T.J. & Mitchell: Episode 1

Mitchell was one of my first friends at Master's. It was a God thing because we were such an unlikely pair. We both hated people, I'm a rock and roll junkie and he hated it, I'm a devout GA fan and I first met him drinking from a GA Tech water bottle. We really had very little in common. On the surface. The third week, we found our connection: Calvin and Hobbes.

If you are unfamiliar with Calvin and Hobbes let me know and that will not be the case for much longer. One of my great loves since I was four was the comic strip. Not comic books, though I did get into those later, comic strips. They are just truly a unique medium. They are visual jokes, but you can tell a joke; you can't tell a comic strip. This love has caused me to read a lot of them, and everyone who knows anything about comics knows this to be a fact: Calvin and Hobbes is the greatest comic strip of all time. Not only that but it's better by a lot. Mitchell was the only person in my directing class that knew this to be fact. For this we had a connection.

We really had no big moments ala me pretending to shoot him in the foot, our friendship was a quiet build into trusting and caring for each other. We just always found things to talk about. We agree on most things but veer just enough to keep it interesting.

Having Mitchell on this project is a huge blessing. He knows so much about music and he loves the theater. He loves bossing singers around too but fortunately he's but one side of our little triumvirate. He makes for an interesting addition. I'm the quiet joker, with a love of acting and emotional attachment to the script. James is the new director and leader who doesn't really enjoy telling people what to do. Mitchell is the stifled Type A who's love of ordering is bolstered by the fact that he actually knows what he's doing. James and I are kind of winging this, but Mitchell adds a level of professionalism to our chaos. Makes you happy.

- T.J. Mercer