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Don't try and play that devious game and saddle me with all the blame.
You've obviously made up your mind... The award that I won was
the Irene Ryan Award for acting.
It's a scholarship presented by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
It's an award for all college actors.
We go to competition in Massachusetts and we all
audition with three pieces and they choose two people from each region.
There are eight regions. If you win your region, you then proceed to the next
national festival at the Kennedy Center, which is incredibly exciting.
In the past, we've been fortunate enough to have
a young woman win the stage management award
at our regional competition. We had a young man who won
scenic design. But we had never been able to break through
the Irene Ryan acting competition. That's the toughest one
in terms of numbers who participate. There were
250 actors competing at just our region, and there are eight regions
across the country. For Andrew, they always pick two,
for him to win one of those top two spots
is a testament to his talent, a testament
to his luck, a testament to our training,
and it's nothing but great, good fortune. Well the best part about the whole week was that
four groups from U.R.I. made it to the final round. So out of 240
actors, four out of the top sixteen
were from U.R.I., which is kind of unheard of. And that just goes
to show how great of a training program U.R.I. has
and how great they prepare you for the professional world, or step to
the professional world, including this competition. We made a big deal of it
because it is a big deal. Alot of times the big deals come in
athletics, but this is our athletics, our
NCAA, if you will. I'm a sports nut, and I know
the value of going to a world series. This is our world series
in college theatre, that's what the K.C.A.C.G.F. is.
And for him to get to this level where now he performs
on that same stage where all of the Kennedy Center
honorees meet every year, it just blows my mind. It's just amazing.
"Muah, Muah, thank you, thank you..."
My family has always supported me with my love of the arts
to the point where my number one fan is my grandmother, Molly Burnap.
The first time she ever saw me do anything was in my grandfathers
top hat and cane on her coffee table and I would perform for them.
So they kind of knew "oh, he's one of those".
He's a very, very good actor.
Twenty one years old, and right where he needs to be, and ready.
You know, when he graduates, he'll be in the best possible place, I think,
to move forward. I expect great things of him. I've told him
I expect when he gets his walk of fame down there at the Oscars
or the Tony's, give me a call. When they called my name,
saying that I won, the first thing that they said was
"from the University of Rhode Island", and we all kind of jumped up.
And then they said "and the winner is [mumbles]", and so I didn't really hear
my name, and I kind of looked around and everybody was looking at me.
and my best friend Josh Andrews who plays Cosmo in "Singing in the Rain"
gave me a big hug, he was a fellow finalist, and I realised it was me.
I couldn't be happier. And to represent a school like U.R.I.
is kind of a blessing.
They have been so good to me, and the only thing I can do is repay them by
showing them just how good they've trained me.