good afternoon I'd like you to use your
imagination you're in a room all by
yourself ready to receive a deluge of
people each one of these people has a
different personality background and
specific set of expectations and you
have no idea what you're about to get
here is the challenge you must adapt
yourself and your way of doing things
and your specific expectations to each
one of those people more importantly you
must also understand how to effectively
communicate to each one of those people
coming through those doors are we
overwhelmed yet too many of you this is
a terrifying image but to some of you
this image is very familiar because it's
what you deal with on a daily basis now
what's the first thing you think of when
I present this challenge to you well I'm
sure that the majority of you are very
intimidated by the fact that you are the
first impression and the first line of
defense that every single one of those
people sees when they walk through those
doors and you're expected to meet every
single one of their needs how in the
world do you begin to prepare to be be
successful at that and how in the world
do you deal with all of those people
it's like you have a daily audience that
you have to impress well the solution to
this challenge or one of them at least
is not what you would think I know how
to deal with this scenario because for
seven years
trained for a Bachelor of Arts and a
Master of Fine Arts in theater and it
was years after graduating that I had
the revelation that that education
changed my life it trained me to become
more adaptable versatile vulnerable
creative and more importantly how to
adapt to each one of my ever changing
environments in other words you could
say that a performing arts education
taught me how to communicate with my
audience so how did a theatre kid like
me make a career out of two arts degrees
and why in the world should any of this
matter to you well it starts by being
able to answer the challenge that I just
presented to you it starts with being
more adaptable versatile vulnerable
creative and also being inspired on a
daily basis to treat the world as if
it's your stage and understand how to
communicate and adapt to your daily
audience so now let me give you some
ways and show you some skills that a
theater arts education teaches that
prepares you for some real street smarts
and professional situations outside of
the arts when I was a theater kid I
studied stage management yeah you can
actually master in stage management
imagine that to be a stage manager I had
to communicate everything I saw in a
rehearsal room to a team of creative
designers sets props costumes lighting
sound none of these people were present
in the
yeah none of these people were present
in the room I had to describe everything
I saw it it's like trying to tell a
blind person what a photograph looks
like that's hard that's really hard not
only did I have to communicate what was
important in that rehearsal to them but
why and how that was important to them
let me give you an another example here
so I'm on this stage creating a picture
everything you see up here is delivering
a specific message to you with me
standing exactly where I'm standing now
if I decide to mess up this picture like
if I do this first of all I'm out of my
light so but this creates a completely
different message than this and the
people that need to know about that
transition in that message conveyed to
an audience have to know exactly what
happened and I had to communicate that
not only how and why but in as few words
as possible
on a piece of paper that was hard - not
only did I have to communicate in as few
words as possible
to a creative team but to also a crew
executing the lights sound and stage
moves and that crew executing the show
well they weren't necessarily the same
ones who designed it
I had to communicate that to some people
that didn't even know what they were
walking into once again I was expected
to be flawless in my communication and I
was also expected to find my voice but
now let's look at a bigger picture for a
second here a theater arts degree is
seen by many as useless no real
financial return no ability to climb the
corporate ladder no secure future and no
room for
achievements or career milestones except
if you win a Tony Award of course
it's essentially a waste of time and
money and when I graduated and was
trying to make money after two theatre
degrees those interviews there were they
were pretty fun they went something like
this
miss Friday I see you have a master's
degree in theater yes that that's right
well you know if you want to be
successful and be in production you
don't actually need any of these degrees
my response to those types of remarks
was typically but it's what I wanted to
do it's where my passion was and their
response many of them passion or not
these Arts degrees actually won't get
you anywhere well they did get me
somewhere first of all I wouldn't be on
this stage talking to you if it wasn't
for arts education and training they
positively shaped my future now let's
look at a couple of other scenarios
being in school for theater gives you
some pretty thick skin when you're
studying for a performing arts education
the curriculum is driven by a common
phrase you may have heard of it baptism
by fire there is usually no time and
you're having to deal with constant
deadlines and multiple personalities no
one holds your hand
everyone has an expectation of you your
work and every single guest artist
instructor technician director thinks
that they have the most important part
of the production that needs your full
attention every second of the day in
other words you have multiple bosses on
a daily basis and while you're trying to
deal with all of this
you're constantly bombarded with
constructive criticism not getting the
part the constant pat on the back
the positive feedback on a daily basis
arts education teaches how to cope and
deal with disappointments I left my arts
education understanding how to cope with
the nose in life I learned how to deal
to learn apply all these skills it took
seven years in what I like to call
theater boot camp remember that image of
all those people coming through those
doors well I was introduced to all of
them during my arts education and guess
what else I was introduced to adapting
to someone else's work styles the arts
teach that learning how to practice
skills correctly and more effectively
the arts teach that to learning how to
deal with difficult people you don't
need a pamphlet course for that the arts
teach that learning to create and seek
opportunity that's a big concept arts
education actually teaches that I came
out of my arts education not afraid to
put myself out there make connections
and network I was forced to develop my
creativity and identify where the
opportunity was I was also forced to
identify the skills and talents that I
had as a human and as a creative being
and understand how to parlay those into
many other professional situations that
had nothing to do with theatre and the
Performing Arts understanding ethics
culture adaptability in society figuring
out my place and figuring out how to
deal and it adapt to every single one of
my ever changing environments guess what
taught me all of that
to theater degrees and let's not forget
about the most important skill that an
arts education teaches that is just
simply storytelling by telling a story
on a stage theater graduates are
equipped to understand how to create a
brand convey a thought idea strategy and
envision the message and life of a
product organization and corporation
storytelling is by far the most
important skill that an arts education
can give to its students there is no
effective communication or performing
arts without some sort of story behind
it without my arts education I wouldn't
be driven I wouldn't be self-employed I
wouldn't own a business I wouldn't take
risks I wouldn't even put myself outside
of my comfort zone
that's what theatre bootcamp got me I
can read a script and a business plan I
can audition to give a TEDx and I can
also interview for a job I can tell a
really good story and I can also convey
brand messaging I can deal with the high
stakes of preparing to produce a show
and the high stakes of budget and
project deadlines I can read music and
also profit and loss statements I can
negotiate with a team of very creative
egos in a production meeting and I can
also negotiate with a Salesman
Theater Arts degrees do not just produce
directors writers actors stage managers
dancers singers
they produce CEOs of companies managers
entrepreneurs visionaries and
storytellers they see the vision and how
to get there and what separates those
with an arts education apart from anyone
else is their ability to diversify
skills their inspiration to seek and
create opportunity and their ability to
communicate in a language understood by
so many people through storytelling all
the world is a stage and the true
revelation is that that useless degree
well it just became a lot more useful
thank you
[Applause]