were a few times when I have been misgendered on the phone and called “sir.” And I liked it.
I wish I could say, “This is exactly how I feel about my gender and womanhood, and I have it figured out.” This is the first time I’m talking about this in a public medium, and part of me felt like I had to have it figured out before I spoke about it openly. But that’s not realistic.
Hayley: I love that you’re openly talking about your journey with your gender. For young people, it’s important to see that represented. Like you said, we don’t see that in the media, and it’s important to educate the public and show people that it’s not binary, literally.
We hope that by talking about these things, we can understand each other’s experiences more and find tools to make the theatrical space - and our whole society - more equitable. We value you so much, Katryna, as a member of our community, and we want to know more about how we can use our privilege to uplift and amplify voices of nonbinary folks and trans people. That’s something we want to do.
Katryna: You already are!
Hayley: We hope that by talking about these things, we can…
Amy: Make some change! The idea that we need to have our identities figured out is so patriarchal. It’s rooted in the notion that there are boxes and that we need to fit in those boxes. One theme that’s come up a lot in our interviews is flow and flexibility. We’re all in process. For people of any age exploring their gender, it is very powerful to hear someone talking about the process of figuring out who they are. We appreciate you modeling that for us and our readers.
Katryna: I’m a member of the Ring of Keys nonprofit, an artist service organization that fosters community and visibility for musical theater artists, onstage and off, who self-identify as queer women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming artists. They created a directory of queer and gender-nonconforming and transgender artists, and you can make a profile and link to your website. They give you a badge to put on your resume, they have audition opportunities, and they put on concerts. They’re also very transparent about the way they run things, which is very cool.
As an actor, there’s less wiggle room in terms of playing with your gender presentation. During the pandemic, I was physically very ill, and I lost quite a bit of weight, not in a diet culture-y way, but because I was sick. And then around September of last year, auditions started happening in person again, and I was treated differently by people. Someone told me, “You’re so much prettier. You can go in for Mean Girls now.” So that sucked.
And that was happening while I internally felt like, “I don’t want to be pretty.” I was at a wedding a week ago, and I wore a beautiful bridesmaid dress. Objectively, I looked good in it. But I felt like I was in drag, being perceived as a woman. I was so deeply uncomfortable with being looked at. Women spend a lot of our lives being told, “You should look good so people will want to look at you.” And I remember thinking, “I know I look ‘good’ right now, and I wish nobody was looking at me.”
You know little dogs? Like very small dogs that think they’re pit bulls? In terms of masc versus femme presentation, I think I’m one of those dogs. In my head, I feel like a very masculine presence, and I know that’s not how I look. Over the summer, I described myself to a friend as “soft butch.” And if it were up to me, maybe I would present in that way. One day, I probably will.
But there is a fear that because I have long hair and blue eyes and high cheekbones, I wouldn’t be considered for roles that I could and would play. I worry that if I present in a more androgynous way, which is what I want, it would affect casting. And I worry about how people will perceive me if I start presenting in the way that I want to in my personal life. That sucks, and I shouldn’t have to feel that way, but I do!
Hayley: As women* performers, we are so aware of the implications if we weigh over a certain amount, or if we don’t wear the jewel tone dress and the nude heels. There are so many expectations put on us, and we try to fit into these molds. Cis women already have such limited pathways, so then when you add your gender identity and your desire to present yourself authentically, it’s even further limited. Because we only have Broadway’s version of who can be gender-queer. Why can't we consider a butch lesbian person for an ingenue role? The binary of it all is frustrating.
Amy: The fact that you have to choose between “Do I present myself in a way that expresses who I truly am?” or “Do I present myself in a way that’s gonna get me the job?” If expressing who you truly are isn’t going to get you the job, then that tells me the roles we have are too limited.
Katryna: I am publicly working through my gender, and it is scary because labels can change. The way you identify can change. Sexuality and gender are so fluid. As a performer, you’re trying to appeal to the straight white male gaze. Even if I’m choosing to wear my jeans and Doc Martens for an audition and show my tattoos, there is a part of me that says, “I still need to look pretty.” WHY do I feel that way?
Thoughts on Privilege and How to Improve the Theatre Industry
Hayley: We’ve talked about how your gender has limited you. How do you feel it could be a benefit to you and the industry?
Katryna: I fully acknowledge, even as a queer, gender-nonconforming person, I have a lot of privilege because I am white and because I “look cis.” Again, it sucks and it shouldn’t be that way, but I think I’m in a position where I can still appeal to the white male gaze to the point where they might be willing to listen to me. Not that they would like what I was saying necessarily…
Amy: Yeah, but privilege is power. Absolutely.
Katryna: I know that I’m sitting in a place with a lot of privilege. And I think and hope that I can use that to put myself in positions where I could open dialogue.
There should be more nonbinary roles on Broadway. There WAS one. And there was a point where I, as a gender-nonconforming artist, was like, “Oh, I would love to audition for Jo in Jagged Little Pill." But I’m too “cis-looking” to even be considered for that role. Even though I’m actually gender-queer. I joke a lot about coming out to people and people saying, “But you have long hair!” But it’s kind of true. Hair is attached to femininity.
Hayley: It’s interesting, the perceptions and stereotyping. Our ideas about what things “have to” look like. It’s just so limited.
Katryna: The national tour of The Prom cast a nonbinary actor as Emma, which is awesome. But even in The Prom, it’s a “gay musical,” but they present society’s idea of two attractive young women. So many new shows have opportunities to take it a step further, to go outside the box. And it’s scary. The revival of Oklahoma cast Sis as Ado Annie, and she is this incredible artist, a powerhouse. This is seen as taking a “risk” (it’s not a risk, she’s incredible), but I would love to see more of that.
Hayley: What else do you hope will change in the industry? You want to see more opportunities for gender-nonconforming people, and more openness in general.
Katryna: The fact that we use the term “nontraditional” to describe casting any gender-queer, transgender, nonbinary person - it proves that there’s a problem. I would love to get to a point where nobody feels othered in the audition space.
Hayley: I love that.
Katryna’s Creative Mission
Hayley: Katryna, how would you describe your creative mission?
Katryna: Just let the dykes be happy. No, I’m kidding.
Let’s see, my creative mission is… to create and foster environments where nobody feels othered. As a teacher and a performer and a producer, all of the above.
Amy: How do you think about balancing your creative work with the other things that you love to do?
Katryna: I hear a lot of young actors refer to their “survival job,” their “day job.” During the pandemic, I made a promise to myself to do work that I care about, whether in the performing world or in my “day job.” I’ve always loved kids and teaching, there’s nothing I want more in life than to be a parent. I could see myself foster parenting or adopting. Doing work that I care about makes me fulfilled as a human, and in turn, as an artist.
I really love teaching because it’s hard to be depressed around kids. As actors, we talk about discovering things every moment. If you want a master class in discovery, in learning, watch children. I spend half the day with these kiddos. We experience and learn so much together.
Final Thoughts
Hayley: What does a more feminine theatrical space look like to you in an ideal world?
Katryna: If I close my eyes and think of a feminine theatrical space…Jenn Colella’s there, and she’s buying me a glass of wine and telling me how shiny my hair is… That’s a joke.
A feminine theatrical space. I think the natural inclination is to be like “No men!” But I don’t think that’s what it has to be. It just has to be where masculinity is not the default. Or to go broader, cisgender and heteronormativity is not the default.
Hayley: Whiteness is not the default.
Katryna: Yes.
Amy: So if you close your eyes and go to your dream vision space, what does that look like?
Katryna: I’m excited to find out.
Amy/Hayley: Me too.
Hayley: I have one more question, Katryna. What are you most proud of in your life?
Katryna: Two things. One is that I have a really big heart. I have put a lot of work into growing to accept that about myself. And two - making progress and bettering myself is something that I’m always working on. Developing self-awareness, coping skills… They say to put your own oxygen mask on before you can help others. I need to do the work internally first. But I’m proud that I’m trying to improve myself so I can then help others.
