As for the teachers that truly made an impression on me (and it takes a lot to do so):

Mr. Marshall (AP US History)
Mr. Abramson (AP Calc)
Mr. Hermans (Government/Econ)

None of which are still alive. Otherwise, I’d buy them all beers. I was blessed to have been able to go back and tell them what they all meant to me before they died. And I attended the funerals of 2 of them. Wonderful men. Incredible teachers. Breaks my heart that my kids won’t be able to experience them.

In college, it was Mark Frasier – Human Gross Anatomy. His class was magical. His love and fascination with the human body was infectious and inspiring. I’d go back and take it again if I could.

Other movie faves: Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, Ian McKellen’s Richard III, and the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring a huge number of excellent actors, including Kevin Kline, Michelle Pheiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, David Strathairn, and Christian Bale.

The latter two have been re-cast in time, so Richard is set in 1930′s Britain, while Dream is set in 1890s Italy.

…Come to think of it, since I’m mentioning time-shifted and “based on” movies, I should also mention West Side Story, and 10 Things I Hate About You; the latter film pretty much putting Heath Ledger in the first rank of actors.

The reason a lot of folks hate reading him is because his works were meant to be heard. Most of the major points he wants to get across are presented at least three times, with varying verbage and accents so as to make certain the audience understands what is going on. Heck, if he ran out of words to describe something, he’d make up a new one!

I have often asked the teachers at my kid’s school(s) to allow me and some of my friends to come in and read for them, rather than to have the kids be forced to wade through the text, trying to understand the structure as well as the meaning. The big problem is that no one teaches them HOW to read the text.

Fortunately for me, my mother taught me how to read and understand the scripts early on, so that I could better appreciate it as I grew older.

Anyway, that’s my 2-cent’s worth on that

When I was on the Sylvania, the movie Hamlet was shown one day at sea. I ended up leaving early because of the audience. They little appreciation for it and wrecked it for me. I went back to my paperback book I had in the chart house, and they never showed the movie again.

ISF actually only does 2 plays a year from the Bard, reserving the other three for an eclectic mix of musical, dramas and comedies.

After the middle child gets settled you’ll have to try again. I hear Oregon has some pretty fine theater companies.