Student Matinee Series Learning Guide - The Kansas City Repertory ...

least have "seen" you for who you are. And believe me, you may just get them to pull your photo out of that pile
and hold it for another day.
Arguably the greatest American playwright we've ever produced, the late, great August Wilson, was a mentor of
mine. And he once told me, "Michael, someone is always watching." It's one of the most profound things I've
ever heard, because it's true. Someone IS always watching. So if you want to be in show business, remember that
fact. Do the work. Learn all you can. And put on your rhino skin! Basically this industry is a giant card
game. You're just trying to keep a place at the table until you have a good enough hand to play! That means
you're gonna have to learn how to bluff a lot. But if you can do that, eventually you'll be dealt a great hand of
cards. And when that happens… it's magic time! And for anyone who's thinking of being a writer: WRITE! Tell
your stories. The world will always listen to great storytellers. Words have power. Words can heal a soul or
cause a war. The one who tells the stories, and tells them well, has true power in this world. Why? Because
words last! And unlike acting, or directing, if you're a writer, you control whether you work today or
not! Because no one can tell you, "No, you can't write today." If you want to write, you can write whenever or
wherever you like. My advice to anyone thinking of becoming a writer would be this: whatever you start…
finish! Writing is hard! Sooo hard. It will humble you without a doubt. And believe me, not everyone can do
it. But if you're brave enough to put your words and feelings on the page, finish what you start. Don't worry
about whether it's good or bad or whatever. Just finish it. You can correct the problem spots later. But, if you
finish it, you'll find that you'll be able to finish anything else you start for the rest of your life! If, however, you
should walk away from it, you'll leave the door open to your walking away from anything else the rest of your life
as well.
MICHAEL GENET (Simon) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: Lestat (Palace Theatre); A Few Good Men (Music Box Theatre);
Hamlet (Roundabout Theatre); Northeast Local (Lincoln Center). Off-Broadway: Rosa Parks (Queens Theatre in the Park); A
Soldiers Play and Earth and Sky (Second Stage); The Colored Museum (The Public Theatre); Inked Baby (Playwrights
Horizons). Regional: Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling (Two River Theatre Company); Resurrection (Arena Stage,
Hartford Stage); The Oedipus Plays and Timon of Athens (Shakespeare Theatre); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Old Globe
Theatre); Bailey’s Cafe (Hartford Stage); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Ford’s Theatre); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Trinity Repertory
Theatre); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Alliance Theatre); Seven Guitars (Philadelphia Theater Company); Much Ado About
Nothing (Long Wharf Theatre); Death of a Salesman (Solvang); Roads of the Mountain Top (Crossroads Theatre); Happy
End (Arena Stage); A Raisin in the Sun (Philadelphia Drama Guild); Twice Removed (Sharon Stage). TV & Film: “SVU”,
“Ugly Betty”, “One Life to Live”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”, “Journey’s
End’, “Law & Order”, “Deadline”, “Another World”, “All My Children”, “As the World Turns”, “Guiding Light”, “N.Y.
Undercover”, “Janick”, and “Hallelujah” (Writer, American Playhouse); Wall Street 2, She Hate Me (Writer), 25th Hour,
Booty Call, Let It Be Me, Stranger Among Us, Presumed Innocent, Simple Justice and One Fine Day. As a writer: Pork Pie
(Sundance Screenwriter Selective, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Award, winner of the Kennedy Center Award for New
American Plays); Talk to Me (Focus Features, winner NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture).
Training: The Julliard School, Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of the Arts.
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