BETH LEAVEL: From Broughton High to Broadway with a critical detour at UNC Greensboro

When I was approached a few months ago and asked if would I give the commencement address this year I had several thoughts:

I’m just a storyteller who graduated from UNCG and it changed my life.

For those of you who don’t know me, I graduated in 1980 with a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting and directing. (Always felt, or was told, “you can always fall back on teaching.” That’s my mother’s voice).

I was born in Raleigh and had absolutely no idea a life in the theatre would ever be my path, much less my career. I am the daughter of Lynn and Ruby Leavel. My father was born in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, but his family moved to Greensboro after the Depression, when Lynn was a teenager.

One of his first jobs was delivering Coca Cola all through Guilford County, a job he did so well he was eventually promoted to a managerial position. My mother Ruby was born in Beaufort, N.C., the oldest of seven sisters. She moved to Greensboro after high school and went to secretarial school.  They met on a blind date here in Greensboro.  After a brief courtship were married and settled in the big city of Raleigh.  My dad eventually left Coca Cola to become a sales rep for WRAL-TV, the local ABC affiliate.

My dad was a tall, handsome drink of water -- a man of very few words until he was at work and then I would watch in awe as he always became the center of attention in any room; funny, gregarious, and charismatic. Then he would return home and the three of us, mom, dad, and I would sit silently throughout dinner.

Bless his heart, he was probably so exhausted. My mother became a florist and then a stay at home mom. She was a phenomenal cook, loved fashion, was president of the pedal pusher garden club and I hardly ever saw her without her hair and makeup fully done.  She would always tell me: “You need to put more lipstick on.”  It was always just the three of us as my older brother Jack who was 14 years older than I was, eloped with his high school sweetheart Janet when he was 18.

It was terrifyingly fabulous. But acting as a career? It was a hard NO from Lynn and Ruby. For now. I was bitten hard by this thing. What to do? I was in no way mature enough, brave enough, skilled enough or confident enough to try NYC.

Then UNCG called. Bam! I’m going to get an MFA and figure all of this out. I remember my first day here in Greensboro. I moved to the second floor of that house on Springdale Court. Anyone else live there? Oh, if those walls could talk.  I met my roommate Linda Sirmons for the first time that afternoon. She had a cigarette in one hand, a beer in the other. She was a northerner, and she knew MIME! Thought she was the coolest thing ever. Still do.  She’s here today.  She’s still my sister.

Thank you UNCG for her and my fellow classmates who taught me so much about myself and my craft simply by being in their oxygen. I was, and am, in awe of them. Thank you UNCG for creating an environment in which I loved to go to class. WHAT?? All theater all the time! Theater history; loved it! Exploration of modern drama on the realistic continuum?  Oh yes, please.  The Black Box Theater, OMG!  My passion was on fire.  Still is.  I know … I’m lucky and I worked/work hard for it.

Shortly after graduation I summoned, or faked, the courage to move to NYC to a fifth floor walk up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood -- back when Hell’s Kitchen was really Hell’s Kitchen. I would get up every Thursday morning, go to the deli on the corner and get coffee (because I decided to be an actor in NYC meant I HAD to learn to drink coffee.) Then I would purchase the weekly trade paper called "Backstage" which provided all the theater auditions available for the upcoming week. I would drink coffee and circle the auditions I would attend.  I even auditioned for a puppet show and a mime troop. Y ou’re welcome Linda! Didn’t get it. Didn’t care! I was in the right place. I was prepared. Thank you UNCG.

I still feel like a perpetual student. So much more to learn. I love that. I’m not “complete” or “finished.” Still growing.  Still making mistakes, and celebrating victories.

Speaking of mistakes— or learning opportunities as I like to call them -- I’d like to share a tidbit of advice. Even though I’m an actor, I think these tidbits can apply to anyone:

Number one: Be prepared. Example: I was actually doing a show in Raleigh when my agent called, and said I have an audition for the Broadway musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Can you fly back to New York in 2 days? It was to replace the irreplaceable Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher. Well, they sent a song for me to learn but I really didn’t really have much time to learn it.

So, in conclusion, (don’t you love when we say that??). In conclusion I’d like to share a little story about the night I won the Tony Award. People are always asking me what was the most memorable part of that night? What was your fondest memory?

Truthfully, that night is all a big, loud, blur. But this is my fondest memory. I called my parents, after the Tony Awards as soon as I could get to my phone. And my mother said at about 9:05 that night in Raleigh (my award was presented at 9:16) a tornado watch was issued for Raleigh and Wake County and all of the power went off, including the live broadcast of the Tony Awards in which their daughter -- their “one of a kind” -- was up for best supporting actress in a musical.  And their TV was dead.

My mother called the TV station, all the radio stations in the area and pleaded for the power to be turned back on. (As if they had that ability!) But, thank you universe, at 9:12 the power came back in Raleigh and at 9:16 they tore open an envelope and announced my name as the winner!

I ran to the stage from my seat in Radio City Music Hall and babbled on for a minute and a half until at 9:18, right before they started the “please wrap it up music” I screamed out a thank you to “Lynn and Ruby Leavel of Raleigh N.C. who are the proudest parents in the world right now.”

Later, Ruby told me that their phone began ringing off the hook with offers for TV and radio interviews. Calls from relatives I never knew existed, calls from children of men my father served with in the Navy and on and on and on. My mother finally said, “well now I just bring the phone with me to the bathroom because it just won’t stop ringing.”

They were filled with such joy and pride. It was still hard for them to verbalize but I knew it. I felt it. And that, my friends, was the most memorable moment of that night. And sidebar, guess who I sat next to at the Tony luncheon the day before?  Angela Lansbury! Should’ve told her about the Yankees game.

I’m so very proud of you Class of 2022. “What did you do during COVID? Well, I actually completed my degree from UNCG.” Well. Done. YOU!

You know, you’re going to be ok. You’re actually going to be fabulous. Go and change the world. We need you. We need your gifts, your talents, your hearts, your singularity.