Untitled Diary Play Digital Playbill
About the Cast and Crew
Bryanna Lee (Playwright/Performer)
Bryanna Lee graduated from Aquinas College with majors in Theatre for Change and Sustainable Business, and has since been finding new ways to infuse her passion for community, sustainability, and meaningful art into her work and life. Some of her favorite previous roles include Kendra in Gloria, Hamlet in Perchance to Dream, Melibea in The Illusion, and Minnie in the terrible girls. When she's not on stage, Bryanna works as a sustainability consultant, voice actor, and audiobook narrator.
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Alexa Lunt
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Matt Richter
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A Dedication: Randy Wyatt
from Bryanna Lee
from Bryanna Lee
In 2018, I performed “Excerpts from my 5th Grade Diary” as a monologue for my final in Randy Wyatt’s acting class. Randy jokingly pulled me aside and whispered, “quit everything you’re doing, make this a play, and take it on the road.”
When I began creating this piece earlier this year, Caitlin asked me how I was feeling. Naturally, we anticipated emotional reactions from combing through years of my past, but I instead found myself responding, “I feel sad. I’m missing Randy.”
When I got stuck in the script, I missed Randy. When I was tangled in story lines, I wished that I could workshop them with Randy. And when I finally dug myself out of these tornadoes and began making discoveries, I knew Randy would have been staring at me with a knowing smirk, having understood this all along, just waiting for me to figure it out for myself.
When Randy passed last year, it was hard to feel or speak or say anything that felt meaningful. What do you say about the person who completely impacted the trajectory of your life? Randy connected my passion for change to my passion for theatre. He showed me that there is hope in art, and when I can’t find hope– I can create.
I came across the journals from the acting class where this concept originated. I think the final entry sums up both lessons from Randy and from this process… “I almost wish I knew what I know now at the beginning of this course. The discoveries that I made about myself as an actor and as a human weren’t anything major in the grand scheme of things. I wonder what I could have discovered and accomplished in this class if I had just let myself.”
When I began creating this piece earlier this year, Caitlin asked me how I was feeling. Naturally, we anticipated emotional reactions from combing through years of my past, but I instead found myself responding, “I feel sad. I’m missing Randy.”
When I got stuck in the script, I missed Randy. When I was tangled in story lines, I wished that I could workshop them with Randy. And when I finally dug myself out of these tornadoes and began making discoveries, I knew Randy would have been staring at me with a knowing smirk, having understood this all along, just waiting for me to figure it out for myself.
When Randy passed last year, it was hard to feel or speak or say anything that felt meaningful. What do you say about the person who completely impacted the trajectory of your life? Randy connected my passion for change to my passion for theatre. He showed me that there is hope in art, and when I can’t find hope– I can create.
I came across the journals from the acting class where this concept originated. I think the final entry sums up both lessons from Randy and from this process… “I almost wish I knew what I know now at the beginning of this course. The discoveries that I made about myself as an actor and as a human weren’t anything major in the grand scheme of things. I wonder what I could have discovered and accomplished in this class if I had just let myself.”
This activity is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, administered by LOWELL AREA ARTS COUNCILS INC, and is made possible in part by a grant from Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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