“I don’t really…

“I don’t really trust a sane person.” Pro football lineman Lyle Alzado

Final quote/gif…

Final quote/gift from last Solo Show class tonight at Chicago Dramatists, taught by Arlene Malinowski

What I know for sure is that in your lifetime you will hear the word NO much more than you will hear the word YES.  People say no when they don’t want to think in a different way, and when they don’t know what else to say.

In my career, I have been asked to leave theatre school, not gotten past the first round of auditions for acting jobs, and have been told I was unattractive and therefore would not make it as an actor.  As if looks would have anything to do with good acting.  They told me it would be impossible to cast me in a part since there are no roles written for someone who looked like me.  So I set out to create that role.

I got on stage and I started telling stories about the one thing I knew best:  my family.  When the play sold out, I was approached by companies to turn it into a movie.  I asked to play the lead and write the movie.  They said no.

Then Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks came to my show and what did they say?  They said yes.  Yes, they were going to make it into a movie.  Yes, I could be the writer of the screenplay.  And yes, I could play the lead.

What have I learned?  That secure people say yes much faster than people who operate out of fear.  That some people believe thinking in a different way is an interesting choice.  That if you keep saying yes to yourself, one day someone might just say it to you.

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