Sutton Foster's Commencement Address at Ball State University

0:00 Sutton Foster would you please present yourself for the awarding of the honorary degree Sutton L Foster you are an award-winning actress singer and Dancer who has made a career in theater television and music your illustrious work on Broadway includes two Tony Awards one for your 2002 role in Thoroughly Modern Milly and another last

0:31 year for anything goes you have received three other Tony nominations as well as three outer critic Circle Awards two fredere Awards and two Drama Desk Awards while your cast recordings have included everything from Little Women to Shrek the Musical you also have a musical career Beyond Broadway you have recorded two solo albums including 2009's wish which received much critical claim you have performed in many of the world's

1:03 finest venues including Carnegie Hall and you have been part of the Lincoln centers American song book series you also have starred in the ABC Family television pilot to be aired June 11th bunads a dance drama your appearances on television also include Sesame Street Law and Order Order Special Victims Unit and the Flight of the Concords despite your demanding schedule you have kindly

1:33 taken time for our students from the department of theater and dance in a variety of ways for several years you have taught classes here at the University performed at cersa Hall conducted guest workshops in New York City and mentored students for auditions and callbacks you provided expert advice to an immersive learning team that adapted Kathy day's novel The Circus in Winter into a musical which premiered last September here on campus that musical

2:04 recently earned three major awards at the Kennedy Center American College theater Festival including outstanding production of a new work earlier this year you co-directed along with Bill Jenkins chair of our department of theater and dance a university theater production of The Drowsy chaperon six years after earning a Tony nomination for your role in that musical's Broadway debut in honoring you today Ball State recognizes your remarkable and varied

2:36 talents your illustrious career on Broadway your magnanimous mentoring of and collaborating with Ball State students and your inspiring Devotion to expanding the reach of the Arts and the importance they play in our world by the authority vested in Me by The Board of Trustees of fall State University I hereby confer upon you some suon L Foster the degree of doctor of Arts onor Kaa with all the rights and privileges there unto pertaining and

3:08 award you this diploma in testimony thereof and present you with the academic hood for this degree thank you I never thought I'd be a doctor I thought I might play one

3:39 someday but this is quite an honor I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees of this incredible University president Gora Dean Kabam and the wonderful faculty and students of the department of theater and dance but I'd also like to thank all of you sitting out here today I'm in awe of the work dedication and commitment of every single student from every single major and I'm humbled by the love and sacrifice of all the parents and spouses

4:07 and family members of all these students the real honor I feel in this honorary degree is that of being associated with all of you and knowing that we share a connection with this wonderful institution I only hope that I can be worthy of it I didn't always want to be an actress when I was a little girl I had big big dreams I dreamt of being a a bank teller I did it's true I loved the idea

4:33 of working in the drive-through window greeting people taking their money and giving lollipops in return I even had a mini cash register at home and a calculator and my parents let me open My First Bank account when I was 10 so it's ironic that I ended up in such an unstable unpredictable career as actor so many people say acting isn't brain surgery and they have a point I'll admit that basically I play pretend for a living

5:00 to some folks a job like that might seem insignificant I'm just singing and dancing right well yes it isn't brain surgery but it's not insignificant either it's my career and my passion I've learned more about myself through this profession than I ever could have imagined and about life in general and I want to share some things that I've experienced that might help some of you as you move into the opening act of your adult lives I'll bet that most of of you have

5:31 a lot more in common with me than you think I was born in a small college town in Georgia a bit like Muny my parents Helen and Bob Foster were good upstanding middle class people my dad worked for sales for GM primarily Chevy and my brother Hunter and I grew up very modestly a lot of people ask if we grew up listening to show tunes when we were kids and that couldn't be farther from the truth my mom loved the movies and

5:56 once wanted to be a model but as far as Broadway and theater theater it was not something that we knew a lot about I much to the dismay of my parents and brother had a lot of energy and I was always spazzing around the house so my mother in an effort to channel this energy got me into ballet class when I was four I think she thought that ballet would give me some Grace instead I just

6:18 ended up being a spazz and a tutu but it was right then and there that I knew that I love to dance of course I tried other things besides dancing like basketball but I was a complete disaster on the court because I would dance instead of dribble I would dance everywhere in the house the hallways at school up and down the aisles at the grocery store and then after a few years at the dance studio and me terrorizing

6:40 the local folk with my Ronda jams as fate would have it my dance studio got a call about a local production of Annie at the Augusta players Community Theater as I said before we didn't really know much about theater in our house my brother had done a couple of community theater shows and I had been in the chorus of A Christmas Carol but that was it well I didn't an audition for Annie but my mom encouraged me and so I went I

7:03 had to sing first and apparently everyone got really quiet when I started to sing at the piano I was oblivious and when I finished I was just happy it was over so I could get back home to watch Fraggle Rock but later that day we got the phone call they cast me as Annie and it would be that experience at age 10 getting to sing such great songs as Maybe and tomorrow on a bare stage to a

7:33 packed house in one of the great alltime musicals that had me hooked since Annie I've played all sorts of characters showgirl princess evangelist dog catcher in 2000 I was playing a street urchin eponine in the Broadway touring production of lay miserab I was making a pretty handsome salary the most money I'd ever made and I was playing a role I had dreamed of since I was 13 years old I had played the role for over a year when the

8:02 producers asked me if I would take over eponine on Broadway permanently it was an incredible deal more money a guaranteed long-term employment and a chance to play my dream role on Broadway however I had just auditioned for the lead character of Millie in a new show called Thoroughly Modern Millie the show was scheduled to go to La Hoya Playhouse in San Diego to work out the Kinks before it possibly came to New York and Broadway so before I said yes

8:29 to is I wanted to see if I landed this incredible role in this brand new musical so I anxiously waited for the phone call from my agent about Millie and when he called I got the bad news I didn't get it and I was devastated and as I'm holding the phone I'm thinking well it's okay at least I still have my dream roll in Lay Miz however my agent wasn't finished they want you to be the

8:50 understudy he said so my two choices guaranteed dream roll in one of the biggest hits on Broadway versus understudying the lead and a brand new musical that may or may not ever be seen again outside the state of California what would you do when I was a kid I would Fearless fearlessly jump into the swimming pool but then almost drown because I didn't know how to swim nevertheless this attitude towards life has served me well say yes to

9:20 opportunity sink or swim it'll change your life so I decided much to the dismay of a lot of people around me to take the leap and accept the understudy position in Millie it was an opportunity and a chance to work on a new show with new people and I really liked it I believed in its potential so I went to La Hoya with the show and worked really hard learning my part as a chor member and learning the role of Millie as the

9:45 understudy I was going to make sure that I was good in the part in the event I ever had to go on a few weeks into rehearsals the woman they cast as Millie got sick and I stepped in for her for a few days I didn't think much about it that was my job I learned the role and I did the best I could while she was out about three days later they asked me if I would take over the role I did and the

10:08 rest as they say is history the show was incredibly successful and eventually moved to Broadway with me as the unknown Starlet and I won my first Tony Award in that role it was a huge hit on Broadway and it changed my career forever you have to have the courage to go with your gut and the willingness to take take the smaller job like life in theater it doesn't pay to have a big ego no job should be too small for you if I

10:38 didn't take the understudy position because I was too proud or felt it was beneath me then I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be standing here in front of you today so say yes get coffee for people run errands make an impression as a hard worker someone who is willing and when the opportunity arrives for you to show people what you got show them who knows what can happen I love what I do for a living I love it

11:02 so much that sometimes I'm surprised surprised that I get paid to do it but all work is still work no matter what you do or how much you love it I'm proud of my work and I'm a self-proclaimed workaholic I pour myself into my craft but when I'm 80 years old and I look back on my life I know I won't say gosh I really wish I had worked more it has taken me a long time to find

11:27 balance in my life to realize what is truly important and what I value most and that's real relationships in my life and work relationships are essential actors constantly move from job to job some jobs last two weeks While others can last two years you are constantly working with new people constantly starting over you need a base to come back to family friends friends who become family I'm sure many of you have formed those kind of relationships

11:57 during your time here at Ball State and here's the thing as you move through your life you'll discover that real true intimate loving relationships don't take away from your work or life or creativity they add to it invest in your relationships and you'll reap Untold rewards believe me the energy you put out into the world not just into your work and art but into your life that energy comes back to you in beautiful ways I know it sounds woo wooy but it's

12:24 true and while the everchanging life of an actor makes you eternally grateful for these relationships ship it also allows you new and daunting challenges at every turn it's taught me to be open willing to adapt to see things differently today as college graduates you might be thinking woohoo I'm finally done learning but the exciting truth is you never are I had the pleasure of working with Tony Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning actor Joel gray my co-star

12:51 and anything goes who just turned 80 last month he turned to me one day and said I've never been happier I keep learning more and more about myself every day at 80 years old he is still learning about himself and that excites me greatly the late Steve Jobs who was not an actor of course but someone I identify with because he was so passionate about his work said in his commencement speech to Stanford in 2005 that he asked himself every day if today

13:20 were the last day of my life would I want to do what I'm about to do today and whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row I I know I need to change something I really like this question it's a great tool for taking stock and challenging the status quo but you have to have the courage to answer it honestly and then act on the answer you must be the author of your

13:44 own life you have the power to do what you want with it you can continue on your path or you can change that path at any time it's your life after all there's one more bit of advice that I'd like to share and it's one that most of the theater and dance kids recognize my best advice to you no matter what your profession is is Don't Be a Jerk it just doesn't pay to be a jerk when they

14:10 talk about climbing the ladder of success it really pays to be kind to the ones you meet along the way kindness respect all that good stuff it just goes a long way as an actor you never know what your next job will be and you don't know who might be in a position to give it to you it's exciting and terrifying but if you've been to a jerk to someone who might be part of your next opport

14:29 opportunity then you're in deep dooo no matter if you're a doctor a lawyer a pastor or an actor just don't be a jerk to make it in any profession and any job you have to work hard and find a way to love it all forms of success from being a great mother to being a great actor take tenacity and determination they say for every light on Broadway there is a broken heart an unrealized dream and that's the same in every

14:59 profession so you have to want it more than anyone else and you have to be your own Champion be your own Superstar Blaze your own path say yes to opportunity follow your instincts be eager and passionate keep learning nurture your real lasting relationships don't be a jerk and free your imaginations so you can become all that you want to be thank you so much and congrat congratulations

15:29 to the class of 2012 of Ball State University