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Francis "Butch" Malec
Butch was two years my junior at Reed, but in my final semesters in the city of rain and much studying he became a close friend and an almost indispensable part of my theater posse, informally gathered as it was. We got to know one another when he did some scene work for me for my directing class, stepping in to play Woyzeck in a series of workshop scenes from the Buchner masterpiece of the same name, and then joining the cast of my first semester finale, a staging of HP Lovecraft's prose-poem Nyarlathotep. Drinking vodka to the point of puking together in adjoining bathroom stalls during fall break also helped cement our friendship. We went on to do tons of Midnight Theater together, with him often playing the leads in my sketches, even dancing a part of the zombie chorus in the original production of The Vampire Sorority Babes vs. The Intergalactic Frat Zombies: A Ballet, later referenced by Alex Trebek when Butch was on College Jeopardy!, where he pretty much tanked after making good on the Daily Double but being unjustly undone by a broken buzzer- the second time that had ever occurred in Jeopardy history. At the end of my junior year he once again graced my directing finale, this time originating the role of Karl Parolles in Wild Blue Peaks, looking quite dashing in his trench coat as he knocked back tumbler after tumbler of bourbon and dipped Kristine Sawicki's Scarlet like he was born to do it. My senior year we were cast together in the faculty production of American Notes but didn't have any scenes together. Later that year, however, Butch originated the role of Shamash/The Trapper/Scorpion Man in the first staging of Vincent of Gilgamesh, where he got to exercise his dramatic skills in an intense characterization of the Trapper and had some touching, deeply paternal moments as Shamash. Better known for comedy, which he excelled at in a goofy, broad manner, it was actually pretty cool watching him play such a serious trio of roles and he acquitted himself with grace and soul, and heart really is what Butch is all about, being one of the more sensitive and likeable people I've met in my life, truth be told. A classics major, he headed off to Rome following my graduation, and apparently didn't do much theater in his last few years at Reed. Every now and then I bump into him online and we chat a bit. Last I heard he was living with his girlfriend, Laura, who we both met when she assisted on American Notes, and they were somewhere strange like Houston. But maybe I'm confused.
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