Ladinas Barkley is a college professor in the midst of teaching one of his last master classes in acting. He is a British actor who remembers the days of sitting in the theatre and watching Lawrence Olivier play some of his most memorable roles. It is important to him that the students in his class understand what makes an actor someone who has the ability to change lives. Through the performance he speaks from a place of passion about the art of acting and the things that we sacrifice to be actors. In the midst of his lesson he taps into an emotional place that makes him share with his students the worst of the need for success revealing the day that his mentor, and teacher, began to sexually abuse him. In this emotional breakdown he tells his students that there has to be a line that they are not willing to cross for the promise of fame. His speech is almost poetic as he bares his soul and much like the ballots of Shakespeare he ends with his favorite monologue from Richard III saying, “I am I.” What are any of us willing to do for success? Do we loose ourselves to do it? (The actor must speak Shakespeare.)
