Gregory Andrew Crandall was the drama teacher at the
High School For Performing Arts, who we first meet in the episode “Alone In The
Crowd”.
He graduated from college with a major in English and
then spent time working on Broadway as a stage manager before turning his hand
to teaching.
Greg was in his mid fifties; He was married with two
teenage children and in “The Strike” has
to join the strike in order to have enough money to support his family.
He was a kind and caring teacher, who goes out of his
way to support his students and help them learn the skills they need to become
better actors.
Greg had a dry sense of humour and often defuses situations
with a joke. He also plays a little jazz piano whilst delivery a comedy routine.
Grey was full of zest, joy and laughter and he was not
one for sentiment. He doesn’t like grand gestures. In “A Special Place” he is
chosen to be the teacher the school lets go to meet the budget cuts and we discover
he doesn’t like the idea of a goodbye party. His intention was to leave the
school with as little fuss as possible and only reluctantly does along with the
party plans. Knowing that it will make it harder for him to leave and say
goodbye.
He also doesn’t like the fact that the other teachers
proposed to forgo their pay rises to try to save his job. Although tremendously
grateful for them thinking of him he doesn’t want people to make sacrifices for
him.
Greg was also pragmatic and realistic. Rather than be
swayed by sentimental reasons to do things he sticks to the practical and
logical. In “Street Kid” he believes that the school should stick to the proper
procedures for auditioning students rather than making an exception. While in “The
Crazies” rather than cancel the senior students showcase because Mr Shorofsky
is in the hospital he advocates it needs to continue because it could have
severe consequences for those taking part if they don’t get the grades they
need for future projects.
In “Come One Come All”, we learn that he suffers with
a back problem and is hospitalised. He has his own style of shorthand that
comes from years of working in the theatre but that makes it hard for people
who don’t have his experience to understand.
Although supportive of all his students he has a particular
bond with comedian Danny Amatullo. Their sense of humour connects them and Danny
is Greg’s favourite student.
In “A Tough Act To Follow”, Greg Crandall doesn’t
arrive for class and we discover he had a heart attack in the night and was
taken to Mercy hospital but later died. The
show that the school were working on that Greg had been part of goes ahead, to
respect that he would never want it cancelled on his behalf.
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