Huntington Playhouse Stories: 'Nicely' done, Pat Miller

Pat Miller in "[title of show]" at Beck Center. Photo by Kathy Sandham 

Recent reviews about Pat Miller in the lead of the critically acclaimed "Bat Boy: The Musical" at Blank Canvas Theater were full of compliments like, "an actor who is willing to throw himself bodily and every other way into the role," "creates a completely believable character" or "the ever-intriguing Pat Miller."

Pat began taking classes at Huntington Playhouse in the summer of 2003. He played Nicely Nicely Johnson in "Guys & Dolls Jr." under the direction of Tom Castro, featured recently in my story, "On Angel's Wings," published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Observer. 

Pat enjoyed the experience and resumed classes the following summer while playing the role of Drake in "Honk Jr." I had seen that production and can attest Pat had a focus and intensity one would expect in a seasoned actor, but was surprising in someone so young. By 2006 he graduated from "Jr." shows and was in the ensemble of Neil Simon's "Sweet Charity" under the direction of Tom Meyrose.

Throughout high school he worked as an apprentice to Judy Mazur in the Youth Theater program at Huntington. This opportunity allowed him to gain experience in directing, stage managing and teaching. During this time, he also designed the logos for the Youth Theater productions. This experience proved quite fruitful as Pat would end up designing logos in his future full-time career. He is now a graphic designer and marketing coordinator at Beck Center for the Arts.

In 2013 he managed to pick up two “Best Actor in a Musical” awards from the News-Herald and BroadwayWorld Cleveland for his performance as Patsy the coconut-clacking manservant in "Spamalot." Last year, I had the pleasure to see his performance in "[title of show]" at Beck Center for which he won Best Actor in the 2014 BroadwayWorld Awards for the Cleveland region in the Comedy/Drama category. Just so there is no confusion, "[title of show]" is the title of the show.

He'd refined his craft since I'd first seen him in "Honk," but his focus and intensity remained underneath the polish time and experience can give. My guess is his list of awards will grow as he delights audiences with the work he enjoys. One can speculate if his early experiences at Huntington Playhouse and that first role as Nicely Nicely is what lead Pat down his career path. In any case, "Nicely" done, Pat Miller!

Pat would like to give credit to his teachers Tom Meyrose, Tom Castro, Dolly Ballou, Judy Mazur, Jayne Kacik and Rachel Spence.

Citizens For Bay Village Community Theater is working to form relationships with civic groups, not-for-profit organizations, government and businesses in Bay Village to provide a true community effort to keep community theater an active and vital part of our city. Visit us at our new website www.baytheater.org. Our next meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 22, 7 p.m., in the BVPD Community Room, 28000 Wolf Road. We plan to vote to adopt our bylaws which can be reviewed on our website.

Patrick M Meehan

Patrick is Vice President of Education for the newly formed Citizens for Bay Village Community Theater. An organization whose goal is to continue to provide Community Theater and Theater Education for the City of Bay Village.

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Volume 7, Issue 24, Posted 9:44 AM, 12.15.2015