Always acting up: Paul, who graduated Friday, has always been a singer and started dancing in the Everett Dance Theater in sixth grade before getting into acting. He’s done many productions at Cascade and at theaters around the area.
From Oklahoma: Playing Will Parker for one week in the Northwest Civic Light Opera’s production of “Oklahoma!” in Stanwood. The character is “the stupid friend.” But “it’s really fun. I like it.”
To Broadway: He’s heading to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan for a two-year program. The school is on Broadway, where he hopes to stay after finishing the academy. “The last semester (of the academy) is focused on helping you get your first job.”
Lost a friend and inspiration: He danced for two years under the instruction of Everett dance teacher Mike Jordan, who died earlier this year. “He gave me the confidence to audition and do all of the things that I’m doing.”
Sports didn’t work out: “I tried sports, but I failed miserably.”
Paul tried soccer. (“I would always be the one to kick the ball out of bounds because I couldn’t get it to anyone.”) He tried baseball. (“They have a picture of me with a mitt on my head in the outfield, dancing around.”) He even tried wrestling. (“I would just run around the mat and see if they could catch me.”)
The sidelines were better: Spent two years as the Bruin Bear, Cascade’s mascot. “I was fully decked out in this extremely hot, really stinky costume. Everybody loved it. They just wanted huge, big hugs. No one knew it was me.”
Active in school: Paul did three years in student government, three years in the National Honor Society and spent two years in the freshman mentoring program at Cascade.
Sibling rivalry: Brother, Jon, who will be a junior next year, is “totally involved in sports. We look exactly the same, except he’s about three inches taller than me.”
Supportive parents: Kari and Steve Flanagan often found themselves in a theater one night and at a baseball field the next. “They’ve sacrificed a lot for us. When there were trips they wanted to go on, they spent the money on me going to Alabama for an (American Ballet Theater) summer intensive (camp).”
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