In 2016, I grabbed a last minute ticket for John Patrick Shanley’s Prodigal Son playing at Manhattan Theatre Club. I was (and still am) an enormous fan of Shanley’s Doubt and was excited to see what else this playwright had in store. Chiefly, however, my reason for seeing Prodigal Son was ignited by word on the street, of one particular young actor named Timothée Chalamet who playing the lead role in the show. Playing a troubled kid from the Bronx on scholarship at a New Hampshire boarding school, Chalamet had been hand-chosen by the playwright to play a younger version of Shanley in this semi-autobiographical play. The young actor struck a chord with me, giving a performance both refined and raw, brimming with emotions that could turn on a dime. In fact, although Prodigal Son turned out not to be Shanley’s best work (by a mile), I walked out of the theatre thinking that this young man had taken a mediocre script and elevated it to something far more than what was on the written page. I knew I had just witnessed a performer who would someday light up the firmament with his talent. (He would, in fact, win a Lucille Lortel Award for his work in Prodigal Son).