{"id":7555,"date":"2022-06-29T16:20:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T20:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=7555"},"modified":"2022-07-05T15:59:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T19:59:42","slug":"tony-award-winner-andrew-burnap-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2022-cat\/tony-award-winner-andrew-burnap-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Award-winner Andrew Burnap &#8217;13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/themes\/uri-modern-home\/features\/2019\/theatre\/specks.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n<div id=\"specks-wrapper\">\n<canvas id=\"specks\">\n<\/canvas>\n<\/div>\n\n<div id=\"story-hero\" class=\"breakout\">\n\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_hero.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25745\"><\/div>\n\n<h1>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/h1>\n\n<div id=\"deck-wrapper\" class=\"breakout\">\n<div id=\"deck\" class=\"content-width\">\n\n<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>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"story-direction-wrapper breakout\">\n<div class=\"story-direction content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"scene-header\">Scene I:<\/div>\n\n<p><em>Much Ado 溏心vlog免费B站 Nothing<\/em>. The Robert E. Will Theater, 2013. Andrew Burnap \u201913 as Benedict. Olivia Khoshatefeh \u201913 as Beatrice. Offstage, Burnap\u2019s nose is bleeding. Onstage, Olivia shoots him an I-am-so-not-going-to-kiss-your-bloody-face look.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<div class=\"story-content-wrapper breakout scene-1\">\n<div class=\"story-content content-width\">\n\n<p>It was the pivotal moment in <em>Much Ado 溏心vlog免费B站 Nothing<\/em>: Bickering leads Beatrice and Benedick to share their first kiss.<\/p>\n \n<p>But this night, Shakespeare\u2019s comedy was careening toward tragedy.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cHis whole face was bloody,\u201d Khoshatefeh recalls. She watched Burnap vainly try to stop the blood flow, which only made more of a mess. Time was up.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cHe came onstage, put his hand over my mouth, and kissed his hand. It went with the show because Beatrice and Benedick spend the whole play bickering. It was such a great moment: beautiful and kind of perfect,\u201d Khoshatefeh says. \u201cIt showed how well he knew his character.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>Burnap laughs at the memory. \u201cI had to do something,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no improvising Shakespeare.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cAnd when something is undeniably real, it sparks new life into the story. The audience is sitting forward and participating in the magic of live performance. I panicked for a moment, but for everyone else, it was a beautiful mess.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>At 27, Andrew Burnap has had more than a few beautiful moments: a stellar undergraduate career at 溏心vlog免费B站, graduating first in his class from Yale School of Drama, making his professional debut as Troilus in <em>Troilus and Cressida<\/em> in Central Park\u2019s Delacorte Theater. And now he\u2019s one of the youngest actors to have starred in Matthew Lopez\u2019s <em>The Inheritance<\/em> at the No\u00ebl Coward Theatre in London after a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at the Young Vic.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"artboard\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25744\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap.<div class=\"credit\">Photo by Colby Blanchet \u201913<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n \n<p>Tony Award-winner Stephen Daldry directed this epic, seven-hour play about gay men living in New York City a generation after the AIDS crisis. Burnap played Toby Darling \u2014 a name almost too perfect for those who know him well. They use words like \u201cintoxicating,\u201d \u201cmagical,\u201d and \u201cshiny\u201d to describe him. Friend Sam Gross, who saw him in <em>The Inheritance<\/em>, has an awed-but-not-surprised response to his success. \u201c<em>The Inheritance<\/em> is one of the most emotional things I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople were crying. People were stunned at intermission. It\u2019s incredible seeing him in the roles he plays and to think that\u2019s the same guy I grew up with.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cHe fills every stage,\u201d Gross says. \u201cHe\u2019s outstanding in every setting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"oembed oembed-twitter-com\" style=\"\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paramountplus\/status\/1442289725851664386\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A huge congratulations to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/McDrewBur?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@McDrewBur<\/a> and his big <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TonyAwards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TonyAwards<\/a> win for Best Leading Actor in a Play! \u2764\ufe0f???? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tS5NPz1XlS\">pic.twitter.com\/tS5NPz1XlS<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Paramount+ (@paramountplus) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paramountplus\/status\/1442289725851664386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 27, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n \n<p>Burnap appreciates accolades but, when asked about his idea of success, doesn\u2019t talk about seeing his name on a Broadway marquee or starring in a Marvel Comics movie. \u201cTo me, making it is when others in your field come to see your work,\u201d he says. \u201cMy goal in life is to tell the stories I want to tell, to be with the people I want to be with, to have a life and a family and to walk down the street unnoticed.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cTheater gives me the opportunity to understand what it means to be human \u2014 flawed, a walking contradiction,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cI get to celebrate the beauty and the horrors of this life.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cAnd I\u2019ve learned that love is the greatest thing life has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"story-direction-wrapper breakout\">\n<div class=\"story-direction content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"scene-header\">Scene II:<\/div>\n\n<p><em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/em>. J Studio, 2010. Burnap as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in black leather corset, fishnet stockings, and 6-inch heels belting out \u201cSweet Transvestite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<div class=\"story-content-wrapper breakout scene-2\">\n<div class=\"story-content content-width\">\n\n<p>Allison Burnap will tell you her son started performing early.<\/p>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d play this mishmash of Christmas songs and, all of a sudden, he\u2019d stop in his tracks and this thing took over: He\u2019d go into a trance,\u201d she recalls, laughing. He was 5, maybe 6. \u201cThat Christmas he asked for a top hat and cane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Things got serious his sophomore year at 溏心vlog免费B站, Burnap\u2019s parents say, with <em>Rocky Horror<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cIt was the start of feeling like I could do this,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cDoctor Frank-N-Furter came to me surprisingly naturally. It opened up a whole new world within my own person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cAfter <em>Rocky Horror<\/em> and <em>Singin\u2019 in the Rain<\/em>, I knew that he had the talent to do anything,\u201d says his father, Tim.<\/p>\n\n<p>Best friend and neighbor Austin Madden remembers the day his mother called to say she\u2019d seen Burnap walking the neighborhood in 6-inch heels, practicing for the role. While amusing, it wasn\u2019t surprising. Burnap was always practicing. \u201cHe\u2019d always be in the basement playing piano or practicing accents,\u201d Madden recalls.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cI saw him in <em>Rocky Horror<\/em>. To see him in these big roles. Oh, my God. That\u2019s my best friend playing a transvestite, playing a drag queen. He\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"artboard breakout\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_rocky-horror-1.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap poses for a Rocky Horror Picture Show promo\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25748\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap, reclining, as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, with Johnny Sederquist \u201911, as Riff Raff, in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s 2010 production of <em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show.<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><em>Rocky Horror<\/em> required Lady Gaga-esque command of platform heels. <em>Singin\u2019 in the Rain<\/em> called for dancing on a slick stage. Burnap did not come by either skill naturally. Hard work underpinned those seamless performances.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cYou can practice walking in heels or tap-dancing six hours a day. That\u2019s muscle memory. By the time you\u2019re onstage, it doesn\u2019t feel like effort,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cIn <em>Singin\u2019 in the Rain<\/em>, Gene Kelly\u2019s dancing is gorgeous because it\u2019s effortless. And you\u2019re just as impressed with what he\u2019s doing as you are with the fact that he makes it look easy.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s transcendent,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cAnd you can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>Paula McGlasson directed him in both shows.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cThe \u2018It\u2019 factor \u2014 he had it,\u201d McGlasson says. \u201cHe exuded sincerity, confidence, great comic timing, and that great thing you can\u2019t teach: charisma. He was someone you wanted to watch,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n \n<p>溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre Department Chair David Howard was Burnap\u2019s first-year advisor. \u201cIt really was <em>Rocky Horror<\/em> that solidified him in people\u2019s minds,\u201d Howard says. \u201cDoctor Frank-N-Furter is the exact opposite of how I perceive Andrew. He completely embraced the whimsy and the depravity of the role. It felt mature and knowing.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"artboard\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_rocky-horror-2.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in Rocky Horror Picture Show\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25749\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in <em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n \n<p>\u201cAndrew is incredibly reserved, humble, gracious, and inclined to underplay his place in the world,\u201d Howard continues. \u201cThat he can transform into a character who is braggadocious and loud and extravagant shows that he has the ability to plumb the depths of a character.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>Tony Estrella \u201993, Burnap\u2019s Shakespeare teacher at 溏心vlog免费B站, smiles to hear of his <em>Much Ado 溏心vlog免费B站 Nothing<\/em> mishap. \u201cIt is tough to improvise in iambic pentameter,\u201d he notes. \u201cAnd you don\u2019t want to break the bond with the audience. It\u2019s a testament to his ability, to his investment in the character, and to keeping the story moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>Estrella is disinclined to take credit for the younger actor\u2019s success. Burnap entered 溏心vlog免费B站 already almost fully formed as an actor, Estrella says. \u201cI saw him in <em>Two Gentlemen of Verona<\/em>, a jukebox musical version, and there he was playing the trumpet live in front of 4,000 people on the Common in Boston, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Jesus, what else does he have in his toolbox?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<div class=\"story-direction-wrapper breakout\">\n<div class=\"story-direction content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"scene-header\">Scene III:<\/div>\n\n<p>New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University, 149 York St., January 2013. Three small studios and a communal sitting area offer no privacy. Students await their auditions to the Yale School of Drama. Some shake their hands, some text. Everybody\u2019s got headphones in.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<div class=\"story-content-wrapper breakout scene-3\">\n<div class=\"story-content content-width\">\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d prepared four monologues. I was so unbelievably nervous,\u201d Burnap recalls. \u201cI entered this room and there was this big bear-like man with a deep voice, Walton Wilson, and a thin, elegant, Fred Astaire-type older man, Ron Van Lieu.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThey told us, \u2018Don\u2019t worry. We want you to be good. Just do your pieces as you want to do them, and everything will work out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Burnap first auditioned for Wilson. After each monologue, Wilson said, \u201cGreat, do you have anything else you\u2019ve prepared for us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Then, a return to the waiting room for what seemed hours. Finally, a Yale student bearing the list arrived and said, \u201cIf your name\u2019s on the list, stay. If not, thank you; nothing more is required of you,\u201d Burnap recalls. \u201cI was always the last person to look at the lists. I sort of gingerly walked over and saw my name and was like, \u2018Holy shit!\u2019 I took a picture. I still have the picture of the list on my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Burnap\u2019s name was one of only four. Thirty had auditioned. That year, 1,200 aspiring students would audition for 16 slots.<\/p>\n\n<p>The second audition came and went. Then there were three. Burnap got the nod for callback weekend, a two-day assessment of getting-to-know-you events and more auditions.<\/p>\n\n<p>The last interview had the feeling of the final scene in <em>Flashdance<\/em>: Burnap alone with a panel of five judges. He joked with them, got a few laughs. \u201cI was self-deprecating, made fun of myself and Yale. I left happy, on the lighter side of things,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n\n<p>The three actors who followed Burnap left the interview crying. \u201cThen I thought, I should have cried. Why did I tell stupid jokes? What was I thinking?<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cIn short, I had a meaningless freak-out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Ron Van Lieu laughs at Burnap\u2019s recollection. \u201cWhen they enter the room, you try to diffuse their anxiety, tension, and stress,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t realize is that the person on the other side of the desk wants the same outcome they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cHe had a charismatic presence that is not teachable,\u201d Van Lieu says of Burnap. \u201cEvaluating students you\u2019re thinking, do you really want to watch him? Do you miss him when he leaves the stage? How capable is he of holding your attention?\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Yes. Yes. And yes, thought Van Lieu, watching the younger man audition. The professor saw some other things, too. \u201cHe didn\u2019t know the difference between performing and acting. His auditions were a little show-offy. You know, though, that that\u2019s just a cover for his anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"artboard breakout\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_spread.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in various roles\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1250\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25750\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap as Casey in <em>The Legend of Georgia McBride<\/em>, as Chorus in <em>The Orestia<\/em>, and as Kewpie in <em>Paradise Lost<\/em><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>Van Lieu\u2019s assessment was spot-on. Anxiety and depression nearly derailed Burnap in his first semester at Yale.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cMy family has a very strong line of depression running through it,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cI started to battle depression at an early age, and it took ahold of me and became full-on depression in my freshman year at college. I started taking medication.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cAnd at that point, I had no interest in understanding it. It wasn\u2019t until I got to Yale that I wanted to understand this part of me,\u201d he continues. \u201cI started to see it as a connection to a part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>With his parents\u2019 and Yale\u2019s knowledge, Burnap weaned off of his medication. \u201cI felt medication didn\u2019t let me feel the emotional lows or the emotional highs. I wanted to be in that emotional place that a character has no choice but to be in.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cAt 溏心vlog免费B站, I felt I had this remarkable thing inside of me, a sense of confidence and knowledge. At Yale, I lost the feeling of being remarkable and it allowed me to work from a place of humility. I was watching classmates do incredible work and feeling less than. I knew I had a lot more to learn. I wanted to feel like I deserved to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>He did. In 2017, Burnap graduated first in his class and landed the male lead in Shakespeare in the Park\u2019s <em>Troilus and Cressida<\/em>. He\u2019s been working steadily since. He seems a little awed by it. And deeply grateful. \u201cHe is my soulful kid; he thinks deeply and feels deeply,\u201d says Burnap\u2019s mother, Allison. \u201cHe\u2019s actually shy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a regular guy, much more regular than you think,\u201d Burnap\u2019s father, Tim, says.<\/p>\n\n<p>Allison nods and adds, \u201cHe knows just how lucky he is.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"story-direction-wrapper breakout\">\n<div class=\"story-direction content-width\">\n\n<div class=\"scene-header\">Scene IV:<\/div>\n\n<p>Spacious bachelor pad, minutes from the No\u00ebl Coward Theatre, London. Sunday, sleeping-in day. Burnap wakes up, has coffee, reads the news. Maybe smiles. Maybe rages. Maybe cries.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<div class=\"story-content-wrapper breakout scene-4\">\n<div class=\"story-content content-width\">\n\n<p>Andrew Burnap was not supposed to be cast in <em>The Inheritance<\/em>, a contemporary play spanning three years \u2014 2015 to the present \u2014 with flashbacks to the Reagan era, a turbulent time for gay men in America. Playwright Matthew Lopez had only asked Burnap to do a three-day workshop for it (Burnap had starred in Lopez\u2019s 2017 sensation <em>The Legend of Georgia McBride<\/em>). For <em>The Inheritance<\/em> workshop, Burnap would read the part of Toby Darling \u2014 but with the understanding that he would not be cast in the role. He was too young, Lopez said.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cAnd I did the three-day workshop, and there was John Lithgow and Cory Michael Smith and they were so wonderful,\u201d Burnap recalls. \u201cAnd I remember telling my manager I would pay to be a stage prop in any production of the play. But my manager said unless it\u2019s a big part, we don\u2019t see you doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Burnap was called for a second, weeklong workshop when Lopez couldn\u2019t find anyone he wanted to read the part of Toby Darling. \u201cBy the end of the week, I\u2019d fallen in love with Toby Darling, but Matthew Lopez said, \u2018You\u2019ll never play it in a production.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>But this time Burnap had workshopped the play in the presence of Stephen Daldry, two-time Tony Award-winning director. \u201cAnd Matthew called and said, \u2018Daldry hasn\u2019t stopped talking about you. You\u2019re on his short list.\u2019 And the day before Thanksgiving last year I got the call saying, \u2018Hey you have the role.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"artboard\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_the-inheritance-rehearsals.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in rehearsals for The Inheritance\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25751\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap as Toby Darling in <em>The Inheritance<\/em>. <div class=\"credit\">Photo by Marc Brenner.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>\u201cI remember pulling over to the side of the road in L.A. and thinking, my life would change forever,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cAnd it has.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>Burnap speaks of <em>The Inheritance<\/em> with reverence. \u201cSix hundred pages. I started reading it at 9:45 p.m. and read until 3 a.m., trying to stay quiet as I wept through the pages.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>The anecdote underscores one of Burnap\u2019s favorite observations: \u201cYou have to go to the emotional space where the character has no choice but to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>It raises a question: Technique and practice as they apply to singing and dancing are concepts easily grasped. But what does it take to enter the interior world of a character? A teacher once told Burnap, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to convince us that you are that person, you just have to convince us that you understand the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>As a cisgender man playing a gay man in <em>The Inheritance<\/em> or a transgender alien from Transylvania in <em>The Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/em>, Burnap notes that the characters are signifiers meant to highlight some aspect of a shared human experience. \u201cMy job is to show you that I understand the experience,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is to be a young, ostracized, gay man grappling with his sexuality, but I do know what it is to be viewed as \u2018other,\u2019 viewed as weird or not normal.\u201d<\/p>\n \n<p>And that\u2019s an understanding requiring a lifetime of training.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cYou have to become a keen observer of life. I was born with this wonderful and cruel capacity to feel,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cActing makes you want to not only learn more about yourself, but, more importantly, about others. I get to forget my own complications, my own troubles and step into those of another.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cAnd every time I perform, I feel my soul and sense of humanity expanding more and more. Oh, my God, when you\u2019re in the trenches of a thing but then float above yourself and say, \u2018Holy shit, this is where I am!\u2019 I am never tired of this, this gift of being able to create.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"breakout artboard\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/home\/2019\/03\/andrew-burnap_the-inheritance.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Burnap in The Inheritance\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25752\"><div class=\"feature-caption\">Andrew Burnap as Toby Darling in <em>The Inheritance<\/em>. <div class=\"credit\">Photo by Marc Brenner.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n \n<p>Burnap recites a line from his favorite novel, James Joyce\u2019s <em>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man<\/em>: \u201cWelcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>To those who aspire to a similar path, Burnap\u2019s advice is a variation on Hamlet\u2019s exhortation, \u201cTo thine own self be true\u201d: \u201cCelebrate your oddities and your quirkiness: The things that make you remarkable are often your missteps, your perceived flaws, the things you hide,\u201d Burnaps says. \u201cThose are the things to celebrate, highlight, and foster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>And <em>his<\/em> flaws?<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe things I\u2019m trying to run away from,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cThe things that are buried deep are truths everyone has, and the minute you grapple with those things \u2014 doors suddenly fly open. In the mission of revealing truth, in doing this soul-spelunking, you see what\u2019s there.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve learned that when I grapple with uncomfortable truths within myself that more opportunities arise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>One uncomfortable industry truth, the surety of rejection, prompts a second bit of advice and a circling back to Joyce\u2019s <em>A Portrait of the Artist<\/em>: \u201cIf someone tells you, \u2018No,\u2019 ask, \u2018Why not?\u2019 Doubt is a useful thing, but it shouldn&#8217;t rule you. It should inform and maybe affect some of your decisions, but it should not be the resounding voice in your soul,\u201d Burnap says. \u201cThen ask, \u2018Well, what else can I do?\u2019 Because this quest isn\u2019t easy, and it is filled with people telling you, \u2018No.\u2019 But if, in the smithy of your soul you feel you cannot do anything other than this, then do it \u2014 but know it requires that next level of dedication,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \n<p>\u201cAnd if you can start to understand that those things you didn\u2019t get weren\u2019t supposed to happen for you, you can understand the challenges of this business and go on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p><em>\u2014Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n&nbsp;\n\n<hr>\n\n<div class=\"feature-caption\"><strong>Lead photograph:<\/strong> Andrew Burnap as Toby Darling in <em>The Inheritance<\/em>. <div class=\"credit\">Photo by Marc Brenner.<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"feature-caption\">A version of this story was originally published on April 1, 2019 as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/playbill\">Playbill<\/a> story series. <div class=\"credit\">Story design by Brandon J. C. Fuller.<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"ticket-wrapper breakout\"><div class=\"ticket content-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/theatre\">溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Theatre<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<style>@import url(https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/themes\/uri-modern-home\/features\/2019\/theatre\/portrait-of-the-artist.css); #navigation, .entry-header { display: none; } #comments { position: relative; margin-bottom: 4rem; } <\/style>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 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. Scene I: Much Ado 溏心vlog免费B站 Nothing. The Robert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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-7555","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\/7555","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7555"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7726,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7555\/revisions\/7726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}