The Teacher

The Teacher, played by Patrick Miller

I'd never met Patrick before he walked into the second day of auditions. I did recognize him immediately, however. I had known his brother from marching band a few years previously. Patrick did wonderfully in auditions. He did exactly what I told him to do, and he did it excellently. When I told the cast to play, Patrick played and played hard. The sheer amount of ideas that he was able come up with helped him and Connor and Evan really reach a new height that I think I couldn't have reached on my own. I'm very happy to have gotten to work with him once before these vine-clad halls. I also want to congratulate Patrick on a particularly well done job on the second night of performances. There was a moment when Patrick, alone onstage essentially, went up on a line, as people do sometimes. It took him a moment or two (or 15) to get back on track, but he did. He stood there, in silence, but most importantly in character until it came back to him. And when he came back, he came back with the same level of energy and focus that he had had before. You may be curious about why I'm telling this story, why I'm highlighting a mistake; the amount of focus and energy, not to mention bravery, you have to have to recover at 100% like Patrick did is immense, and I could not be more proud of him for doing that.

After the show, Patrick told me that he was going to be a theatre major. This is excellent news, as the department needs more people like him: daring, smart, funny, brave, and bold. Any show that Patrick works on will be made better by his presence and his hard work.