NYTimes.com: When Billy Porter was a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, he took an unusual approach to an essay for a history class. Instead of topic sentences and footnotes, he wrote a short story about a fictional character on a quest that covered the points of the assignment. He no longer remembers the specifics — it was 1987 — but he has never forgotten his professor’s reaction.
2 comments:
This is an incredible article! It's amazing how Billy Porter's determination to keep himself from being pigeonholed has gained him this open door creating more and more art that so many people told him he'd never do. What really impresses me is that he waited and worked for 17 years to do what he wanted to do. I can't imagine that kind of patience in myself. If it wasn't working after 5 years, I'd have given up entirely. And that he's been doing Kinky Boots while writing a play that he needed to shorten to three hours...that's dedication to your art.
I am excited for his show to come out. I find autobiographical shows to often be very dull because a lot of the feeling is taken out because the author is afraid to really put the truth forward. I have faith that since this show is meant to show a true transformation of a woman, his mother, that he'll be up front with what the real emotions were.
Seeing and meeting Billy Porter last year was such an amazing opportunity. He has been such a trailblazer and unique individual who has never given up on his artistic mission. Its amazing how many roles and auditions he didn't get because people had preconceptions about his performing. The fact that he went so long without ever getting a part that he actually wanted would have left me discouraged and defeated, unlike Porter who kept pushing on until finally people started realizing his abilities. Having found a role that he truly connects with, in Kinky Boots, must make everything he went through worth it. Now he is finally getting the opportunities to write and perform the pieces that he trained for as an actor here at CMU.
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