Theatre By Kids, For Kids!
Meet Our Friendly Neighborhood Minstrel: Padraig “Paddie” Clancy
July 27, 2014
Today is your last chance to Encore’s summer production of “Once Upon A Mattress” (our last performance starts at 2pm today at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre)…which means it’s also your last chance to see Padraig Clancy (also known as Paddie) in his debut performance as the loveable Minstrel. Here’s some information about Paddie (or so he says):
Padraig Clancy was abandoned in the Russian wilderness as a child, where he was taken in by a pack of wolves. At age eight he was discovered by a Serbian farmer and raised by their family for a year before being sent to America for schooling. In America, he graduated from Stanford summa cum laude with a S.J.D in law, a Ph.D. in astrophysics, and a bachelors degree in the culinary arts at age 13. Eventually he became bored with these fields of study and turned to theatre tech.
After receiving this biography from Paddie himself, we were very intrigued. So we sat down with Paddie to get a little more intel on his true life both at Encore and offstage, as well as the character he plays in Once Upon A Mattress:
Encore: What school do you attend, grade (and any other truths about you)?
Paddie: I attend Trinity School at Meadowview and I am a senior
E: How long have you been involved with Encore Stage & Studio?
P: I’ve done every show at Encore since Pirates of Penzance 3 years ago
E: This is your first debut on Encore’s stage! Working on crew for so long, did you ever think you’d want to be onstage? What made you decide to audition for cast rather than crew?
P: Although I’ve been prodded in the direction of the stage for a couple years now, I never thought i would actually do it. My debut on cast came about by accident really. My dad heard that they were short a few tenors on the cast and told me about it ( he actually had no idea that I was a tenor at that time). I mentioned to Susan Keady that i was a tenor and the next thing I knew I was at the first rehearsal.
E: What’s your favorite moment so far with Encore, any fun stories to share?
P: It’s really difficult to say what my favorite moment at Encore has been because there have been many memorable ones. The ones that come to my mind first are the mistakes that have been made and then the “disaster management” (for lack of a better word) to keep the audience from noticing that anything has gone wrong. One of my favorite examples of this was during Pirates of Penzance. For the set we had built a massive false proscenium across the entire stage that was 16 feet high and 40 or so feet across. During a couple scenes there was a boat that was supposed to spear at the dock in the arch of the proscenium. One performance the castors on the bottom of the boat skidded and the boat went straight into the braces for the proscenium. We spent all of intermission running around fixing it. In the end, intermission was not delayed and the audience had no idea what had happened. Despite all of these “disaster” moments, there are really fun moments that have nothing to do with things breaking. Opening night was full of unbelievable fun as a cast member and when you reach the climax of the play, the energy you get from the audience is fantastic.
E: What other interests do you have outside the theatre?
P: Outside of theater I don’t do a whole lot. I go to school and participate in two varsity sports, soccer and lacrosse.
E: Can you describe the character of the Minstrel in this show?
P: The Minstrel is an interesting character in Once Upon a Mattress. Although he opens the show by breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience, he is never given a name and I never really read him as instrumental (no pun intended) to the plot, nor does his character develop over the course of the show. To create the character, I drew from my most recent experience of playing Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as watching my counterpart Sarah Conrad as the Jester to determine small character traits that the Minstrel and the Jester might have in common.
E: What’s your favorite scene in the show?
P: My favorite scene in the show….. That’s a tough question. I would answer probably any scene with Sean Hackes as the King. Every show he does something different and I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud on stage, especially in the last scene when he finally talks. Every night he uses a different voice and I always laugh.
E: Any advice for students interested in tech?
P: If I were to give advice to anyone interested in tech, I would simply say try it, and even if you don’t get on the crew the first time you try out, try out again. When the Technical Director sees people who have tried out before, she knows that they really want to be on the crew and they usually turn out to be some of the best techies.
To see more of Paddie, and the whole cast of “Once Upon A Mattress”, come see the show! Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!