Fight Choreographer and Whitman alum Mike Mahaffey was visiting Harper Joy Theatre last week to choreograph a fight scene for the production currently in rehearsal, The Liar. I had the opportunity to sit down with Mike and ask him a few questions about his work.

Erin: So you are a Whitman alum?

Mike: I am.

E: What year did you graduate?

M: I graduated in 1991.

E: As a theatre major?

M: As a theatre major. A Bachelor’s in Dramatic Art, I don’t know if it’s still that now.

E: How did you first get into fight choreography?

M: It actually started in high school. The Washington Association of Theater Arts Conference up in Bellingham, Washington. A couple of graduates from the University of Washington M.F.A. program were doing a stage combat class or workshop for students and I just got hooked. And so I’ve been kind of making it a part of what I do ever since. When I came here I helped a little bit with the movement program and actually went to the National Stage Combat Workshop. At the time it was held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Between my junior and senior year I went and got certified as a stage combatant and then I came back and did a little more.

E: Great! Do you have a favorite type of show or type of fight to work on?

M: Oh, that’s hard. I would have to say that it would be something—I’m kind of of two minds—I really like the old Errol Flynn type movies. So I kind of like the swashbuckling adventure type films but I also like doing things that are just a little more vicious and realistic, things like Woyzeck. I kind of bounce back and forth between those quite a bit.

E: Alright, my last question is what piece of advice do you wish you’d have had when you were my age?

M: Take better advantage of the opportunities you have when you are here. The Harper Joy Theatre is such an amazing place and the staff here is every bit as good as it was when I went through. It was such a tremendous resource and we had a great time but I think that we could do—and I think this is something we all should be doing— is taking advantage of everything we can while we are learning here at Whitman.

E: Great, thank you for your time.

M: Okay yeah, no worries.

Come see David Ives’ adaption of Pierre Corneille’s The Liar at Harper Joy Theatre October 22-25. Tickets are available beginning Monday, October 12th. 

Mike Mahaffey is so very grateful for the opportunity to work once again at the HJT. Mike earned his B.A. in Dramatic Arts at Whitman in 1991, his Masters from the University of South Carolina in 1994, his Stage Combat Teacher Certification with the Society of American Fight Directors in 2001, and his Certified Fight Director status in 2009. Mike was recently recognized with an LA Ovations Honors Award for fight choreography for his 2015 production of “She Kills Monsters” and was nominated for his work in his 2014 production of “Taste” directed by Stuart Gordon.