I'm a Nerd

So I think it's official and everyone knows: I'm a nerd. It's totally true. I can quote Star Wars, I can spell Lando Calrissian, I know the titles to almost every episode of Lost, I wear glasses, I dress like a prep, and my hair is just...weird. But the thing I want to know is why every theater teacher/director I've ever known wants to highlight the fact that I am a nerd.

Jesse Culp: I got beat up on stage as a chorus member.

Erin Galligan: Where do I start? Henry in The Rememberer, Charlie Brown (!), Horton the Elephant, and John Jr. in The American Crisis. Erin did give me a chance, though. She cast me as Aaron McKinney, the murderer in The Laramie Project. She also cast me as Stephen Mead Johnson, the nerdy Unitarian Minister...

Sara Romero: Little Shop of Horrors, Seymour Krelborn. Need I say more?

Bess O'Brien: Danny, a nerdy freshman who is harassed into suicide. That was the best role I've ever played though, so that's okay. It was also the most powerful and the most connected I've ever felt to a character.

Finally, here I am in college and my professor (and director of the play I'm involved with) gave me my final scene for class yesterday. The play is entitled The Nerd. Guess who I am? You guessed it! THE NERD!

It's not like I'm not grateful for all the roles I've received or that it's not fun to play (and overplay) a nerd, but I would just like to do something else. I would like to be someone else. Playing Aaron McKinney in The Laramie Project showed me that I can be anyone and I can do anything on stage. It showed me how much I've grown as an actor and how much I can still mature. I would like that again.

Once again, maybe sometime soon!!!

Peace out!

P.S. Yes, those pictures are from high school!