Being an actor changes the way you read a text. For example, Rudy Cabrera performed Que, a modern interpretation of the combined characters, Queequeg and Ishmael, in Moby-Dick: Then and Now. To arrive at an understanding of Que, Rudy moved from a traditional mode of reading to a participatory mode. In video interviews, Rudy offers a compelling account of his own transition as a reader. Here, he describes the multiple modes of reading he employed.

Rudy makes a distinction between “following the words” and “understanding the text.” He discusses his mode of reading as one that ignores punctuation and treats every sentence as a "run-on." We might connect this comment to his later suggestion that he was "flying by the words," which allowed him to reread a chapter from Invisible Man with a deeper level of comprehension: "I finally connected with this text." He was "knee deep into the text," which we often translate as being immersed in a fictional world. 

What allowed Rudy to make the transition from reading on the surface to getting deeply inside the story? How might this reading process relate to the challenges he faces as an actor, learning to embody a character who thinks and feels differently from the actor himself?

Rudy Cabrera states: 

Rudy describes his responsibility as an actor to master the text he is going to present on the stage. He distinguishes between reading a summary of the text and learning to understand it word for word, which is necessary for conveying the emotional tone of the script as an actor. What are our responsibilities as readers to the texts we read?

Throughout the interview, Rudy describes his relationship with Shakespeare. He moved from disdain for his work ("I used to find the Dude corny") to respect for his reputation ("He's that known for a reason"). He urges other students to be less closed-minded about reading classic works. Through his adoption of a new reading model, he was able to appreciate–and be amused–by Shakespeare's use of metaphors and what he once thought of as overwrought language, and which now offered him rich resources for character development.