NHS Student’s Musical Talent Singled Out

By Cable Network

By Jeff White

Sidelined from athletics with a back injury last year, Newtown High School junior Patrick Curran decided to go out for the school musical, Guys and Dolls. He could not have guessed that a national cable network would notice his efforts in that lead performance.

But that is just what happened.

Recently, Patrick recently won the grand prize of a $500 scholarship in American Movie Classics’ talent search, “Behind the Screen Test.”

A longtime sports fan, Patrick explained this week that performing on stage was “really exciting, because it’s so new to me. And to be recognized for this is even more exciting.”

Patrick sent in a five-minute tape from his Guys and Dolls performance. The Connecticut version of the competition was opened to all high school students in Charter Communications’ service area. “The tape had to demonstrate some part of your ability as an actor, or as a singer, or something in the performing area,” he explained.

Although he didn’t think much of it as he sent his tape in to be reviewed, when he received a phone call a few weeks later from American Movie Classics representatives, he had a feeling that he won something. He didn’t get the good news officially until the high school’s annual awards night a few weeks ago.

By winning the contest, Patrick has been entered into a “winners’ pool,” from which one student will be chosen out of all those who won across the country. Besides winning more money, the lucky student singled out will have the opportunity to hold an internship at American Movie Classics in New York.

But for now, Patrick’s mind is on his acting and singing. He had one of the leading roles, that of Tommy Djilas, in this year’s high school production of The Music Man. He plans to spend the summer working with a Brookfield theater group on a production of The Fantastics.

Although he has not been at it long, Patrick admits to having been bitten hard by the acting bug, hard enough to want to pursue it in college and beyond. “I think it’s something I want to continue through college,” he said. “I want to build my résumé through college and pursue [acting] as a profession.”

Patrick still finds time for those sports that he had to walk away from last year due to injury. When he is not on the stage, you can usually find him down on the basketball courts playing in Park and Recreation leagues.

Besides a $500 scholarship, winning American Movie Classic’s talent search also netted him a VCR, which was given to the high school in his name.