Time & Perspective Quote by Gregory Harrison

There is a quiet confession buried in Harrison's relief: for once, he got to be just an actor, not the unofficial foreman of the room. Coming out of "my own theater in LA", he's describing a familiar indie-arts reality where the person with the keys is also the motivator, problem-solver, and morale officer. In small theaters, especially ones you build yourself, leadership becomes inseparable from performance. You're not only carrying a character; you're carrying the project.

The phrasing "my role was also to keep everybody else working hard" does two things at once. It signals pride in a work ethic and a subtle fatigue with having to manage other people's focus. "Also" is the tell: the extra labor is treated as an add-on, even though it likely dominated the experience. Harrison isn't attacking his collaborators; he's naming the emotional tax of being responsible for the temperature of the room. That pressure can distort the art, pulling you out of risk and into supervision.

The "first time" line turns the quote into a snapshot of what it feels like to step into a larger, more professionally scaffolded production: stage managers manage, directors direct, producers produce. The actor can concentrate on listening, timing, and play. Subtextually, it's about surrendering control - and discovering that trust, not hustle, is what unlocks better work. In an industry that romanticizes grind, Harrison is describing something rarer: the luxury of being held by a system.