In 2016, two months into my education here, Donald Trump was elected President. At the time I was developing a stand-up bit in which my last joke referenced our President’s attempt to “grab ‘em by the pussy.” Little did I know that a year later I would be portraying Trump on stage. In Steph del Rosso’s 53% Of, directed by the illustrious Jen Chang, I had the opportunity to not only embody Trump, but also a competitive housewife, her woefully misogynistic husband, and a millennial Brooklyn transplant.

The training here prepared me to shift - mentally, vocally, and physically - between those four characters with dexterity and confidence. The most rewarding aspect of this “human-manifestation” process, however, was learning to give myself permission to go where I knew each character had to go - and to go there boldly and unapologetically in both rehearsal and performance. Yes - to give myself permission to dive deeply and passionately into other beings’ nervous systems in order to accurately and effectively tell the narrative.

In truth, I equally relished and resented playing each of those four roles - most especially because the more I invested in their lives and their internal landscapes, the more I found myself face-to-face with my own presumptions, habits, and judgments, as well as - of course - societal constructs and systems. Ultimately, I would say that working on 53% Of gave me a platform through which to publicly reckon with my own soul. And because of that, the task at hand was more than a job - it was a privilege.