Name up in lights for West High graduate Andreas Warren

IOWA CITY — Andreas Warren always has had a passion for performing and entertaining.

“Andreas has been entertaining us and performing for us ever since he was a little kid,” said his mother, Rasa Butinas. “His two older sisters and him as little kids would put on shows and dance and put on plays and all that ever since he was little.”

When his two older sisters started to get involved in dance, he wanted to also. And as he grew older, he began participating in other performing arts including choir and theater. Now as a teen, his voice coach calls him a “triple threat” — showcasing talents for acting, singing and dancing.

Warren, 18, of Tiffin, is one of 339 students who graduate today from West High School in the Iowa City Community School District. The commencement ceremony is at 1 p.m. at the Xtreme Arena in Coralville.

After graduation, Warren plans to attend Massachusetts’ Boston Conservatory at Berklee to study musical theater.

“I picked musical theater just because that was the art form that I felt the most comfortable in and I felt like I knew the most about,” Warren said. “If I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be doing some other thing with music or performing or whatever.”

He credits the arts scene in the area for contributing to his love and involvement in it.

Last winter, he starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in West’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” in January help direct a student-produced comedy show and in May was involved in other performances.

Warren said performing became especially important to him during the worst of the pandemic as it gave him an outlet after being stuck at home.

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“I think my lifelong interests were like developed over COVID, these super-niche things like that I would have never found had I not been stuck inside all the time,” he said. “I don't know if I would have such a deep appreciation for theater had the isolation of COVID not happened, just because you don't you don't know how much you miss something till it's gone.”

Mia Gimenez, founder of Gimenez Voice Academy, has worked with Warren since 2016. In that time, she said she has seen him grow from a young boy into a teen incredibly talented and mature for his age. She has worked with other students who have what she calls the “it factor” — and quickly realized Warren had it, too.

She first realized this after seeing Warren work hard to overcome the changes in his voice as he grew up, something she said causes a lot of boys to quit singing lessons.

“Andreas didn't do that. Not at all. That's when I knew he had the factor,” Gimenez said. “He was willing to do the even harder work to make his voice match, as well as his acting and his dance.”

Since then, Warren has gone on to collaborate with Gimenez, and the latest result was a production titled “Ghost Quarter,” with Warren the director and Gimenez the producer.

After college, Warren said he’s open to opportunities that come his way but especially directing, as he would love to do that at some point.

“I want to work, but I'm open to if that's in like a show, or if that's like TV, film, stage theater, or like a teaching job even,” he said. “I think those are all really valuable in different ways.”

Comments: alejandro.rojas@thegazette.com