A Mentor Remembered: Paul Ford
I’ve met people in my Arts career that I love and respect so dearly. Occasionally, an artist comes along that truly changes me on a soul level, though.
Paul Ford was a theater teacher, director, actor, and visionary. He deeply understood the human condition. His passion, enthusiasm, and ability to draw greatness from his performers was one of the most touching experiences I’ve ever been graced with. An invitation to join Paul in a production was like a trip to Disneyland. I hung on his every word. In exchange, he hung on my movement work I added to his plays. He once said that I’m like an elf who frolics in, sprinkles shenanigans, and drifts out the door. He also said that I offer a visual embodiment of feeling to characters, that guides an audience's emotions. For a movement coordinator, there’s no greater compliment.
Paul Ford passed away in February of 2026. I was gutted. The news floated on the surface of my psyche- A conceptual impossibility. It felt like an experiment.... More of a, “That would be horrible. Thank goodness our world can’t exist without Paul.” He was timeless, like art itself. We always say, “When we’re gone, our art lives on.” Paul IS the art, though… It all crashed in as reality seeped below the protective layer of shock. An incredible man was gone.
Paul’s memorial was held in a theater, and he packed the house one last time. A lifetime's worth of students, collaborators, and proteges of Paul’s arrived.
We all had several things in common:
First, everyone thought they were Paul’s closest friend. He had a way of effortlessly connecting deeply with everyone. He respected the heart of everyone he worked with and truly loved all of us.
Second, Paul taught all a lesson that I didn’t even realize he’d engrained in me. The process is what matters. The product is a bonus. I’m here to dig to the heart of human experience- fantasy, joy, pain- without ego, distraction, or compromise. The process is the goal.
As Paul Ford once said, when I was lurking deep in the swamp of process, “You’re in the processing stage of emotional muck.” He said it with gusto, intense thrill, and anticipation. Rolling around in the emotional muck is the privilege of process.
Thank you for teaching me to deeply appreciate the muck of process, Paul, because that’s where our deepest humanity lives.
