Southwestern’s theater department connected these two alumni, David Stahl and Cliff Miller, together twice, even though they attended a generation apart. This past spring, they gave back to their alma mater, in “A Night of Chekhov.”

Rewind to the early 1980s and David, from San Antonio, performed in the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival with Southwestern student Hans Venable, whom he later married. David soon transferred to SU because Pulitzer and Tony award winning playwright Edward Albee was a guest artist on campus. David recalls he was in Albee’s “Malcolm,” and its sizable cast gave several Southwestern students an opportunity to act, including Hans who played the title character, and he wasn’t even a theater major.

Another influence was Dr. Richard Hossalla, theater department chair, who arranged for David to have a semester-long internship in New York City. Beyond “gofer” jobs, he was cast and performed in a children’s play while there. Later, Dr. Hossalla employed David to teach beginning acting classes.

Beyond the FAB, David says, “SU is where I started to actually think for myself. Dr. John Score’s philosophy classes changed things for me.” After a master’s at UT, David toured 10 years with “Greater Tuna,” taught acting at Texas State University for a number of years, and performed for over 30 years at numerous theaters in Austin including Zach, Hyde Park Theatre, St. Edwards University as guest artist, and Austin Playhouse. He stars in Chekhov’s one-act play, “On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco.”

“A Night of Chekhov” is directed by Cliff, class of 2007. The first time David and Cliff met was during Cliff’s student days when he was cast in “House and Garden” at Austin Playhouse where David worked. Fast forward 18 or so years, and SU Professor of Theater Desi Roybal contacted both alumni about working together on this production.

Cliff calls Georgetown his hometown and attended SU on an Angus Springer Scholarship. Although he basically lived in the FAB, was a TA and took numerous theater courses, he was also in the Paideia Program and minored in history. Meeting David at Austin Playhouse really affected Cliff’s craft, he believes. “David’s use of language was three-dimensional, and he set a standard for me. I’d ask myself how David would do this—throwing spaghetti at the wall differently.” During his senior year, Cliff directed the “Trial of Goldilocks” for area children.

A master’s degree from SMU led Cliff to spend six years in New York City. He was cast by the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, performed in regional theater, small basement shows in the city, and on-camera for some indie feature films. He worked with another SU alumna, Rebecca Carton ’07, in the Only Make Believe program which presented plays for hospitalized children.

In 2018, Cliff returned to campus as an adjunct faculty member. He once again directed a children’s play, “How I Became a Pirate,” in 2022, and then turned his attention to his current career as an audiobook narrator and part-time instructor at the Actor’s School through Austin Community College. He just returned from New York after being nominated for an Audie award, and recently completed “Reno Gates,” a western series, read from his backyard studio in his wife’s former “she shed.”

Regarding the current production, Cliff says, “SU students are as committed as I remember; as inventive and curious and willing to play. We’re having fun in rehearsal, and I hope that transfers. Finding little moments that pop in the comedy has been exciting.”

David adds, “I get very excited as an actor because Cliff has brought levels of my character that I had not seen on my own. I get to do something different.”

Working together in the Jones Theater has been a new experience for these alumni, although the passion they found on that stage as Southwestern students is not new.

-Written by Iris Bullard Foster ’75