Mr. Ryan Spector is the new drama teacher for Dunellen High school. He is proud to be teaching his twelfth year and is pleased to be at Dunellen. Before teaching in Dunellen, Mr Spector has also taught at schools located in New York and Illinois. When asked what are some differences he has seen between teaching at different states, Mr. Spector answered “every state has its differences but the students stay the same.”
What made Mr. Spector decide to go into teaching? He says that it started in his childhood in Illinois. His mom was a teacher and she passed her love of teaching down to Mr. Spector. In school, he had the opportunity to act in plays in middle school and discovered his passion for drama. Some of his most memorable moments include the first play he ever performed, which was Peter Pan as a sixth grader. “I got to play the curly haired lost boy that got to shoot Wendy” and from there his love of the theater grew. Eventually he decided to pursue an Education Theater major since he loved theater, he loved learning, and he loved teaching. He chose New York University for his college because “they have one of the best Educational Theater programs in the country and New York is the heart of theater.”
When questioned about the differences in performing in high school compared to performing in college, Mr. Spector answered by explaining that the main difference was the level of commitment. He then continued by explaining that both high school students and college students are extremely dedicated to having the play or musical be a success but it is a different experience having drama be a hobby compared to being a career. College students are trying to be an artist and perfect their craft compared to high school students who are still learning about what theater offers and are still developing their appreciation about theater.
When asked about his favorite play and musical, Mr. Spector smiled and stated that his favorite play is “Ghetto” and his favorite musical is “Sweeney Todd.” “Ghetto” is a modern play that shows a play company that is trapped in the ghetto (a town that isolated all the Jews from the rest of the world) and is under the constant threat of the actors and crew members getting killed by the Natzi soliders. When asked why this play is Mr. Spector’s favorite, he replied with a couple of reasons. Mr. Spector admitted that the plot is wonderful and that it connects him to his ancestry. Mr. Spector mentioned that he has several Jewish relatives in his ancestry and a couple of his relatives did die in the Holocaust. “Sweeney Todd” is a musical about a murder that after he kills his victims, he then sells the bodies to a meat shop where the bodies are baked into the pies and then sold to unsuspecting customers. Mr. Spector gave several reasons as to why his favorite musical is about a murder. Stephen Sondheim, Mr. Spector’s favorite composer, wrote the music for the musical. Mr. Spector is a fan of horror and scary movies and feels that this musical is dramatic and intense and captures the audience's attention in a unique way.
Mr. Spector’s favorite hobbies when he is not involved with anything related to theater are camping and hiking. Mr. Spector has hiked in Alaska, Maine, Hawaii, and New York as well as other states. Mr. Spector has also hiked the Green Mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in New Hampshire and hiked the 4,000 peaks. To have a mountain qualify it must rise over 4,000 meters and he has hiked several of them. He has camped in the Adirondacks in New York as well as in Lake George, the Catskills, and Lake Placid.
