I was a little girl with a pot belly and Afro puffs, hyperactive and overdramatic, and I found the theater and I found my home.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes how self-expression through theater provided a sense of belonging and identity during childhood.
Audra McDonald reflects on her childhood experiences, highlighting how her exuberant personality and unique appearance were complemented by her passion for theater. This art form became a refuge for her, allowing her to express herself and feel at home in her own skin, suggesting the transformative power of creativity and the arts in shaping one's identity.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of arts education in schools.
I just wanted to go to New York and be on Broadway, but then I was accepted by Juilliard, where they trained me in classical voice. It was great in the end, but at the time, I thought, 'What am I doing here? This is not my path.' But it was absolutely my path and where I was meant to be.
I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness.
But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive.
I've always had a profound conviction that great music is about joy, even in the face of tragedy.
It is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.
There is no longer beauty except in the struggle. No more masterpieces without an aggressive character. Poetry must be a violent assault against the unknown forces in order to overcome them and prostrate them before men.
I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity; in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation. It's about bringing order to complexity.
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