Everybody is very eager, you know, to act! Rather than saying, when somebody throws the ball at me, I’ll throw it back. And before that, I’m just kind of looking to find out where the ball is.

—Nikos Psacharopoulos, co-founder of the Williamstown Theater Festival

Practice makes perfect My first breakthrough occurred in college, but it made a lasting impression on my professional habits. My scene work in college was lazy, and I always put it off until the last minute. My work was often received by my mentor slamming his clipboard down onto his lap in disapproval. I was much more committed to the swim team than I was to drama, and I was usually unprepared because I waited until the night before class to memorize my lines. One time, however, accompanied by a beautiful blonde scene partner, I decided to see what might happen if I actually rehearsed, a lot. I went over the scene with her countless times, finding any available space. It began to feel like I knew it backward and forward and, when it came time to perform it for class, I don’t remember thinking about the audience, my teacher, or what my next line was supposed to be. I had it down cold and, for the first time, was able to throw myself completely into it. When we finished, my teacher, Jim Young, slammed his clipboard down onto his lap as so many times before as he said,

“You are so frustrating. You can be so good sometimes!” His reaction was probably one of those little moments that began a thirty-

year career. It seems like a distant dream now, but I can still remember thinking, you mean, all it takes is practice?