{"id":7547,"date":"2022-06-13T10:46:53","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T14:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=7547"},"modified":"2022-07-01T16:55:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T20:55:24","slug":"lessons-in-acting-and-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2022-cat\/lessons-in-acting-and-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons in acting and life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/516712848?color=ffd453&amp;title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"feature-caption\">Media credit: Kyle Sidlik<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"type-intro fullwidth\">Masked and wearing a baseball cap, 2020 Tony Award-nominee for Best Actor Andrew Burnap &#8217;13 easily passes for the students he teaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what chasms may exist between his experience and theirs, Burnap bridges with a rallying cry: Fail often and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This class is meant for us to get frustrated and messy in order to\u2014when we get to have that relationship with an audience\u2014all becomes organic and free-flowing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Strong and wrong is a great place to start.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"cl-wrapper cl-card-wrapper\"><a class=\"cl-card   right\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2022\/tony-award-winner-andrew-burnap-13\/\" title=\"\"><div class=\"cl-card-container media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/07\/andrew-burnap_actii-card.jpg\" srcset=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-card-container text\"><div class=\"cl-card-text\"><h2>Portrait of the artist<\/h2><p>He was the surprise winner of the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play at the 74th Annual Tony Awards; for Andrew Burnap, though, real success is seeing an audience moved by a story well told.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-card-container button\">Act ii<\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<p>After äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾, Burnap headed to Yale School of Drama, the alma mater of Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyong&#8217;o, Paul Newman, and Courtney B. Vance. He graduated first in his class and then landed the male lead in Shakespeare in the Park&#8217;s production of <em>Troilus and Cressida<\/em>. A starring role in playwright Matthew Lopez&#8217;s 2017 sensation <em>The Legend of Georgia McBride<\/em> followed. And last October, Burnap learned he&#8217;d received a Tony Best Actor nomination for his role of Toby Darling in Lopez&#8217;s <em>The Inheritance<\/em>, a contemporary play spanning three years\u20142015 to the present\u2014with flashbacks to the Reagan era, a turbulent time for gay men in America. The play&#8217;s Broadway run ended prematurely last March when New York City closed its theatres due to the pandemic. Burnap, who had always planned to teach one day, returned to his childhood home and äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He approached David Howard, the theatre department chair, about teaching a one-off workshop about the practicalities of being an actor. Howard, though, had a different vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I was incredibly humbled that Andrew would want to return to his alma mater and teach,&#8221; Howard said. &#8220;When he contacted me about teaching a one-off seminar, I thought, &#8216;Why not see if he is interested in a class for the fall?&#8217; He was immediately interested and I couldn\u2019t have been happier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This isn\u2019t just a star-turn, you know? He has the chops\u2014an impressive resume and an MFA from Yale. The fact that he was able to create a role on Broadway in one of the most influential pieces of the new century, well, that is just icing. Andrew brings experiences that many of our students are interested in. It was really incredible for our first-year students to have the opportunity to work with him in the fall.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;margin-bottom:2rem\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/516727512?color=ffd453&amp;title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in conversation\" data-id=\"7551\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/burnap20201028-nl-061\/\" class=\"wp-image-7551\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061-364x242.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap20201028-NL-061-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">&#8220;In performance, the greatest reward of all is having someone come up to you and say, &#8216;You changed me.'&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap (masked) teaching a class\" data-id=\"7552\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/burnp20201028-nl-002\/\" class=\"wp-image-7552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002-364x242.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnp20201028-NL-002-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">&#8220;I stand on the shoulders of giants who came before me and the only thing I can do is try and give it to someone new.&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in Will Theatre\" data-id=\"7550\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/burnap-20201028-nl-070\/\" class=\"wp-image-7550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070-364x242.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2022\/06\/Burnap-20201028-NL-070-500x333.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">&#8220;I really want students to trust their own impulses, to spark their imaginations, and to increase their sense of empathetic imagination.&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8216;The least I could do is give back&#8217;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Burnap was initially taken aback by Howard&#8217;s plan. &#8220;There&#8217;s a whole lot of pedagogy that points towards the craft of being an actor\u2014how do you get into the world of a character, the world of a play, et cetera, but there&#8217;s not a whole lot, at least in my experience, about the practicalities of being a working actor in a major city.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What practicalities? What life will look like the day after graduation, what an actor&#8217;s resume should contain and how an actor gets an agent or auditions, Burnap said.&amp;nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When he heard Howard&#8217;s plan, he hesitated. Momentarily. &#8220;At first, I felt myself go, &#8216;Oh, I don&#8217;t know if I can do that.&#8217; But then I thought, that sounds exactly what I would want to do. I think handing down the lessons of actor training is sacred. It&#8217;s gone on for generations, for thousands of years, and I take it very seriously.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And theatre students, first-years last fall, upper-level students this spring, benefit from receiving both craft lessons and unvarnished advice from Burnap.&amp;nbsp;&#8221;The people who taught me mean everything to me,&#8221; Burnap said. &#8220;I figured the least I could do is give back to a group of people that wanted it.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what one lesson would he most want his students to remember?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Really the only thing that I think it is my duty to protect them from is self-doubt,&#8221; Burnap says. &#8220;I think that\u2014especially in this time\u2014can be one of the most destructive forces for a young actor.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only thing that is certain is that they will fail, Burnaps says. But it is through failure that strength and resilience are made possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Getting them to accept failure, to almost seek failure, is something I&#8217;m deeply committed to instilling in them\u2014and to keep their own self-critics as far away as possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2014 Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/516721321?color=ffd453&amp;title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media credit: Kyle Sidlik Masked and wearing a baseball cap, 2020 Tony Award-nominee for Best Actor Andrew Burnap &#8217;13 easily passes for the students he teaches. And what chasms may exist between his experience and theirs, Burnap bridges with a rallying cry: Fail often and well. &#8220;This class is meant for us to get frustrated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-2022-cat","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7547"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7677,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions\/7677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}