Michael Arden

Did I say randomly?

I mean, I got an audition and I wasn't supposed to go to auditions.

I was still a student at Juilliard.

Oh, verboten.

Verboten, yeah.

So I skipped a class, I think, and went to an audition.

I think the casting director, I had like auditioned for a couple things and I guess done well enough that the casting director called me back in.

And I learned a little bit of sign language at that audition.

And I'll never forget, I got to audition with a deaf actor, Tyrone Giordano, who I ended up, I've worked with a few times since then.

He played Huck Finn, I ended up playing Tom Sawyer, and we got to do a scene together.

And we were sitting on the floor.

He was signing with someone behind me interpreting a sign for him and behind him interpreting for me.

And it was like the most mind-blowing experience I maybe have ever had.

I never thought I'd be able to share a stage with a deaf actor.

And here I was getting to, and that was because of intricate collaboration.

And that was a kind of defining click moment for me.

I was like,

Oh, look at this.

This kind of thing is not a realistic thing.

Kind of like how, you know, the scenery wasn't real, and yet it was.