Broadway star Bryan Terrell Clark shared anecdotes and lessons from his life Tuesday night and encouraged listeners to keep pursuing their best and truest selves on their life journeys.

克拉克，送14号^th annual UMKC Pride Lecture, presented by the UMKC Division of 多元化和包容性, covered subjects ranging from hiscovered subjects ranging from his family and sexuality to finding and expressing himself through the arts and public service. Some highlights of his presentation, delivered live over Zoom, and a Q&接下来是:

家庭生活

He described his mother as an angel and his father as a dragon, opposites in many ways. “But they both taught me to fly,” 克拉克说.

His mother was a teacher who became a principal, and a Sunday school teacher who became a pastor. His blue-collar father loved his family dearly, 克拉克说, 但最后却染上了毒品, first as a dealer and then as an addict, 多次进出戒毒所.

His father’s addiction 太k a big toll on the family, while his mother was always taking care of others, even to the point of neglecting to take care of herself. But 克拉克说 that when he came out to his parents as gay, it was his father who embraced him unconditionally. His father’s lesson: You have to learn to love yourself, completely. Only when his father could truly love himself, 克拉克说, was he able to make his addiction rehabilitation stick.

His mother’s initial reaction to his coming out was “I love you, but …” Her religious beliefs did not allow her to accept his homosexuality. But eventually, 克拉克说, she came around, apologized and said she loved him no matter what.

艺术与服务

His mother also realized Clark’s passion for artistic expression “before I could talk.” When he heard music or saw something interesting on television, 她说, 他会高兴地蹦蹦跳跳, 沉浸在体验中. So singing in the church choir was a must, and going to a high school that encouraged the arts gave him more opportunities to find and express himself.

College was a challenge, and he often skipped class to travel to New York for auditions. But when graduate school for drama seemed like the next logical step, 他拒绝低估自己. He was advised to not apply to the top schools because they seldom admitted people of color, but he applied anyway and was rewarded with a spot at Yale’s drama school.

在耶鲁读书的另一个好处是, 他说, came when he realized the campus was surrounded by rough neighborhoods filled with young people who desperately needed someone to see them and encourage them. So Clark stayed one summer and organized in the community, giving kids a chance to put on plays and tell their own stories.

Such involvement helped him learn about himself, 太, and to find his inner resources instead of looking for definition or approval from others, 克拉克说. 今天, his community work continues through inDEFINED, an initiative he helped found to empower young people to erase the constrictive labels in society.

值得发扬的经验教训

克拉克在艺术上的成功, including two stints playing George Washington in the Broadway hip-hop hit “Hamilton,” allowed him to keep learning about himself and to share his best self. 这对他帮助很大, 他说, 相信自己内心的声音, follow his passion and finally quit worrying about how others saw him. Having an internal commitment to yourself is another key, 他说.

“You just have to be you,” 克拉克说. “The labels are for someone else to understand you.”

Clark also encouraged listeners to be open to new experiences and inspirations, to find something every day that makes them happy, 每周尝试一些新的东西.

这种做法, 他说, help put people in the driver’s seat for their own lives and “make you a better partner, 让你成为一个更好的学生, 让你成为更好的一切.”