Below is the full text of UW Drama PATP alum Sunam Ellis' (MFA '15) keynote speech at the UW Drama 2019 Graduation Ceremony. We feel sure you will find it as funny, wise, and inspirational as our graduates did. Happy graduation! 

Thank you faculty, guests, families, friends, and graduating class of 2019 for having me here today. I am truly humbled.

When I was asked to consider being a speaker for today, I wanted to make a list. I love making lists. Go on vacation? Make a list. Plan out the summer? Make a list. Clean the house? Make a list. You get the idea. I love lists.

So I made a list for today. A really great list. A list of all the wonderful things I’ve learned about this business. Those tidbits shared with me that helped me be successful along the way. How to schmooze. How to own your own voice. How to work in the room. When to say no to a project. And don’t get me wrong. Those things are really important.

But at the core, what has really...

Director Jane Nichols' director's note for The Learned Ladies illuminates this production while also serving as a beautiful treatise on the rigors of comedic performance and why we need it, maybe more than even, right now. Please enjoy.

"Director's Note

The Learned Ladies is a scathing indictment of people Molière knew personally, as well as a comic satire on academic pretension, and repressive, narrow-minded views toward women’s intelligence and education. To boot, this is a rollicking family drama: sister versus sister, wife versus husband, brother versus brother, aunt versus herself, suitor versus parent, household help versus woman of the house. And then there are the two pedants at war as much with the English language as with each other.

No one escapes the bite of Molière's wit or rancor here, except perhaps Martine, the servant whose straightforward candor cuts through the pretensions and shabby excesses of self-regarding entitlement and with...

From now until the end of the school year, we will be introducing and celebrating our graduating students, looking back on the work they've done during their time here, and sharing their reflections and wisdom as they head off into the professional world. Today our series continues with graduating MFA actor AJ Friday.

What do you know now that you didn’t know when you started this program?
Just remember, you literally asked for this…Life is a process. Physics drives Biology causing Chemistry which reveals more Physics. I take that idea into every character—as a given circumstance of their existence. So, there’s a perfectly rational reason for why they believe they MUST do what they’re written to do. In short, serve the work and...

From now until the end of the school year, we will be introducing and celebrating our graduating students, looking back on the work they've done during their time here, and sharing their reflections and wisdom as they head off into the professional world. Today our series continues with graduating MFA actor Tricia Castañeda-Gonzales.

What do you know now that you didn't know when you started this program? That I’m capable. That I possess similar qualities to the people that I have been learning from. There are so many fabulous artists who I admire for so many different reasons: their strength and their...