Taking the Stage

Dylan Flye ’06 is no stranger to the stage. He has been acting since he was four, when he took part in local productions in his hometown of New Salem, Massachusetts. A retired Broadway producer who moved to New Salem wrote original musicals and cast them with locals. “She wanted only five year olds to audition,” says Flye, “but I fibbed and told her I was five and got the part.” He hasn’t looked back since.

Most recently Dylan played Sitric in Eaglebrook drama teacher Linda McInerney’s production of “The Last High Queen of Ireland”. Linda’s Company, Old Deerfield Productions, produced this original musical based on the life of Gormlaith, the last queen of Ireland. Click here to learn more about Old Deerfield Productions and the show. Dylan called his involvement in the Last High Queen “a great experience. Linda always assembles a great group of people.” He has been in two other shows with Linda and Old Deerfield Productions.

Dylan’s experience with theater at Eaglebrook was, according to him, “the biggest turning point for me, when I really laid a foundation and decided that I wanted to stick with acting.” While on the Hill, Dylan had many roles in many productions, and worked with both Jeff Connor ’83 and Monie Chase in various musicals, movies, and plays. “I cherish the time I spent with Mrs. Chase doing the Shakespeare plays” he said, and went on to call Jeff Connor, the chair of the performing arts department, “the biggest influence on my life.”

After Eaglebrook, Dylan moved across the street to Deerfield Academy. He became very involved in the theater program there, working with John Reese, the chair of Deerfield’s drama department. Dylan credits Reece with “making me a more professional actor.” Dylan had the opportunity to travel to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with members of the Deerfield drama department last summer. The Fringe is the biggest theater festival in the world. Dylan called it “the Super Bowl of theater” and said that “it was an amazing experience to be there.” He and his Deerfield classmates performed “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged” at the Fringe.

In the fall, Dylan will matriculate at Duke University, where he is a recipient of the Robertson Scholarship, a scholarship awarded to students based on leadership and merit. In 2007 Dylan created a non-profit program called Stages of Life, Inc. that is designed to help underprivileged children in his community experience theater. The goal of his program is to promote trust, teamwork, and communication through acting. “Having the confidence to get up in front of a group of people and speak is so important,” says Dylan. He is looking forward to the opportunities he will have as a Robertson scholar, which will involve summer service programs, but also programs of his own choosing, and he hopes to bring Stages of Life to Durham.

Dylan’s advice to Eaglebrook students is to “follow your passions, follow your heart. Those two things have helped me a lot in life.”

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