Creativity is not the jump into the known, it's the dive into the unknown deep waters of mystery. Taking the risk that may or may not be fruitful to a critical or even personal success is one that still began a new journey of self awareness and self understanding. As a director and an instructor, I am constantly meeting people who don't want to try and be a part of theatre simply because they are afraid that they won't be successful. But, while directing performances in educational theatre (as I frequently do at Spokane Community College) there is a risk, but the personal success will come through. I've worked with many students and, if they commit to the project and the rehearsal process, they will succeed. Casting for a performance is a risk in itself, but the director must see what the person can become by the end of the rehearsal process. This is the important aspect. So, taking the risk will lead to that new awareness. Now, it's true that I've worked with actors in the educational theatre atmosphere who have not been successful and gained the new self awareness, but that is because they didn't commit to the process. There is a reason to look outside of the box and to reach the deep waters of the unknown. It's what poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth wrote about. And, most definitely, Walt Whitman, the greatest American Poet. The goal is not to be something, the goal is to tap into the deep part of yourself and as Whitman writes in his paramount work Song of Myself, "I celebrate Myself"