Beneath the glow of Broadway stage lights, Aléna Watters steps into the rhythm of “West Side Story,” her voice rising as the tension of the iconic rivalry unfolds in song. 

Night after night, she moves through the choreography that defines one of theater’s most famous productions, while soaking in the reality of her first Broadway performance. 

For a fleeting moment, she remembers the show that began her love for theater: a Pikes Peak Center production of “Annie.”

Long before she stood beneath the bright lights of a Broadway marquee in 2009, Watters was just a kid in Colorado Springs, sitting in the audience of a local theater. 

Though her career would eventually carry her to New York, performing in productions such as “West Side Story,” “Sister Act” and “The Cher Show,” among others, Watters said her roots stem from the Springs.

Having been a part of Mesa Ridge High School’s first graduating class, “Colorado is what I think of as home,” she said.

At just 10 years old, Watters landed her first paid role as Tessie in “Annie” at Pikes Peak Center, stepping into the production that had first sparked her interest in theater years prior. 

“I remember being really excited to be a part of this piece of theater and getting to tell stories and entertain people,” Watters said. “That’s definitely been a mission of mine that’s become more clear. Not necessarily just entertaining people, but bringing people joy through the storytelling of musical theater.”

Watters later joined Bemis School of Art, and from age 12 to 15, she starred in a myriad of plays at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, including “Cinderella,” “Oklahoma” and “Oliver.”

“I was in a variety of things within the local community, including dancing, doing community theater and performing in the semi-professional theater,” she said. “Knowing that I wanted to pursue this for life, I then applied for both the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.” 

After choosing the University of Northern Colorado, Watters’ path to Broadway quickly took shape. She made her Broadway debut March 19, 2009, in “West Side Story,” and just a year later, she landed a role in her first original Broadway production, “The Addams Family.”

“That was my first of five original Broadway musicals, and it was wild,” she said. “We were doing these kinds of experimental theater games with newspaper and puppets because they had crazy antics in the show and things that most other shows had never done. I’ve never done anything like that since.” 

From there, Watters began sharing the stage with industry heavyweights such as Whoopi Goldberg, Carolee Carmello and Victoria Clark.

But after years of back-to-back productions and her final performance with “Sister Act” in 2012, Watters made the unexpected decision to step away from the stage.

“I always say not to make theater the only thing you do in your life,” she said. “You have to go explore other interests and learn about yourself. If you learn more about yourself, you’re going to be more interesting on stage than if you’re just obsessing about trying to get the next job. It’s important to train, but it’s also important to have experiences that make you who you are.” 

Along with attending Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts, Watters became a certified breathwork practitioner, a relationship coach and a regular USO Show Troupe performer.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I had this momentum going with these Broadway shows, and now are they going to forget about me?’” she said. “You’re told you got to keep your face in the game, but I just had to trust. There was an inner knowing that was telling me I was on the right path.” 

Eventually, that path led Watters overseas, performing with the international cast of “Pippin” in cities like Tokyo and Amsterdam from 2015 to 2016.

After years of performing across stages around the world, Watters found herself returning to where it all began. In 2023, two decades after leaving Colorado, she stepped back onto a home-state stage to perform in “Cinderella,” marking a full-circle moment in her career.

That return continued the following year, when she took on a role she had dreamed about since childhood, she said.

In 2024, Watters performed as Princess Winnifred in “Once Upon a Mattress” at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities.

“I’d done the show in Colorado when I was 12 as a male role, but all I wanted was to be Princess Winnifred,” she said. “So to come back to Colorado, in a different town, and to do that dream role was really special. Now, to come back and do one of the most challenging roles in contemporary musical theater history, I’m excited.” 

Watters’ latest role as Diana Goodman in “Next to Normal” will run through May 3 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. 

The award-winning musical follows a suburban family navigating the complexities of mental illness, with a mother whose bipolar disorder ripples through every aspect of her family’s life. 

For Watters, stepping into Diana’s character has been one of the most challenging roles she’s ever portrayed, she said. 

“It’s hard because you have to bring yourself to dive into various states of emotional breakdowns,” she said. “Even as an actor, your prefrontal cortex knows logically that this is not actually happening, but the nervous system does not know that. So everything I’m bringing to the audience through this character’s emotional state, I physically feel, and I think that’s really important to notice. It’s a profound exploration of mental health issues, and I hope that it inspires and ignites community conversations about mental health and that fluctuating part of our lives as human beings.”

IF YOU GO

What: “Next to Normal”

When: Tuesday through Sunday until May 3

Where: Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1101 13th St.

Price: $47-$114, denvercenter.org