UC San Diego

According to Malcom Gladwell's Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in any field. Two-thirds of my 10,000 hours have been spent deep within the fluorescent corridors here at UCSD, but I don't need to count hours to know I feel like a master. The obstacle course I have navigated these past three years has forged me in the process. The demands of the work dared me to fathom, face, and explore the facets of my own being. Along the way, my mentors have molded me, preparing me to meet any and all obstacles.

It started in Louisiana, I tore my guts out in Italy, I sold myself in Florida, lost my family out west, caused some bloody mischief, ended lonely in Chicago, survived the Gringo Exodus, and rang a really big bell. Through encouragement, advice, and corrections, the faculty here gave me the tools that made success possible in all these places.

My last show here, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, presented so many challenges, in table-work, rehearsal, tech and performance, but because of my training, I always knew we could overcome them. The tools I've been given have imbued me with such a confidence in my craft that no challenge is insurmountable. My voice, my awareness, my process, is stronger.

The metaphor of my skillsets being tools is inaccurate. They are better described as organs, in me always, regulated without effort by my unconscious. Because they are with me, I am prepared for the unknown.