Dr. Len Radin and Drury students sink their teeth into 'Dracula,' one of the many productions Radin has directed with the Drama Team over the past 25 years.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Dr. Len Radin has decided that it is time to "hang up" his tuxedo.  

 

"It's getting frayed and needs a rest," he wrote in a letter announcing his retirement after 25 years as Drury High School's theater teacher: "I want to retire from teaching when I am still passionate about it." 

 

"When I told the Drama Team I would be leaving at the end of the school year, they cried and I cried, too," said the Williamstown resident in an interview.  

 

To those who know the Radin, better known as "Doc," the students' reaction was not surprising. 

 

"He garnered the respect of all through his careful work and certainly earned the love of his students," said Debbie Coyne, a retired Drury teacher. "There was no consistent play department or theater courses at Drury, then Doc came and that all changed."

 

Radin smiled as he described the unconventional way he became a theater teacher. 

 

"I walked into Drury and told Principal Roger Cirone that I wanted to volunteer to direct a play at the school ... I was a local dentist who had no qualifications for teaching — no teaching certificates and no experience in the education field. I must compliment [the late] Roger Cirone and ex-Superintendent of North Adams Public Schools Robert Maroni for taking me in. It was a risk on their part."

 

Though Radin had no experience in teaching, he already had been involved in theater for 25 years. He brought an expertise that has turned the high school's drama department into an award-winning program that in recent years has spread to the lower grades. Radin was inducted into the Northeast Educational Theatre Association's Hall of Fame in 2008.

 

The reason Radin chose to volunteer at Drury, he said, was because he felt North Adams students needed his services more than those in a wealthy community with extra resources.

 

"He was marvelous with the children and the parents," Maroni said in telephone interview. "And when he initiated a program, he put money out of his pocket into whatever was needed."

 

The first students Radin directed in a play were in Debbie Coyne's English Class.  

 

"They were pretty difficult — they did not have easy lives," Coyne recalled. "With kindness, encouragement and putting up with behavior, Doc was able to prove to those students that they could get on a stage and  present a play."   

 

The play was about adolescents in jail, and attendance to the performance was by invitation only. Guests were caregivers of the foster children and the social workers students had invited.   

 

"It was a powerful moment! I knew then I had to do whatever I could to help Doc," said Coyne, whom Radin refers to as a valued mentor. "He didn't know about school culture: school regulations about where students could go, about permission slips and the nitty gritty." 

 

Radin has been teaching Drury students the ins and outs of theater production for 25 years.

Students in the Drama Team receive full credit for the course, which includes class work in many aspects of theater. 

 

"In order to get into the Drama Team, a student has to audition. I am mostly looking for students who have a sincere desire to be in the program, and are willing to risk sharing themselves with the audience," Radin said. "I am not teaching theater solely to create actors. Educational theater teaches self-assurance, the ability to community and imparts a wider vision on its students, skills that translate well in any field, certainly in the healing professions."

 

Radin was able to meld diverse groups — honor students, students with special needs, students with behavioral problems — into a cohesive team.

 

"When alumni call me, they remark that the Drama Team had a family feeling," Radin said. "It is a supportive ensemble."  

 

Many students in the Drama Team have gone on to work in professional theater or establish drama companies, such as Mill City Productions at Western Gateway Heritage State Park.

 

Radin's own family was supportive of the Drama Team.  

 

"My father, an artist, made posters, my mother baked cookies to sell during intermission and my wife sold tickets," Radin said. The couple's three daughters contributed their talents for designing costumes, choreography and playing piano. 

 

In 2008, Superintendent James Montepare appointed Radin to a newly created position: district theater coordinator. From then on, Radin received "a small stipend and health insurance" for his charge in developing and heading a districtwide drama program open to all 12 grades.

 

Radin, himself, was exposed to theater at a young age.  

 

"My mother took me to theater class when I was 6," Radin recalled. "When I was in high school, I directed a play. My brother and I also started a marionette theater and hired ourselves out. The only time I was not involved with theater was when I was in dental school."

 

A native of New York, Radin resided in Atlanta and Springfield before settling in Williamstown in 1972 and opening a dental practice in North Adams. 

 

"I have always known that I wanted to be in a helping profession that dealt directly with people, he said. "I also know that I have excellent manual dexterity and liked working with my hands. I am very glad I made the decision to enter dentistry. I absolutely love it!"

  

Nonetheless, Radin could not deny a love of theater that eventually lead him Drury.  

 

"Teaching and directing theater seems to be something I was born to. It makes me feel complete," he said.  

   

Over the years, Radin has been recognized in various ways for his outstanding work in educational theater. In addition to being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the association's highest honor, he was presented with a Points of Light Award in 2006 by then Gov. Mitt Romney.

 

Under his leadership, the Drama Team has won a number of awards, and more than a dozen times has been selected to present plays at the International Thespian Festival, a premier event in the high school calendar.

 

In his last act as a theater teacher, Radin will travel to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln with the Drama Team to participate in the 2013 International Thespian Festival from June 24-29.  

 

"This year one of my students, Nick Burchard, auditioned and was accepted for the national cast  that will open the festival with a play," he said.

 

As for when the curtain comes down on this last act, the doctor's family is "worried about what he will do with himself." But Doc will not lack things to do, he said.

 

"I will be a resource and mentor for my successor," he said. "And I am not retiring from dentistry." In fact, he intends to expand his dental practice.

 

Still, his dental office may evoke memories of his teaching days.  

 

"When we did 'Dracula,' I took the students to my office and made props for them to use in their roles in the play," he said.

 

Yes, though dentistry and theater seem incompatible, the man who loves both was able to intertwine them.