Corey Mach

Tell us about yourself! What do you do for a living? What are your interests? What are your pronouns?

I’m a Broadway actor and audition coach living in New York City, I also produce a concert series called Broadway Sings. I enjoy cooking, playing the piano, and gardening! My pronouns are he/him.

About how old were you when you came out? How was the climate you grew up in?

I had a few different stages of coming out. I first came out to a few friends of mine when I was 19; I found that first coming out to people I immensely trusted was the perfect way to test out what kind of reaction it got— if those people were surprised if they thought it was a big deal (it wasn’t!), what the reaction was like, etc. I slowly started coming out to other friends a few months later but didn’t come out to my family until I was about 22.

Did you make career choices that allowed you to feel comfortable being open about your sexuality? (Are you out or feel comfortable being out at your workplace?)

Theater, especially professional theater, is rooted in a straight, white, male’s world. It took a while for me to fully be able to be myself in a work environment, and I’m still not fully comfortable with straight, male directors. I always prefer being directed by a woman. 

If you could tell your younger self something about yourself that you are proud of today, what would it be?

I would have told him to come out earlier, for sure. But I think kids today are coming out earlier and earlier due to LGBTQA+ folks being accepted in society. They don’t necessarily have it easier, but there are definitely more people to talk to and more resources, such as The Trevor Project, to help them find someone to talk to.

Have you tried to surround yourself with like-minded peers/colleagues? If so, how?

Yes. Everyone is pretty liberal and accepting in the theater world, and many of them think the way I do.

Who were your role models growing up? What tv shows/movies allowed you to feel seen?

My role models were usually actors who stepped out of a comfort zone of some sort— who allowed themselves to become another character and didn’t try to make it pretty or fit into a certain box: Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Julia Roberts.

Complete the sentence, if I knew that coming out really wasn’t a big deal back when I was first figuring myself out, I would tell my younger self that I should have done it sooner.

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