'It was a saving grace to have the theater.' Meredith King’s survival and strut toward Broadway
- Kristen Roberts
- Apr 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 2
Meredith King said she thanks God that her parents found her in the fetal position on the floor, in her own home, a couple of days before Christmas 2021.
"I had just prayed that somebody would come and find me, and they did," King said.
Everything King had known about herself changed: her last name, home and passion. She said she felt lost and broken until April of 2022 when she once again started musical theater.
The 33-year-old from eastern Kentucky always had a passion for all things dance and musical theater, but when she was about 10 years younger, it was more important to her to hold a job she felt was "serious." She said she wanted to do something that made a difference in the world — little did she know, she would eventually do just that — whether through a typical job or the performing arts.
After attending the University of Kentucky and receiving a bachelor's degree in communication and Chinese studies, King went on to get her master's in communication and a PhD. She just recently reached her tenure at UK as well, where she is a full-time senior lecturer in several communication classes.
King said she kept going down this path, this life she envisioned for herself. She got married at 22, with one semester left of college, and she said things were "fine" in her relationship.
"But then throughout my PhD and throughout COVID ….. things that had been toxic or things that
I didn't like, that I wouldn't talk about — nobody really knew what was going on — became really abusive," she said.
Three years ago, things came to a tipping point.
King was teaching a winter intersession class and had just started performing in some local productions.
"It just seemed like, the more confidence that I grew on stage, the more resentful I think he became and things got really, really, really scary," she said. "And so I left on Christmas Day, 2021."
King went back the next day and stayed until April of 2022. Her mom told her she had to leave, she wasn't safe, and she agreed, she wasn't.
"I just never imagined that my life would go like this," King said.
Then, King happened to see a posting for a community theater audition at Woodford Theatre in Versailles for "Guys and Dolls," a show she had previously been a part of in high school.
"I signed up to audition, and he yelled at me for three hours and I never left the house," she said. "They asked me to come audition again, and I couldn't do it."
A week later, another round of auditions opened up and King got the courage to sneak out of her home and go. She got the leading lady role, Miss Adelaide.
Something about the Golden Age musical and its "dumb" plot of a woman
who's been engaged for 14 years and really wants to get married resonated with King.
"She's such a ditzy character on the surface, but she was just so fun and being that fun on stage made me realize I could be that person in real life," King said. "I didn't feel like I knew who I was at all anymore, because I just became so small. I was one person in the classroom, in front of my students, and I was a completely different person at home. And I ended up leaving him forever during that show."
Miss Adelaide's love interest, Nathan Detroit, was played by King's current husband. Their "showmance" started during that musical, over three years ago, and they got married at Lyric Theatre on Jan. 2, 2025.
King said that musical turned her whole life around.
She decided to throw herself into what she once considered an impractical dream of performing, showing up to Broadway open calls, getting called back for off-Broadway shows and now having performed in about 30 different productions, everything from aerial arts to theater.
"It was a saving grace to have the theater," King said.
There's something about walking into an environment where no one really knows you, she said, and when you're going through a difficult time in life, a new space provides an outlet where you don't have to explain anything or dodge questions from anybody.
"Nobody had a clue about me; I had that opportunity to remake myself," King said.
She didn't know at the time what it was going to take, just that she would do it, and that resulted in her living her true dream. Dancing from a young age, King said she always told people she wanted to be a dancer, to travel and to sing.
"It's kind of funny, I don't think very many people end up living their childhood dream, but I'm still doing my first job, teaching and dancing," she said.
King said she feels that she can now, as her authentic self, bring a lot more to the classroom. Teaching mainly freshman classes at UK, she said her goal is to help young, impressionable students tell their stories with confidence.
Even with her teaching job and infatuation with performing, King has found time to help numerous women who were once in her position.
In her early 20s, King worked for a domestic violence shelter because she thought it was somewhere she could make a big difference in people's lives. Now she finds it funny that with her switch in career and lifestyle, she has been able to help so many more people leave domestic violence and toxic relationships than she ever did during her job at the shelter, she said.
King started sharing her story publicly and honestly through Instagram (gaining around 7,000 followers over the last few years) where she said several people have reached out to her for help.
"I couldn't believe how many people would reach out and say, like, 'Hey, thanks for telling your story because I don't feel like I can tell mine, but I'm really glad to know there's somebody else out there," she said.
People also asked King how she knew it was time to leave or told her about their similar situation and asked her for advice on what to do.
She said she didn't know, she just let herself fall apart and eventually, she had to leave.
King believes many people are ashamed or scared to tell their story because they don't know how people will react or if they will be judged. She said she is very honored that so many people confide in her because "we all need somebody that can be a legit friend," and listen rather than apologize for what you've been through.
Many times, King said people wait around for happiness or success to find them in life, and she learned that is something you have to find for yourself.
"If you're unhappy in life, it doesn't have to stay that way," King said. "Stop waiting around for your dreams to find you, and stop waiting around for things to get better if you know they are not — just start over."
Meredith King's journey is a powerful reminder that sometimes, life takes us in unexpected directions, and true passion has a way of finding its way back to us. Her story of resilience, rediscovery, and the healing power of theater is truly inspiring.
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