by Finch Edmund. @finch_edmund.
NEW YORK, NY - Get ready for the waterworks! Local actor Justin Bartlett, who moved to New York shortly after graduating college to become a Tony-winning actor, came up with an incredible Tony Award acceptance speech in one of the most unlikely of places: his shower, overwhelmed sources confirmed. We found out about this incredible speech from Bartlett’s roommate, Todd Dower.
“It was pretty good,” Bartlett's roommate, Todd Dower informed us, seemingly trying to convince himself that what he was saying was true.“I’ll admit some of it was pretty muffled from the walls and the shower running, I think I only heard the words ‘thank you’ and ‘mom’, but I assumed the parts I didn’t hear were great.”
We also caught up with Bartlett’s sister, Jane, to see if he were responsible for other extraordinary made up speeches in the past.
“No, not really,” she told The Broadway Beat, confused as to what this was for. “He’d make up speeches, sure, but none of them were good, at least not to me. That might just be because I’m not a theatre person, I don’t know. This is news?”
Bartlett's speech lasted approximately two hours and six minutes, by which point the shower water was ice cold. We provided him with a water bottle during our interview, of which he took a sip, and examined the bottle in his hand. He then rose from his chair, and tears began to fill his eyes.
“Wow,” he began, speaking to the entire room even though we were the only ones there. “I really, really wasn’t expecting this. This is such a huge honor. I wanna thank my mom and my dad for always believing in me, and my little sister for putting up with my constant singing when we were kids. Thank you to the director, my castmates, the crew - everyone involved in this production. It truly was a labor of love. And to all the kids out there who wanna do theatre, do it. It’s worth it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
One of our journalists was crying, stating that it inspired her to follow her dreams, and that she believed she, too, could one day make up a speech that great.