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.
Cooking is just a vehicle to express yourself, like painting and acting... The reason why we're cooking is not because we want to put something on the plate. It's so much more complex than that.
Unfortunately, there aren't enough interesting acting roles in New Zealand to sustain a career.
But I always need to identify with a character to write about him or her - and by 'identify,' I mean see the world through that person's eyes and have a strong sense of the inner logic of their acts and decisions, wacky or wrongheaded though they might be. In that sense, I think there's some of me in all of them.
As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.
Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature.
Writing poetry is a state of free float.
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