“I would walk out on that stage,” Amy Rodriguez reminisces about her three years working as a student stagehand at Hancher, “and I remember looking out at the empty seats, thinking about what it would be like to perform in a venue like this.” 

Rodriguez will come full circle when the touring Broadway production of Hairspray brings her back to Hancher Auditorium as the standby for Tracy Turnblad. Rodriguez will play the musical’s lead character for the 7:30 p.m. show on Saturday, Feb. 24, and the 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 25. 

Rodriguez earned a BA in theatre, with a minor in math, in 2021. She came to the University of Iowa with a dream of becoming an actor and found so much more—including a memorable class on the history of espionage. 

She was able to engage in curriculum across the performing arts, learning the Linklater Voice technique from Theatre Associate Professor Mary Mayo, taking voice lessons with Assistant Professor Élise DesChamps in the School of Music, and working with the Department of Dance to incorporate movement in her performance. Rodriguez also developed a deep love and appreciation for scenic design and other technical aspects of the business. 

“My time at the University of Iowa made me an extremely well-rounded theatre professional,” Rodriguez says, “I had to take classes outside my comfort zone and as part of the curriculum we had to join the crew for student-run productions.”

In addition to her student job at Hancher and many acting credits at the UI—including in Orlando, Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel, and Anton Chekov’s classic, Three Sisters—Rodriguez served as a scenic designer in two student productions during her final semester. As a stagehand, Rodriguez learned how to work with various types of theatrical lighting, video, and sound equipment. 

“My experience working backstage made me a better actor,” Rodriguez explains. “It really allowed me a glimpse at the inner workings of performance, the technical and specific aspects of running a show.” 

After graduating from the University of Iowa, Rodriguez planned to move to New York City, but put those plans on pause when she successfully auditioned for the role of Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray—on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Rodriguez performed in the Royal Caribbean production for a year before moving to New York and landing the standby role in the national Broadway tour.

“This is the dream,” Rodriguez says about booking the tour. “When I was working at Hancher, I always made sure I was working when the national tours came through. And when I saw that Hairspray was going to Hancher—I don’t think I even had an audition yet, but I knew I was going to get the job.”

Rodriguez is the tour’s Tracy Turnblad standby, which means that she performs as Tracy once a week during weeks when the tour has eight shows. She also works as an understudy for the whole show—so she’s there in the wings every night, ready to go. 

“I love my cast so much,” Rodriguez describes the experience, “I’m not in the show most of the time, but on that eighth show, when I’m on stage, the amount of support I receive from the cast is overwhelming.” 

When Amy Rodriguez comes home to the University of Iowa as the fabulous and audacious Tracy Turnblad, she will have family, friends, past UI theatre professors, and classmates in the audience cheering her on as she comes full circle back to Hancher’s Hadley stage. 

“On Saturday night, when the overture starts and the curtain lifts,” Rodriguez says, “I’ll look out at that audience and know that my dream—the one I had working backstage at Hancher—it’s come true.” 

Hairspray, Broadway’s Tony Award-winning musical comedy phenomenon, will be presented at Hancher February 23-25, 2024.