I like to wear many hats.

I act in plays and musicals. I write plays and musicals. I direct plays and musicals. I juggle. I do magic. I dungeon-master. I teach. I carve pumpkins. I make sandcastles.

Jack of all trades master of none?

You bet.

But it actually is only one trade:

I make things.

I know it sounds pretentious but I really mean it. Whether I’m directing a musical, writing a lyric, carving a pumpkin, playing Richard II, or doing a card trick, it all feels more or less the same. Each of those things requires specificity, joy, and the willingness to be surprised.

Except for dance… Dance is something else entirely that was designed to make people look foolish and so it requires much more to be good at it.

I am not a dancer.

hello.

My name is Patrick Swailes Caldwell (they/them).

Why the Swailes?

I know, it's stupid. The whole three-name-thing. It's demanding. And not in a good way. 

Truthfully, it's because it's my mom's maiden name and she is one of two daughters from a rather small family, so the name dies with me (assuming I outlive my parents). 

So I use it. And I wear it proudly and demand annoyingly that people put it in my bios.

Because it took just as many Swaileses as Caldwells to make me. 

And yes, I'm sure those Swaileses and Caldwellses would shudder to think that they died in wars, or survived dysentery, or trudged to their school/factory/church, uphill, in-the-snow-both-ways,  just so they could eventually give rise to a self-centered pedantic clown who makes it seem like it's courageous to force people to use a middle name, but that is what this website is about.

These are all the things I learned to do as kid while being the recipient of huge amounts of privilege. 

Musical Creator’s Institute at The Dramatists Guild 2022

Fordham University BA Acting/ Directing 2017

Bard College Berlin 2015

London Dramatic Academy 2015