CENTER STAGE Students and alumni excelling in the arts
Equipped to Go in Many Different Directions Golden Globe Winner, Michael Hall ’89, Reflects on His Ravenscroft Roots
MIKE HALL ‘89 explored many different roles at Ravenscroft, including athlete, before deciding in college to major in acting
As a student at Ravenscroft, Mike Hall ’89 played football, soccer and basketball, enjoyed linguistics and AP English, and performed in the chorus and spring musicals. When he left for college, he thought he might become a lawyer.
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NSTEAD, HE’S BEEN A MORTICIAN, a degree in theater. “I went to college
cabaret emcee, transgender rock singer, serial killer, reclusive alien and, yes, a singing, dancing lawyer. Along the way, Michael C. Hall has earned six Primetime Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe and three SAG Awards. He recently filmed an episode for Netflix’s “The Crown,” in which he portrays John F. Kennedy. “Looking back, I feel like the die was cast from really early on,” Hall says of his eventual decision to pursue
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without a firm sense of what I’d end up focusing on. But I felt equipped to go in many different directions.”
THROUGH THE NOOKS AND CRANNIES When he enrolled at Ravenscroft in fifth grade, Hall found a community where he could be many things. He recalls with particular fondness performing in the boys’ choir under conductor Lester Southern, calling him “my fine arts mentor.”
“He was involved with all the musicals I did,” he says. “Those were some of my earliest experiences performing and some of my most cherished memories.” Hall credits football coach Ned Gonet for impressing on him the importance of preparation: “that to play freely, you have to know your plays, formations, assignments so well you can forget about them and just play.” He also fondly recalls teachers Marcia Scraper Jones, who cultivated