Enzo Vasquez Toral ’10 Explores Theatre, Identity and the Spaces that Shape Who We Become
By the Alumni and Communications Team, UWCSEA
2 July 2026
For UWCSEA Alumnus Enzo Vasquez Toral ’10, theatre has long been more than performance—it is a way of exploring identity, transformation and the roles we take on in life. The roots of his work trace back to UWCSEA, where he arrived in 2008 as the College’s first scholar from Peru. Experiences such as launching a Global Concerns initiative, participating in Initiative for Peace, and mentorship from teachers like Mallika Ramdas and Mirna Moctezuma-Trigg helped define his commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices.
After graduating, Enzo received a full scholarship to Harvard before continuing his studies at Princeton and Northwestern. Today, he is an award-winning scholar and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, researching how performance illuminates social and cultural change across Latin America. In the reflection that follows, he considers the “changing rooms” that shape who we become.
In theatre, the dressing room is a space of change. By consciously stepping into a character, the actor uses clothing as a first step toward creating an illusion on stage. If “all the world’s a stage,” as the Shakespearean saying goes, then what and where are the dressing rooms, or rather, life’s changing rooms, that we inhabit daily as performers in the world?
In 2008, I arrived in Singapore as the first National Committee scholar from Peru to attend UWCSEA. There, I encountered my first changing room: a new language, a myriad of opportunities, and global cultural diversity. As the son of a single mother, I felt overwhelmed and often undeserving, having grown up in restricted circumstances. I wore the idea of potential as my daily dress, so I embraced a future-oriented self while remaining attuned to a childhood lesson to never take things for granted.
I left UWCSEA determined to study medicine. That decision was short-lived. I was, literally and figuratively, thrown back into a dressing/changing room when I embraced a career in theatre and research. Several years later, I am now a professor in this field, but the path was far from linear. I learned to embrace change as an opportunity, rather than a demand for transformation.
Performance as World-Making
The power of theatre extends far beyond entertainment. Like other art forms, theatre invites reflection and imagines different realities. Change lies at its core: as a story transforms before an audience’s eyes, so too might the audience’s perception about the world. As a researcher, I have led projects examining theatre and society in Latin America, from political theatre in Brazil to traditional theatre and dance forms in the Andean region of South America most recently. Throughout my work with performance and theatre artists on the ground, I have infused my collaborations with a holistic mindset that I began to nurture in the halls of UWCSEA. Particularly, I have considered performance both as a lens through which to view society and an artistic expression where alternative worlds could be imagined.
Over almost a decade, I have reconnected with my old passion with folkloric dance, something I left behind when I moved to Singapore. As I have danced in traditional fiestas and carnivals in Peru and Bolivia, I have developed new vocabulary to understand how and where change occurs. In working with LGBTQ communities exploring dance as a mode of expression, performance emerged as a world-making practice. My current scholarship narrates our stories of dancing together and carving spaces for ourselves within heteronormative national landscapes.
Diversity Beyond Culture
I vividly remember spaces such as UN Night, where sharing national customs created joyful moments at UWCSEA. We celebrated global perspectives, diverse cultures, and individual traditions, which are central to the college’s mission and social fabric. As I appreciated cultures different from my own, I also developed critical thinking skills that have since guided my research on performance. Within national contexts, my work as a scholar examines how cultural expressions deemed representative of local or national identity can also paradoxically serve as spaces of exclusion. Who gets a seat at the table of national and cultural imaginaries? Which identities are celebrated, essentialised, exoticised, or pushed aside?
As an educator working at the intersection of the humanities and the social sciences, I am constantly challenged to expand and account for intersectional forms of diversity. I encourage students to consider their lived experiences as sources of knowledge shaped by intersecting privilege and oppression. Diversity is thus not a passive concept; it is a product of processes that have made us who we are and the hierarchies that we embody daily. In a way, I invite myself and others not to romanticise difference. Instead, difference becomes a tool for addressing unequal pasts and presents and for confronting patriarchalism, homophobia, racism, and xenophobia.
In the education world, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) initiatives have played a key role in helping us reckon with our uneven social landscapes. Yet these initiatives have also faced resistance, particularly amid recent funding cuts in higher education. The metaphor of the changing room feels especially apt: diversity may no longer be something we proudly wear but rather a target. The secrecy of the changing room, spaces where we also get to hide parts of ourselves, may become necessary.
On my recent visit to UWCSEA, I was thrilled to learn about current DEIJ initiatives absent during my time. The College is indeed in a privileged position to demystify diversity by expanding the concept beyond cultural difference. The challenge ahead is how, as alumni, we cultivate a notion of diversity that both encompasses and extends commitments to peace and sustainability while actively addressing the centuries-long systems of exclusion that only seem to intensify across the world every day.
A Conversation Across Generations
Fifteen years after his own time at the College, Enzo sat down with two current Peruvian scholars—Jessi (Grade 12) and Samikai (Grade 11)—for a candid discussion on identity, the realities of boarding life, and the shared highs and hurdles that connect past and present scholars.
Samikai: Coming from Peru, the education system here feels so different. How did you handle that shift?
In Peru, we often cover many subjects but perhaps not as deeply. The IB forces you to go very deep into just a few. My biggest piece of advice is to ask for help. I went to my teachers, my counsellors, and my house parents. I had to learn how to study specifically for the IB, which is so different from studying in Peru. Don’t try to figure it out alone; it will just take you longer.
Lastly, understand the "go-getter" and competitive culture. Once I realised that, I stopped feeling like I was being left behind and started finding my own rhythm.
Jessi: Enzo, how did you navigate your identity as a scholar while also trying to find your place in such a new environment?
It was a massive learning curve. I found myself navigating two distinct worlds: the boarding house, which was close-knit and filled with fellow scholars, and the day-school world from 8am to 3pm.
As a scholar, you become a "cultural ambassador," and sometimes you accidentally lean into stereotypes or tropes that people expect of Peru because you want to be liked or understood. I wish I’d known how to be a more genuine ambassador from day one.
For the first year, I struggled. Not because I wasn't welcome, but because the social spheres were so dissimilar. My day-student friends lived in houses in Singapore; they were "expats," a term I didn’t even know yet. I had to learn what it meant to be an immigrant versus an expat. Eventually, I blended my academic and social identities, but my deepest connections remained with those who, like me, inhabited a space far from home. It taught me to be "culturally attuned" to understand the different ways people exist when they are away from their roots.
Jessi: What do you wish you had known in Grade 11, and what do you wish you’d known before graduating in Grade 12?
I’ll be honest, I still haven’t fully cracked the code on balance! In Grade 11, I did a horrible job. I burned out because I felt I had to study constantly just to keep up, especially since English wasn't my first language. By Grade 12, I became intentional. I began blocking off specific hours where I refused to touch schoolwork. You have to schedule "social time" just as strictly as you schedule study time for your mental health.
Being proactive. I’m actually quite an introvert at times, but I knew that to make the most of my opportunity, I had to put myself out there. I started a Global Concerns (GC) group for an orphanage back home and launched a Latin dance social club. I even ran for Secretary of the Student Council. None of this happened overnight; Grade 11 was for learning; Grade 12 was when I finally felt confident.
Samikai: What skills from UWCSEA ended up being the most useful in university and beyond?
The ability to see situations holistically. When I’m in a work environment now, and there's a conflict, I don’t just see the disagreement; I try to understand the belief systems and preconceived notions people are bringing to the table.
Also, the discipline of saying "no". At UWCSEA, there are 20 things you could do, but if you do them all, you’ll do them badly. I learned to choose five things and do them exceptionally well. Even now, as a professor, I am invited to write articles or join congresses constantly. If I didn’t know how to prioritise and say "no" to protect my own time, I would drown.
When I moved to the US for university, I realised I was a beginner all over again. I had to learn a whole new cultural reality. My advice? Never assume you’re "done" learning how to inhabit a new place.
