Darien Johnson I was six months out of college, touring for an educational theater company, when my old professor, Barbara Kingsley, suggested that I audition for Ten Thousand Things, the theatre company that she had worked with over the years and had told us was the best acting experience in the Twin Cities. Having spent more years of college in a TV studio (Journalism Major) than on stage, I knew I needed to find the best artists in the cities to help me grow as an actor. I auditioned, and got a part (actually multiple parts) in Cyrano De Bergerac. Nothing could have prepared me for the TTT experience. We started rehearsing and I couldn't believe that I was in a seven person cast with some of the best actors in the country (and I was just 21!). When we got on our feet, however, I began to understand the rawness of the whole situation. It was like we were putting on theatre in a church basement (which I have done before): no lights, sound makers instead of an orchestra, few costumes, no sets and us performing, literally, inches away from the audience, in the round. And these audience members weren't your average church basement ladies, some were convicted criminals (although I have met some pretty tough church basement ladies). When we arrived at our first venue and were ushered through the many security doors that kept the residents inside (and now us as well), my eyes were so wide they could have popped out of my head. How were we going to pull this off? What would they think? Would they talk the whole time? The room was smaller than our rehearsal space, how were we going to accommodate for my entrance in Act II? Where were we putting our props? Will they see the surprise costume change I have in Act III? Will they fall asleep? Having now performed in five different TTT shows, I now look back at that moment of panic (and I did panic) and realize how irrational it was. Knowing what I know now, I would have realized that theatre is more than just millions of lights, gigantic speakers, elaborate sets and expensive looking costumes; that having these things doesn't make a theatrical experience more engaging (believe me they don't); and that you don't need to be of the "upper" class (whatever that means) to feel someone else's life or to understand the beauty that is a group of people coming together as actors, as audience to tell a story. I grew up and still live in Minneapolis' "hood", around many of the people that TTT reaches with it's work. For whatever achievements I've had in life so far, I realize that I could have easily been in their same shoes: homeless or incarcerated. (And as quiet as it's kept, most of us are one circumstance away from being there as well.) Through TTT, I've seen grown men, imprisoned for life, cry at someone else's pain. I've seen homeless families laugh without concerns about their circumstances. TTT has brought respect and humanity to those who most of us don't think much about at all and it does this without preaching, without talking down and without degrading. TTT, the performers and the audiences have taught me, at an age when many actors are looking for a huge Hollywood paycheck, that what we do is not about status or fame (although no one should pull this out as a sign of hypocrisy if they hear about me collecting one in the future) but that it's about touching people's lives: their minds, their bodies and their spirits on a profound level. That is what I must strive for as an artist. I thank God for Ten Thousand Things in my life, the joy that it has given to so many that society has turned its back on and the foundation that it has given me for the rest of my artistic life. Darien Johnson is a Minneapolis native and graduate of the University of Minnesota. He is an Emmy® award-winning journalist and has performed at such theatres as The Guthrie, The Children's Theatre Company, Bedlam Theatre, Park Square Theatre, The History Theatre, Pillsbury House and Illusion Theater.