In Memory of Sebastian Hathaway

Name: Sebastian Hathaway Age: 23 Occupation: Dancer Date of Birth: 10th August, 1982 Place of Birth: London, England Hair: Light brown, short Eyes: Blue Height: 5’10 Weight: 141 Ibs Family: Unknown Marital Status: Single Interests: Dancing, training, old films (especially musicals and the old classics), theatre, detective stories Seat: 15 E

Background: The earliest record there is of him is aged 5, under the surname of Hathaway at a London orphanage, and it was a staff member that called him Sebastian. A young lad who separated himself from the others, he tended to be on his own, burying his nose in some book or other even at such a young age, or huddled by the TV to watch the old style musicals that none of the others were interested in. He always kept himself to himself and preferred to remain alone in the dormitories rather than outside or with the others in the day rooms. Ever since the day he’d got there, he’d never spoken a word...he always remained completely silent. Staff and experts alike had no idea why he never spoke...they weren’t sure if it was because he actually couldn’t speak, or if it was just that he didn’t want to, or if it was psychological and the effect of a type of trauma. The doctors leant more towards that he either refused to speak or it was a psychological trauma that made him unable to, as he mostly refused to communicate even by writing.

Despite being intellectually advanced, because he was mute they decided to employ a private tutor for him rather than send him to the local school with the other boys. She worked with him as much as possible, trying to gain his trust, but never could she tempt a word out of him. One afternoon when she arrived a little early for his lessons, she watched from the doorway in amazement as he watched one of his beloved musicals...but rather than just watching, he was actually copying the dance movements of the dancers from having watched it so often. The idea came to her to try and encourage communication and expression of emotion through a more artistic form, like dance as he clearly showed he loved it.

She talked to a friend, Johnny Slater, a dance tutor at one of the local academies. They silently watched him from the doorway as he danced to another musical on the television. Johnny smiled warmly, seeing a natural talent in the young man. He talked to him, and got a nod when he asked if he’d like him to teach him how to dance properly. He danced with Johnny after school lessons for three hours every night, Johnny pressing him at seeing the potential and the reclusive teenager started to warm and grow in confidence. The relationship between the student and teacher became closer, and by the time Sebastian reached 18 and had started to take professional jobs in choruses to dance, the two were lovers. It was also at 18 that Sebastian finally broke his life long silence and spoke his first ever word; ‘John’, the proper name of his lover that had been his dance tutor. However, a year later, Johnny was shot in a robbery and died later that night in hospital. Sebastian was broken hearted and didn’t know how he would be able to live without the man he had both loved and felt safe enough to break his silence for. It was on one of several sleepless nights in the following year that he discovered the box full of all his old diaries he’d kept to sort out his thoughts when he was mute. They reminded him how hard Johnny had worked to teach him dance so he could make something of his life, and that he would have hated the though of him sitting in a flat doing nothing. He returned to work, building back up his career as a professional dancer in different shows, some in independent dance companies and others in West End shows. It was when he saw Chicago for the first time that he was absolutely awe-struck by the bold, iconic and seductive Fosse styled dancing of the men. He made his mind up then and there that that’s what he wanted to do. Since then, he’s been a dancer in various lead Fosse shows on stage, including Chicago, Cabaret and Sweet Charity. He was on his way to Seattle to look at a new dance company that was being set up and to help teach the Fosse style of dancing when his plane went missing.

Player's Contact: K