College of Saint Elizabeth

www.cse.edu
Morristown, NJ
May 10, 2008		 Brother Rick Curry, S.J., founder and artistic director of the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped and author of two cookbooks, The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking and The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking:


"One bright day in Manhattan when I went to audition for a part in a mouthwash commercial, a receptionist saw I had a missing right forearm, a birth defect. At first, she did not think I was serious about the audition. And when she realized I was serious, she said, “Do you want me to lose my job?” I left feeling hurt, angry and totally depressed. I asked myself, if I am being rejected, what do people do who want the theatre arts do who are disabled?” Then, out of anger and hurt, in 1977 something wonderful happened.

I started the non-profit training group for actors with disabilities, which has trained tens of thousands of actors with disabilities since its inception. Whatever your life hurdles are, look them straight in the eye and turn adversity into something extraordinary."