One of the most cherished moments in all of cinema comes in the beloved 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” when young Dorothy stares dreamily up at the sky and sings the enchanting “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Anyone who has ever been touched by a dream or a yearning for something more fulfilling, more soul reaching, finds that moment a haunting one. Some are moved enough to actually reach toward that rainbow and whatever treasures it may harbor, while others simply prefer to experience it vicariously through the likes of Dorothy.

Erin Sousa-Stanley of East Lyme reached for it, touched it and isn’t quite through with that elusive “Land of the Rainbow.” Not yet.

An actress, singer, dancer virtually right out of the womb, Sousa-Stanley started her theater career on a stage where she felt completely at home: her family living room.

“I was about 4 or 5 years old when I started putting on shows there,” she said with a smile. “I’d cast my younger brothers to perform with me, then we’d have friends and family for an audience.”

Sousa-Stanley also credited her hometown newspaper, The Day.

“I’d look for the page in the Entertainment Guide that listed all of the local auditions,” she recalled.

“There was no social media back then,” she added, referencing the 1980s when the Internet was still the stuff of science fiction. “So once I found an audition listed, I’d talk my mother into bringing me to it.”

Sousa-Stanley confesses to never having visited the hub of American theater, Broadway in New York City, until she was in junior high school, but even by that young age she knew theater was where she wanted to spend her life.

“Being involved in a theatrical production is like reading a book and traveling on a journey you might not otherwise experience,” she said, her eyes aglow with the same sparkling fires that had kindled there from childhood. “Theater is where you experience being someone other than just yourself. I’ve always liked making an impact on audiences.

“To touch people’s hearts and give them cause to think about important issues is essential. If my performances can accomplish that, then I was successful. My dad always taught me to stand up for what I believe in ... which is why I recently chose to direct a classic stage play, ‘Little Women,’ where the strength of family is so prominent a part of the story.”

That 2017 production was at Stonington High School where Sousa-Stanley has been drama director these past 15 years. She has also served as artistic director for the East Lyme Regional Theater for the last decade.

In recapturing her childhood theatrical past, Erin Sousa-Stanley gazed out the vast picture window as though seeing her younger, formative years unfolding again like a film being screened before her eyes.

“Growing up, my entire life was all about theater — acting, singing, dancing. My parents were very supportive,” she explained. “One summer when I was just 13 years old, I was cast in three productions at once. One of them was at the Shubert in New Haven through the Young Performers Academy.”

Her dad would put her on the train early in the morning, and she’d get off in New Haven to walk to the Shubert. After training or a show, she’d walk to her uncle’s workplace, and he would drive her home.

“And the day wasn’t over yet either,” she said. “I’d eat dinner and then I was off to another rehearsal locally. I just couldn’t get enough of it!”

Waterford High roots

With the pace of her life much the same today and her work respected, Sousa-Stanley also credits the many local theater groups of the past as having provided wonderful opportunities for her and for other regional artists. One of her first true moments of encouragement came as a teenager while performing at Waterford High School where James Stidfole was drama director. It was during a production of “Kiss Me Kate,” directed by Arthur Pignataro, that Sousa-Stanley, then a junior, played the character Bianca.

The music director for the production, Clint Thayer, had felt compelled by her performance to write a praiseworthy letter-to-the-editor in The Day, stating firmly, “If Erin Lee Sousa does not make it to Broadway some day, it will only be because she doesn’t want to.”

Sousa-Stanley’s ensuing waltz through regional theater, and even an early professional stint at Ivoryton Playhouse, launched her into a prestigious proving ground when she was accepted into the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1993, leading her to further theatrical engagements that brought her closer to that coveted Realm of the Rainbow.

“My father owned restaurants and other businesses and was totally willing to pay for whatever balance my scholarship did not cover, while my mother still drove me all over ... even to New York,” she said. “The time spent at Boston Conservatory even landed me some professional jobs. It was all going in the right direction.”

Time of tumult

Personal tumult, however, disrupted Sousa-Stanley’s theatrical pursuits and she returned home to help out with her family and to regroup. She enrolled, instead, in the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Theater Institute program, a half-semester of dawn-till-dark training in all aspects of theatrical arts.

“If you’re going to work in the performing arts in New York, you have to be at full capacity,” Sousa-Stanley explained. “Everything in my life at that time was in turmoil, so it was the right move to come back to Waterford and attend NTI, and perform locally, knowing I’d eventually be heading back to the city.”

Raising a child and family responsibilities took high priority, but Sousa-Stanley still continued with theater. She was cast in a key role in the Waterford Week production of “Mame,” along with another highly talented town resident, Valerie Azlynn. Both played lead roles of characters much older than themselves. Azlynn would eventually go on to a successful professional acting career in Hollywood.

Sousa-Stanley balanced family responsibilities with her own theatrical pursuits, and came up just shy of a major breakthrough with a popular TV show, “You’re the One that I Want.”

Audition disappointment

Following her audition in New York, members of the show’s production company flew out to Waterford. Sousa-Stanley was on the doorstep of a defining Hollywood moment with a powerful human interest story that was set for a solid debut. But as is often the case when on the verge of a breakthrough, the opportunity evaporated at the proverbial eleventh hour.

“I still wound up on the show, but it was all cut down to a 30-second spot,” she recalled quietly. Disappointed, Sousa-Stanley returned home, having salvaged at least a minor performance on the show.

Continuing to balance family responsibilities with her love for theater, Erin Sousa-Stanley and her husband, a music director, have imbued in their children the same passion for the arts.

She regrouped again and proposed her current regional theater program to the Town of East Lyme. They accepted eagerly.

Still performing and directing productions, along with teaching and conducting theatrical arts workshops, Sousa-Stanley dreams of East Lyme Regional Theater one day blossoming into a fully funded professional company.

In capturing the magic of that mystical other side of the rainbow and bringing it back to southeastern Connecticut, Erin Sousa-Stanley may well have attained something more significant than journeying elsewhere for it. After all, Dorothy herself, in “The Wizard of Oz,” discovered beauty, wonder, and fulfillment within the realm of her own home.

“For me, it’s another way of helping others find their dreams ... as well as my own,” Sousa-Stanley said.

Maybe there is no place like home.