More than a Drama Teacher

Behind every great actor, there is a greater drama teacher.

Seth Mullinnex stands on the theater stage and gives class announcements to his technical theater class at Cedarcrest High School.// Photo by Alison Ward

by Alison Ward

It’s 5:30 a.m. and Seth Mullinnex wakes up to his alarm, reminding him of the day he has ahead, reminding him that it is the spring musical season. The overwhelming feeling of stress overcomes Mullinnex, but his students don’t see that. Each hour of the day he smiles, shares a laugh and engages in real conversation with those students.

This is the busiest time for any high school drama teacher, the time to find balance between one’s passion and personal life.

“I tell my kids that when we get to tech month, that is divorce month because my wife hardly sees me,” Mullinnex said with a chuckle.

Mullinnex must be more than a teacher at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, WA. When he isn’t teaching class, Mullinnex is found advising multiple clubs such as the Associated Student Body, grading assignments over lunch break and checking in with his students. Not to mention the days he heads home from school at 10 p.m. during tech week.

His voice is warm yet strong, striking even, as he is content with the overwhelming life he lives. You feel the drive he has for teaching and for the theater — the same fire he first felt within him when he stepped on the stage as a high schooler.

From Sports to Drama

Growing up in a small Central Washington town, Mullinnex was never exposed to theater culture. It wasn’t until his sophomore year at Naches Valley High School that he got his first taste of the theater.

During a varsity football practice, Mullinnex tore his ACL, MCL, LCL and Patellar Tendon, which required reconstructive surgery. Not only did this pull him out of his place on the football and baseball teams, it pulled him out of his identity.

Since his accident, Mullinnex had a blank space in his after-school schedule. His English teacher took notice and asked if he would be interested in auditioning for the high school play.

“So, I tried out, and just out of luck or talent, I got the lead in the first show I did,” Mullinnex said as he let out a light laugh.

The play was called “The Foreigner,” a two-act comedy that has been used for professional and amateur theater. This was perfect for a comedic and colorful guy like Mullinnex, who always found a way to make his peers laugh.

As the lead, Mullinnex played multiple character types in his role of “The Foreigner,” and in doing so discovered himself on the stage.

“By starting to become these characters and working through things, it was a way of exploring who I was,” Mullinnex said. “I was separated from the expectations of family and friends. By exploring characters, I could find that out for myself.”

Once Mullinnex finished physical therapy, he got back into basketball and track, but the theater bug remained.

Mullinnex said he would audition for one or two plays each year during his time in high school, and was even given the opportunity through his school to see his first professional Broadway musical performance at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle.

Mullinnex said that to this day he still remembers the twinkle he had in his eyes while watching “Miss Saigon.” Seeing a musical with a full-size helicopter descending on stage, picking actors up and flying them out, lit up his eyes. The addition of the two to three-story rotating sets and the talented vocalists really opened him to the world of performing arts outside of his small-town theater.

The theater is an opportunity for escape. Get lost in the shoes of another life, tell a new story or even tell a story in song.

Addictive like sweet and sour candy, the taste of being on stage is what many “theater kids” can agree keeps them coming back. Mullinnex craved that taste for the theater. Continuing to university, he sought out more ways to feed his addiction.

The Actor’s Dilemma

For most theater kids, the dream is to be a Broadway performer, to become the next Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda or Aaron Tveit. But behind every great actor, there is a greater teacher who learned through their own center-stage moment.

Mullinnex decided to attend Central Washington University, passing over a scholarship offer to do theater at Ithaca College in New York. As a first-generation college student, Mullinex found himself too overwhelmed by the prospect of such change to attend a school on the east side.

At CWU, Mullinnex said that the vice president of the ASB was a theater major and heard through the grapevine that he and a friend had done their share of musicals. With excitement, she insisted that Mullinnex and his new college friend audition for the university’s production of “Grease.”

“They gave us technical roles to suck us in, and so that’s how I got the bug,” Mullinnex said. “I became a theater major my freshman year.”

“Grease” provided Mullinnex with the realization that he could do more with acting, and it gave him the opportunity to get his foot in the door.

Mullinnex slowly began to discover the risks associated with pursuing the stage: not knowing where your next gig might be, if you can pay your bills or how to market yourself with little funds.

The Academy of Film, Theatre, and Television advises that, as long as you can market yourself accordingly, networking and working hard to get good representation through an agency can help you succeed in acting.

To market himself as an actor, Mullinnex needed to be a well-rounded individual and have a fallback plan. He also has a humanities degree and a history degree that he can rely on if acting were to fall through.

Mullinnex had some friends that choose either the New York or Los Angeles route for acting, but saw that some of them didn’t get their first job until up to 10 years later while waitressing or doing other side jobs to make ends meet.

During this time, Mullinnex met his wife and had to seriously consider his options. Would he follow his love and start a family, or would he pursue his acting career, taking it to the next level?

In the end, he chose his wife, who he loves and was just too good to let go.

“You know, are there regrets? Yeah, I mean, there always is, but I think I made the right choice for me… and I wouldn’t have the family and kids that I have now,” Mullinnex said. “But I never lost that passion.”

Mullinnex soon decided that he was going to teach because he’d had a strong interest in history and teaching. He knew that he needed his degree in history in order to become a teacher. That would enable him to teach what he really wanted, which was theater, because at most schools, the theater teachers were also the English or history teachers.

“I was marketing myself for those history jobs, and the theater would just happen to follow,” Mullinnex said. “That’s how my first teaching jobs were, I taught history and then I started a theater program…to help my passion and to help students that were interested in it too.”

At Cedarcrest High School a theater-only teacher position was available, which Mullinnex jumped at. He made it his duty to serve the students at Cedarcrest and resonate his own joy and love for the performing arts onto the next generation of actors.

A Bond Like No Other

The final bell rings at 2:15 p.m. at Cedarcrest High School. The students race to the double doors and fill the theater with their stacking voices and bottled-up energy, bringing life to the theater until 10 p.m. The students and Mullinnex gather together in their small high school auditorium, breaking down walls and crafting characters, allowing for a personal connection rather than an authoritative relationship.

“Teaching the arts is really different because you can teach methodology,” Mullinnex said. “You can teach some practices and techniques and things like that, but it’s still art.”

In his drama classes and while preparing for a musical or play, the connections he establishes allow him to see the students he has come to care for grow along with their passion for the arts.

“We build relationships. If a student is starting their freshman year, I sometimes see that student again, sadly, more than my own kids,” Mullinnex said. “A lot of times in the high school level, you’re seeing them coming from immaturity, at a middle school, to starting to mature to become an adult.”

Cedarcrest alumni Johnathan Mumford said Mullinnex impacted him as not only an actor, but a person. Mumford said Mullinnex, to this day, is one of his greatest mentors and has helped him a lot throughout his life.

“After one of our performances that year Seth and I stayed at the school and cleaned,” Mumford said. “We stayed at the school until probably 3 a.m. just talking about life, and I loved every second of it.”

Teachers like Mullinnex are the ones that you think back to when you think of who made you who you are now. The teachers that didn’t just mark your papers or consult with you about grades — but the ones that looked past all that and made sure you are seen.

Mary Ward, a former student of Mullinnex, said that “His relationship with his students is a huge reason as to why the drama department at Cedarcrest is so successful, but also why it contains such accepting and friendly individuals.”

Ward said Mullinnex influenced her entire life trajectory just by believing in her and giving her the confidence to shoot for the stars.

Even after they graduate, Mullinnex’s students continue to invite him into their lives. The college graduations, weddings and baby showers leave him smiling to himself as he watches his young students go through the same journey he did all those years ago.

“We keep in contact and I’ve either willingly or unwillingly been a part of getting students together that have eventually gotten married,” Mullinnex said.

The theater community in a school is like a family. When you add up the long hours together, the fondness for drama, the emotional moments within acting and the highs and lows that come with putting on a show, you get something more than being peers and teachers.

Former student Marcus Wolf explains this idea of the theater family.

“Over the years I have come to find that sports are a camaraderie, and the arts are family,” Wolf said. “With theater, while we focus on our rehearsal and what needs to get done, when we take breaks and just hang out together there is a bond that is made between all of us, and through that, we all got to grow up together.”

Curtain Call

It is 10 p.m. and Mullinnex calls it a day, preparing for his hour-long commute home from school. His fondness for sports has never left him. He plays his sports radio station, ESPN Seattle, to catch up on the news of the Seahawks and Mariners. He tries to escape from his busy life for a bit.

Although the days may bring with them a series of repetition, he finds himself prideful of the long-lasting trust and bonds he builds. Bonds that keep him coming back for more.

“I have former students who are now lifelong friends, and we can now chat and talk to each other,” Mullinnex said. “It’s not about anything that people need, but that it can just be ‘hey, just thinking of you.’”

The shows will come to an end, and Mullinnex will be watching as they take a bow.

Editor’s Note: The author of this story is a past student and peer to the sources, Seth Mullinnex, Jonathan Mumford, Marcus Wolf and Mary Ward. Despite knowing the source prior to reporting, I view this story as necessary to share the passion of a drama teacher and the impact one has on their students. All quotes came directly from the sources. All parts of this story are accurate to Mullinnex’s story of going from an actor to a drama teacher.