Raised in a Christian home, Smith says he got into theater partly because it brought him social attention in high school梐 tale many actors tell. But when he reconnected years later with the church, it didn抰 feel like a major change, he says. 揑t wasn抰 that dramatic in terms of my world view and Biblical view.� He says the two pursuits share a common theme of 揷onveying truth in a transparent manner,� which he calls 搑eally the essence of acting.�
Smith, who calls upon skills from both the theater and the church to write occasional pieces for Drama Ministry Magazine, says that 搕he problem sometimes with the church is that we have decided that a lot of art with a capital A is somehow not about God.� He adds, 揂nything that is truly art, from my viewpoint, is about God. True art is about God.�
If author Kallos� exploration of fictional characters might run more deeply due to her PATP training, so too does Smith抯 feel for people抯 motivations in pastoral counseling. It might sound like actor-talk for Smith to say 揧ou can抰 activate a negative intention and make it believable,� but it抯 a helpful way to understand human behavior. In Smith抯 view, an angry, potentially abusive husband rarely intends to be so. 揌e抯 making a choice based on some form of internal motivation,� Smith says, 揳nd it抯 the only tool he has in his box.� As a counselor, Smith says, he might ask, 揥hat is that choice really getting you? What抯 the 憌in� in that for you?� It抯 what actors and directors do when they probe a character in a play.
Smith says his church colleagues tend to admire the interpersonal communication skills that came with his acting training. 揟he tools you learn in a seminary setting help you be a good theologian,� he says, 揵ut don抰 necessarily translate into being a good pastor or shepherd.�
Library science called to 1991 PATP graduate Joel Summerlin after he spent several years in the Seattle theater scene. Ultimately, he says, the negative aspects outweighed the positive in his stage life. 揊or any art you go through a lot of dreck to get to the good stuff. I was finding the ratio of things worthwhile to things that weren抰 worthwhile wasn抰 high enough.� He returned to the UW in 1998, earned a degree from the Information School and is now a taxonomist, cataloging photographic images for the Seattle-based Corbis Corporation.
揑抣l always feel glad I was an actor for a while,� Summerlin says. 揑t抯 hard to draw lines between the things I learned in the PATP and the skills I now use in my current career, but at the same time I don抰 think anything anyone learns is useless. I抦 a firm believer in a liberal arts education. It抯 not about using things on the job, it抯 about being a well-rounded person.�
Inevitably, of course, the PATP抯 range of training helps some more than others in the world beyond acting. Andrew Boyer, a 1995 graduate of the program, performed in the 1990s in New York, but was ultimately worn down by the hand-to-mouth actor抯 life. Working with fellow actors in their 50s brought that into focus, Boyer says in an e-mail from London, where he now works as a securities lawyer. 揑 realized that it was a very real possibility that in 15 more years, when I would be 50, I could still be working hard for no pay and hoping to get noticed too. That was an unacceptable future for me.�
So he went back to school, faced down the bar exam and began his new career. The switch wasn抰 easy, he says, 揑t抯 a long path and I don抰 recommend it.� And though Boyer says his script analysis skills may help him unravel the thick language of statutory law, the connection pretty much stops there. Of the many things he studied in the PATP棑the yoga, the Suzuki training, the jazz dance and stage combat, the singing and voice work, the tightrope and trapeze classes, the philosophy of connecting mind and body敆few pertain to his current work. Boyer wrote with some finality, 揟he PATP trains actors, and being a transactional lawyer is simply not anything like being an actor.�
If there is a hint of sadness in Boyer抯 story, it should come as no surprise. Nearly any former actor will tell you, leaving the theater梡acking away the well-worn makeup kit, headshot and r閟um�, hanging up the tap shoes梒an be a heartbreaking decision. Summerlin says it well: 揑t was a tough time, having that realization. There was a lot tied up in that梐 feeling of failure, that I made the wrong decision, what have I done?� It took some time, he says, but 揢ltimately, I did make the right decision.� Still, there always remains the question: Would these former actors return to acting, given the right circumstances? Answers were mostly variations on the theme of a door that is closed just now, but perhaps not locked for good.
Pastor Smith says, 揑抦 doing exactly what I want to do.�
Boyer, the London-based lawyer, is still working through the emotions of his life change. 揑 still believe that entertaining people and lifting them temporarily out of this difficult world is a noble calling. � It breaks my heart a little if I think about my former love of theater. Maybe someday I抣l direct something,� he says.
Kallos quit acting about nine years ago. 揑 don抰 miss it very much. The only time is with Shakespeare梩hat抯 the only thing I ever really miss. I抦 so lucky I got to play the roles I was right for.�
揥hen we started in the PATP,� Summerlin says, �(then-program director) Jack Clay, early on, said, 慖f there抯 anything else in the world you can do, go do it.� I think it抯 pretty good advice in a lot of ways.�
He didn抰 take that advice, of course. He stayed, graduated and enjoyed acting for several years, as did many others. And though it didn抰 last forever, they wouldn抰 have missed it for the world.
-Peter Kelley is assistant editor of University Week, the UW抯 faculty/staff newspaper, and a 1990 graduate of the UW.
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On the Scene: 10 Famous PATP Graduates