SMU junior revels in ‘Raisin in the Sun’ role

By Nancy Churnin

Back when McClendon “Mickey” Giles was a freshman at Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland, he remembers staring, astonished, at the performance of Glengarry Glen Ross he saw as part of the Project Discovery program at Dallas Theater Center.

“It was just so cool, like a roller coaster,” he says on the phone from the Southern Methodist University campus, where he is now a 20-year-old junior and theater major, a choice he credits to that show.

“It was hilarious at moments and so alive. All these men were talking about their business, and I could see they were regular people trying to live their lives as I watched how far their journey brought them.”

Now, it’s Giles’ turn to inspire a new group of teens as he makes his DTC debut as a moving man who appears briefly at the end of the company’s A Raisin in the Sun. It’s a minor part, but Giles says he’s been moved by the impact his presence already has had on teens who see him as an example of what they, too, can accomplish....