the path from UNCG, to the Yale School of Drama, to the hit MAX show ‘The Pitt’

Before landing his starring role in the MAX series “The Pitt,” a hyper-realistic drama set in a Pittsburgh emergency room, Patrick Ball ’22 was just a kid from Greensboro, unsure as to what life had in store for him. After he found his way to UNC Greensboro, a professor ignited his passion for theatre, which led to numerous local appearances onstage at UNCG and elsewhere and, eventually, to the Yale School of Drama.  

He’ll head back to the stage this summer with the title role in a film noir take on “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The actor recently took some time to speak with UNCG about his path, his craft, and the hit show that brought him from the live stage to the mainstream. 

Are you from North Carolina? 

I went to Northwest Guilford High School. They had an honors drama class; you had to audition to get into it. My sophomore year in high school, my girlfriend’s brother was in the class, and I just thought he was the coolest guy. He listened to Radiohead and the Killers and Arcade Fire. I wanted to be just like him. So, me and my two best friends auditioned, and we got in. And then the next month the teacher went on maternity leave. For about a year it was just 12 of us being babysat by an assistant football coach, and he didn’t care what we did. We just watched movies and ate snacks. We got kind of bored, and so we put together a little Tennessee Williams festival where we did scenes from “The Glass Menagerie,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Then we created a school-wide variety show with interstitial acts between the musical acts. We did it completely by ourselves. There was no oversight from any teachers, which was really important for me because the foundation of my relationship to acting was just doing it for the love of the game, not because somebody told me I had to. 

What sort of formative experience did you have at UNCG? 

John Gulley, who was head of the BFA program at the time, was an early believer in me. I was a troubled kid, and he changed my life. I auditioned to get into the BFA program. They brought me into the office the next day and told me that I was on probation. I think I had gotten arrested twice in my first semester of undergrad. John Gulley was the first one to say, “I believe in you. You can do this. You’re a little chaotic, you’re a little unfocused, but you have a gift, and if you apply yourself, you could do this.” He ended up casting me as the lead in “Man and Superman” by George Bernard Shaw, which line for line is twice as big a part as “Hamlet.” It was a real sink-or-swim moment. I’m either going to humiliate myself in front of a bunch of people or I’m going to apply myself, be prepared, and meet the moment. And I did. For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to really take care of my gift, believe in myself, and feel the response to that. 

After UNCG, you went to the Yale School of Drama. How did you get there from here?

Yale was put in my head while in Greensboro. Josh Foley was an acting teacher at UNCG – we were eventually in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” together at Triad Stage – but he came and saw “Man and Superman.” Josh and his wife Janet Allard, who was the playwriting teacher at UNCG, both came from the Yale School of Drama. They had such a deep knowledge of craft and process that I was completely enamored by. They pulled me aside afterwards and said, “Dude, you’ve got it. You can do this, for real.” 

They had a different access point to doing this work: what it meant to be an actor, what the theater meant. They had such a rich, artistic life that I admired and aspired to.  

So, I left UNCG and moved to New York. I spent five years traveling around, doing regional theater across the country, and then I realized there seemed to be a ceiling over my head about what opportunities would be available to me if I spent all that time on the road. If you go through the pipeline of the Yale School of Drama, you have a different kind of access than was available to me. 

Josh Foley told me that I didn’t need an undergraduate degree to go to the Yale School of Drama – you can get in on professional credits in lieu of an undergrad degree, and so that’s what I did. I graduated from Yale with a certificate in drama. Later, when I finished my BFA at UNCG; my certificate from Yale was immediately converted to a master’s degree. So, I kind of did everything backwards. 

What were you doing before you landed the role on “The Pitt”? 

I worked at some of the great theaters across the country: Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. I did a number of world premieres and also some classics, like “All My Sons.” I auditioned for a bunch of films and TV and came close on some , but then I decided to leave New York to do plays, and I got to experience what it felt like to carry these shows as the lead.. I knew what it felt like to carry Tennessee Williams on my back, to live in these plays and figure out the art of how to tell a complex story, how to be a leading man, how to be in community with other artists. There was a lot of trial and error, and I did a lot of growing up. I’m really proud of that experience and that journey because I took a really atypical route. 

What appealed to you about “The Pitt“? 

Both my parents are emergency workers – my mom’s an ER nurse and my dad’s a paramedic – and I have long heard their frustration with medical dramas, from “Grey’s Anatomy” to “ER.” Often, my parents can’t watch these shows because they prioritize the demands of entertainment over the authenticity of representation.  

Just knowing my parents, I knew that this is a community that deserves to be respected because they serve in such a profound way. There’s an incredible cost that these people pay on a personal level in this line of work, and there’s a lot of dysfunction within the healthcare system that needs to be talked about and needs to be reformed.  

From the time I read the very first script it was clear that “The Pitt” creators were out to do just that, in a respectful and authentic way. 

“The Pitt” has already been picked up for a second season. What makes it so good? 

It’s a pretty unique situation in that every episode has a writer, a director, and a showrunner overseeing it, but in addition to that chain of command, you have Dr. Joe Sachs, who’s a writer and executive producer on the show but also a practicing ER physician. So, from moment one he has been in the writer’s room, making sure that all the medical stuff checks out. That’s been one of the most amazing things, hearing all the medical professionals reach out to say that this medicine checks out. This is what they actually do in the ER. And that’s because of Joe Sachs. 

Any parting words of wisdom for the aspiring actors at UNCG? 

I’m a real believer in UNC Greensboro. I love my hometown. And if there are any parting words, it’s this: Stick in there. Don’t give up. Believe in yourself and keep your eye on the prize.  

I spent 12 years hustling and pounding the pavement, working for $700 a week. I’d play the lead in a big show and move back to Brooklyn with nothing to show for it and have to start again from scratch. It was tough, but I never gave up. 

And remember to pay attention to your life along the way. You don’t need “The Pitt” to happen for your life to begin. Pay attention to your life because it’s happening all around you. 

Interview by Brian Clarey, University Communications 
Photos courtesy of UNCG and Warner Brothers