“Who is Mr. Frank?”
Michael Frank loves to eat sour patch kids, joke around, and he’s right at home behind the curtain. Frank has run the auditorium for 18 years and has never once regretted it.
“I’ve helped put on 35 plays and musicals, not including Crossroads shows and times when the theatre has been rented,” Frank said.
While his job deals with sound design, Frank lost the majority of his hearing at age 17, but it hasn’t stopped him from being who he is.
“It’s not so much admitting a handicap, but it’s just being able to say that I don’t hear perfectly, and being able to have the humility to say it. It doesn’t mean that you’re a lesser person,” Frank said.
Those who have approached Frank have found that he is one of the easiest adults to work with in the building as freshman Corinna Erhardt, who has worked with Frank for three years, has found out.
“Mr. Frank made us feel at home and he makes us feel like we can actually handle the things we’re doing in stage crew,” Erhardt said.
The people who know Frank best are his stage crew, who do everything from moving the curtains to building the sets. They’re like family.
Frank is the kind of teacher you just click with.
“He’s kind of like your best friend and you can tease him and he will tease you back. You enjoy seeing him everyday,” Erhardt said.
The world of theatre is often plagued by problems, both technical or otherwise; Frank recounted an example of one of the worst mishaps.
“The video screens started squiggling and flashing and it wasn’t doing anything, 45 minutes before a show. So, I called for help and he says ‘Ok this is gonna sound weird, but pick up the board, and now drop it… I’m confused that I was just told to drop a $6,000 piece of equipment but I believed him and low and behold it worked,” Frank said.
While Frank may be the head honcho of the performing arts center, he is still learning new things everyday.
“I guess it’s just realizing that I didn’t have to do everything by myself, I need to ask for help that’s the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn.”
Great article on Mr. Frank! Well written, respectful, insightful, and in a lighthearted, genuine voice! Hope to read more articles from you soon!
I loved your article about Mr. Frank, he sounds like a great man! I hope to read more of your interesting articles soon!
Glad you and others could find and work with a man like Frank…sounds like a people person and cares and respects others…very good article and Sean, you did a GREAT job.