Wayne Brady recalls his theatrical roots at Dr. Phillips High

DR. PHILLIPS – One could say Dr. Phillips High School’s theater program served as the impetus for award-winning actor and improv genius Wayne Brady’s eventual path into fame and success.

Now a household name most known for his role in the improv comedy show, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” the then-16-year-old Brady was once just a freshman who happened to enter the theater at the behest of his friend and catch the attention of the performing-arts program director, Karen Rugerio.

“Wayne was tall and skinny, and he had on his ROTC uniform,” Rugerio remembered. “I heard his voice, he said, ‘Hello ma’am.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, you need to be in the theater.’ And from that day, he was smitten. He was in love with the theater, and we were in love with him.”

From that day forward, until he graduated in 1989, young Brady was in every one of the school’s theater productions. In the school’s very first play, “Dark of the Moon,” Brady played Uncle Smelicue – a small supporting role. But in every play after that, Rugerio said, he was cast as a main character. 

He played the lead role in “I’m Not Rappaport,” Judd in the musical “Oklahoma!,” Dick Van Dyke in “Bye Bye Birdie,” the role of Iachimo in the Shakespeare play “Cymbeline,” and more.

The future famous actor spent so much time in the theater that he sometimes skipped his other classes, particularly math, which he admitted was always his least favorite subject.

“I had to chase him to his other classes,” said Rugerio, who Brady described as his second mom. “Teachers would contact me and ask, ‘Have you seen Wayne Brady?’ and I’d say, ‘Yeeees.’ He would just be down in the theater skipping class. So I’d find him and go, ‘Please, please go to class.’ … Getting him to go to class was such a challenge — especially if it was a math class.”

Despite skipping classes on occasion, Brady was a year ahead of his peers and graduated at 17. 

“I would never skip class unless I deemed it a good reason and, in my teenage brain, a good reason was because I wanted to really be great at what it was that I was doing,” Brady said. “I kind of gave myself the rationale that I’m not going to be crunching numbers any time soon, and I count really well. So, either I can memorize this monologue that could help me when I get out of here, or I can learn about stats.”

But one thing he sometimes forgot to learn were his lines, Rugerio said. To make up for it, Brady would skillfully improv his lines — even Shakespeare. However, Rugerio was always able to tell the difference.

“Improv came naturally to him,” Rugerio said. “He was in my first Shakespeare production, and he could improv Shakespeare. And I’d say, ‘Yeah, I’d prefer that you learn your lines rather than make them up.’ … He could improv his way out of anything. He was really very, very smart.”

Brady has stayed in touch with Rugerio throughout the years and always invites her to his premieres and award ceremonies. He credits his time in the DPHS performing-arts program as playing a large influence in his growth as both a person and an actor.

“The cool thing is it got me out of high school with a sense of accomplishment and purpose,” Brady said of his experience at DP. “I look back at every one of my theatrical endeavors, not just as theater, but I was learning a lot about myself and how to become a young man.”

“No one could’ve ever told me the kid that grew up in Tangelo Park, and especially during the end of my high-school days who didn’t make stellar grades, that I would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so it really means a lot." – Wayne Brady

Brady has stayed connected to his alma mater with occasional visits to current DP theater students to offer them industry tips and advice. As a student, he never imagined his career would involve television.

“TV didn’t even play into my thought process,” he said. “Because my bar was really, ‘I just want to be happy, and if I can work for the rest of my life on stage in this part of the country or that part of the country, then I’ll be happy.’ So I overshot that, luckily.”

Brady is currently in Chicago joining the cast of “Hamilton” in the role of Aaron Burr. He will return for his eighth season as the host of CBS’s “Let’s Make A Deal,” as well as a new season of “Whose Line Is it Anyway?”

He was inducted into the Orange County Public School’s Hall of Fame along with four other inductees. A dinner and ceremony held Saturday, March 4, honored the inductees at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. 

“It feels great, especially coming from a school like Dr. Phillips,” Brady said. “No one could’ve ever told me the kid that grew up in Tangelo Park, and especially during the end of my high-school days who didn’t make stellar grades, that I would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so it really means a lot. I think to me it means that any other kid growing up in an environment can look at it and go, ‘That’s definitely achievable.’” 

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected].