It w
as 
so great to have a teacher surprise this week. Paddy Heusinger, one of my prized students from almost 20 years ago, has had a very successful path after leaving me. He went on to graduate from Juilliard and then on to numerous plays in NYC. Soon, this led him to his first Broadway lead in the drama, Next Fall. The momentum just kept building as he went from TV to stage to a character in a video game (don’t quite understand this one) to Los Angeles to an acclaimed production of Bent to now, his big movie break – – being cast as the principal villain in the new Tom Cruise movie, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. He is indeed a shooting star moving at the speed of light; I couldn’t be more proud of him!
This Friday, he surprised me. It was the opening of his Tom Cruise movie and I got word from his family that they wanted to get a small group of us together and watch the first seating of the movie in the local IMAX. How fun was this going to be! Then, the fun got even better. Standing in the movie theatre as we got seated was Paddy himself standing there so handsome and so mature. Hugs were given out to everyone and we settled to watch the movie. AND Paddy just wasn’t in the background of the movie; he was the central foil to Tom Cruise. In fact, the over-the-top climax of the show had an all out tumble-over-buildings fight between Paddy and Tom Cruise. I will leave it to your imagination who survived.
After the movie it was time for congratulations and the obligatory and much desired “picture by the movie poster with the movie star”. I was so beaming with pride that I could barely contain myself. AND the fact that this big movie star actually remembers his lowly high school beginnings made the entire thing worth it for me! Now, my mission is to get Paddy back to NYC and back on stage. I know this will mean a SIGNIFICANT drop in salary, but I selfishly love him best on stage. Go figure.