Sutton Foster
Field: arts
Sutton Foster receives an honorary doctorate and reflects on her unlikely path from a small-town childhood to Broadway success. She recounts choosing to take an understudy role in Thoroughly Modern Millie over a guaranteed part, which led to her breakthrough and first Tony Award. She offers graduates advice about seizing opportunities, valuing relationships, continual learning, and treating others with kindness.
Key moments
- 01 Recalling her childhood dream of being a bank teller and getting into ballet
- 02 The choice to take the understudy role in Millie over a guaranteed part in Les Miserables
- 03 Emphasizing investment in real relationships alongside work
- 04 Advising graduates to keep learning and 'don't be a jerk'
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Sutton Foster at Ball State, 2012
A commencement address about craft, courage, practice, auditions, collaboration, mentorship, and a generous creative life.
Speech arc
- 01Ball State University
Opening move
- 022012
Speech beat
- 03Doctor of Arts
Speech beat
- 04Broadway performer
Speech beat
- 05Theater and dance
Speech beat
- 06Practice
Speech beat
- 07Audition resilience
Speech beat
- 08Mentorship
Final charge
Beginning: Begin before you feel ready
Foster's creative advice starts with movement: confidence often follows action rather than preceding it.
Start
The first step matters even when the whole route is unclear.
Curiosity
A creative life grows by saying yes to learning.
Courage
Readiness is built in public, not perfected offstage.
Foster's creative advice starts with movement: confidence often follows action rather than preceding it.
Craft: Practice is the plot
The speech honors rehearsal, discipline, and repeated effort as the unseen structure behind visible performance.
Repetition
Daily work turns talent into durable skill.
Discipline
Notes, adjustments, and return attempts are part of the art.
Freedom
Practice creates the ease audiences mistake for magic.
The speech honors rehearsal, discipline, and repeated effort as the unseen structure behind visible performance.
Resilience: Auditions teach resilience
Auditions and rejection become a training ground for preparation, recovery, and persistence.
Control
You cannot control every outcome, but you can control preparation.
Rejection
Every no can sharpen the next yes.
Return
Creative careers require showing up again.
Auditions and rejection become a training ground for preparation, recovery, and persistence.
Ensemble: Make art with others
Foster's Ball State connection emphasizes workshops, students, collaboration, and the generosity needed for ensemble work.
Listen
Good collaborators notice what the room needs.
Support
The best work happens when people raise one another's level.
Celebrate
Art is not only achievement; it is shared attention.
Foster's Ball State connection emphasizes workshops, students, collaboration, and the generosity needed for ensemble work.
• Key takeaways •
Begin before confidence arrives
Connects to craft.
Practice is the hidden plot
Connects to courage.
Auditions build resilience
Connects to resilience.
Collaboration beats ego
Connects to collaboration.
Mentorship keeps the door open
Connects to mentorship.
Closing charge
The address turns success into obligation: open doors, introduce others, and make the path wider.
Give the door back
Mentor
The people who helped you become the model for how to help others.
Generosity
What you give away can become your lasting legacy.
Joy
Keep the work connected to delight, not just ambition.
The address turns success into obligation: open doors, introduce others, and make the path wider.
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Transcript
The previously catalogued transcript link is no longer live and is queued for re-sourcing. A video of the address is available above.
Machine transcript available for archive analysis; it is unverified and may contain transcription errors. Machine transcript source ->
Provenance
BROKEN transcript link (checked 2026-06-26): gradspeeches.com is a parked/redirecting domain serving no real content. Provenance: Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording | Transcript URL dead (gradspeeches.com is a parked/redirecting domain serving no real content); video fallback present
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