Artist Profile: Gabby Greene ’27 and Kaylor Toronto ’27 Discuss the ‘Wonder’ Behind Taking the Stage

Juniors Gabrielle “Gabby” M. Greene ’27 and Kaylor G. Toronto ’27 live and breathe performance. For their entire lives, the duo has shone on stage, and they don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

Most recently, the pair completed their residency as understudies, or “Wonderstudies,” for the American Repertory Theater’s hit musical, “Wonder,” based on the book and film of the same name. Their recent run adds another credit to their already extensive repertoire. Both have participated in Hasty Pudding Theatricals productions, and the duo held leading roles opposite each other in Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s 2025 musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” Toronto and Greene, alongside their friendship, have developed a close theatrical partnership.

The two have had storied pasts in the theater industry. Toronto, a son of two theater professors, spent his childhood trying to distance himself from performance, but eventually fell in love with the art. In his senior year of high school, he was nominated for a Jimmy Award, a prestigious award ceremony for talented high schoolers in the performing arts.

In middle school, Greene spent a year performing on Broadway in the musical “School of Rock.” Though she thought she would take a step back from theater at Harvard and instead pursue a path in government, she “couldn’t stay away” from the stage.

“It’s really nice to have a really alive scene partner, someone who’s also very vocally impressive and in tune with the music. It means that we can live in the songs together, and whether it was singing or just straight acting scenes, we could trust each other to change things and know that it would still feel authentic and motivated,” Toronto said in an interview with The Crimson of his and Greene’s scenes together in “Merrily We Roll Along.”

Toronto and Greene only grew closer working together on “Wonder.” Last summer, Greene worked as an intern for the A.R.T. before joining the cast as an understudy. While in the production, she covered three different roles. Greene said returning to professional theater for “Wonder” was like a “homecoming” and thanked the A.R.T. for creating an environment for her to grow.

“In other professional environments, you’re expected to know what you’re doing and not really ask questions about what’s going on. But everyone offered up so much advice just for free,” Greene said. “Staff, crew, cast, creative, just offering up so much wisdom and love and care in a way that I had never really seen before in a professional environment. So it just felt so refreshing,” Greene said.”

Toronto joined the cast of “Wonder” as an understudy for the two young male characters, Moon Boy and Justin. Since he came on later than Greene, he expressed his gratitude to her for helping to integrate him into the production’s community. Toronto had a memorable time, especially doing flying rehearsals in the astronaut costume used in the show.

“It was so much fun. My fly rehearsal started in January, and basically every week I would have to go in and fly,” Toronto said.

Toronto recalled the rehearsals’ intensity and effect on his body. He had trained so hard he thought he had a stomach bug before he realized it “was just [his] abs from flying” for long periods at a time.

This dedication is a testament to the hard work the duo put into balancing a professional theater job and their junior year of college. Once, Greene had to excuse herself from her Italian class — while speaking in Italian — to rush to the A.R.T. to cover an actor who fell ill last-minute. She ran to the theater as she quickly skimmed her new blocking cues on her iPad. Within 15 minutes of leaving her Italian course, she was on stage understudying a role she had never covered before.

Greene, who studies History with a secondary in Theater, Dance, and Media and is pursuing a dual degree at The Berklee College of Music, and Toronto, who studies English and History of Science, were in the middle of finals when “Wonder” opened on Dec. 17. Handling performances, events, and exams was especially challenging at that time.

“There’s so much self restraint you have to practice,” Greene said. “For the professional actors, their time away from the theater is kind of like free time to socialize, get to know the company, and get to rest. It would be like, ‘Oh, hey. We’re going out to karaoke.’ And it’s like, ‘Oh, but I have a paper due at 11:59 [p.m.].’ It’s really hard to exist in both worlds.”

Beyond the stage, Greene and Toronto have been involved in countless other artistic endeavors across campus — both are in a capella groups, and are the lead singers for their on-campus bands. Toronto was able to merge his passions for dance and singing through a capella when choreographing The Opportunes’s International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) performance last year. In Greene’s band, Midnight Curfew, Greene has honed her ability to be assertive with her musical decision-making, making sure her voice is heard literally and figuratively.

Over the years, Greene and Toronto have spent countless hours on stage, whether it be rehearsing with their performing arts groups or starring in various shows. Greene views theater as an act of “giving” and a form of spiritual connection to God, and Toronto sees the art as an elevation of everyday life.

“It’s just like the purest form of living,” Toronto said. “To be human is to make art. And that’s why I think more people who think they’re bad at dancing or singing or whatever should do it is because it’s so exceptionally present, and it’s just the most clear form of communication.”

From March 6 to 9, Toronto and Greene will be performing in SKETCH!, a student-written sketch comedy show put on stage at the Loeb Ex. While Toronto has experience with the comedy scene through his improv group, On Thin Ice, Greene was initially worried about her comparative inexperience when deciding to join the production, comparing herself to a “G-league” basketball player who has been sent to the NBA.

Toronto is confident that the comedy show will be a hit, but he will be content with the performance however it goes because he will know he has given it his all.

“I find that when I’m doing sketch comedy or improv, if I commit 200 percent as an actor, and I’m dead serious in whatever my character is, I’m never sad if there is no laugh. I’m like, ‘Well, what? I’m dead serious. I’m not looking for a laugh.’ And that’s often where the comedy comes from,” Toronto said.

Beyond college, Greene and Toronto hope to pursue careers in the arts in some capacity. Toronto is still figuring out exactly what he wants to do in the future, and he said he is grateful to Harvard for giving him the privilege of uncertainty.

“I’ll just figure it out, and that’s okay with me,” Toronto said. “For the situation I’m in, I’m just gonna keep getting my education and loving it and hope that more jobs that I like come. I haven’t thought a lot about my career after this, but I think with “Wonder,” and if other things are as incredible as “Wonder” [was], then I would love to keep doing theater and performing or creating art behind the scenes,” Toronto said.

Though Greene said “the dream” is to one day return to Broadway, she will be pleased in any career where she is telling stories and making a difference on people’s lives.

“I just want to do something that’s going to be fulfilling, and tell stories, and wacky and funny, and also serious and deeply impactful. That’s what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. And whatever form that is, whatever form that brings me the most joy — if it’s Broadway or not, if it’s, you know, directing, if it’s producing, whatever that is — I want to be entrenched in the arts for the rest of my life,” Greene said.

— Staff writer Avani Shah-Lipman can be reached at [email protected].