Follow Spot Operators | Nathan Miller, Gabby Ullman.Assistant Master Electrician | Eli Suarez.Costume Running Crew | Arcadia Paff, Bri Kelly.Assistant Costume Designer | Emily O'Donnell.Assistant Lighting Designers | Kate Ingram.Assistant Production Managers | Leah Berry, Emma King.Assistant Stage Managers | Morgan Piper, Emma King.May the gods hold you in the palms of their hands. This has been a perfect show to be the last musical I direct at CCM. They are a fearless group, the perfect group to lead you to Dublin, to introduce you to a broken-hearted Guy who meets an open-hearted Girl. Many have not been in a show for two years, and for many this is their first on stage production at CCM.
Guitar, drums, piano, the bodhran, an accordion? They said yes because they love to make music. So many of the actors on this stage learned to play their instruments for this production, and I am in awe. This cast, and this artistic team, has embraced the impossible with this production. When words fail, the music soars, and dreams ride on the wings of notes with Irish abandonment. It celebrates music and culture, and the coming together of unlikely people and cultures in an unlikely time. Directing is such a deep dive that you must fall head over heels in love with the project at hand. I’m often asked, ‘which is your favorite?’ The answer: The one I am currently working on. This is the 33rd musical I have directed at CCM in the past 29 years. What a journey! I am so grateful to every student with whom I spent time in class or in rehearsal, who allowed me to learn to be a better teacher with each passing year, who attended classes and rehearsals with passion and open hearts and intense creative curiosity. The following year, 1994-95 I was asked to be the Chair of the Drama Department (now called the Acting Department) and I said YES - a position I held for 25 years.įlash forward to today, and I am still at CCM directing plays and musicals and teaching acting and movement, enjoying a celebration year as I prepare to retire in August of 2022 at the end of this school year. I directed plays and musicals with rabid intensity, saying YES to every project in every location. With a foot in two departments - Drama and Musical Theater - I became a Professor of Acting, Movement, and Directing to start the 1993-94 school year.
After graduating in 1993, I was hired to be on the Drama faculty at CCM. My wife Lauren and I spent three poor, wonderful years in an apartment on Glendora Avenue while Wilson Auditorium became my artistic playground. After seven years of high school teaching, I became a student again, when I entered the MFA in Directing program in the 1990-91 school year at CCM. I started teaching high school English and Drama in the 1983-84 school year after graduating from SUNY Fredonia in 1983 with a double major in Theatre Arts and English.
I was a junior in college, and I felt my Irish roots searching for nourishment. Once upon a time I spent a Christmas in Belfast, Northern Ireland - my first Christmas away from my family - with my Irish brother Noel Kiernan and his family. Once upon a time I heard my grandfather sing Paddy McGinty’s Goat at every family gathering when we gathered around the piano, played by Aunt Mary, ending with When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. The show was Brigadoon, and I was in Kenmore, New York, and the ticket was a birthday present wrapped in a Willy Wonka Scrunch bar from my sister, Diane.