10 Questions
Take Ten: NOAH SCHAEFER
Actor NOAH SCHAEFER fell in love at an early age with “the conversation that happens between performers and an audience,” while watching his dad’s band, Eddie from Ohio. Check out this week’s Take Ten to get the inside scoop—and catch his performance in Bad Jews at NextStop Theatre Company through June 17.
1) What was the first show you ever saw, and what impact did it have?
Well, my first exposure to performance in general was watching my dad's band, Eddie From Ohio, since I was a baby. He traveled a lot when I was a kid, so it was always a big deal when we'd get to go to their local shows. That's what made me fall in love with the conversation that happens between performers and an audience.
2) What was your first involvement in a theatrical production?
When I was in fourth grade, James Madison High School was doing a production of HONK (featuring the one and only Sam Ludwig). They needed somewhere around 40 kids from local elementary schools to be Froglets, and I never looked back.
3) What’s your favorite play or musical, and why do you like it so much?
An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is my favorite play by a long shot. There is nothing that I love more in a play than actors holding up a mirror to their audience and forcing them to look at themselves. Especially when we might not like what we see.
4) What’s the worst day job you ever took?
I was a cook at Pizza Hut for a second and it was absolutely terrible.
5) What is your most embarrassing moment in the theatre?
When I was in fifth grade, I was in a play about Lewis and Clark. I had a much lower voice than everyone else, which 10 year olds found hysterical. They laughed through my number top to bottom.
6) What are you enjoying most about working on Bad Jews at NextStop Theatre Company?
This PLAY! This play has been more of a gift than I ever could have imagined. The writing is impeccable and it is INCREDIBLY dense. The amount of digging we have gotten to do has been immensely satisfying.
7) Other than your significant other, who’s your dream date (living or dead) and why?
Honestly, I just want to get coffee with Holly Twyford to pick her brain and talk shop.
8) What is your dream role/job?
I would silently stand on stage for three hours straight if Woolly would let me. I love everything they have going on over there.
9) If you could travel back in time, what famous production or performance would you choose to see?
I would do some pretty weird stuff to see Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago.
10) What advice would you give to an 8-year-old smitten by theatre / for a graduating MFA student?
8-year-old: Stay curious. Stay hungry. Ask so many questions.
Graduating MFA student: I have no business giving you any advice. See you at auditions.
NOAH SCHAEFER is a proud graduate of The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. DC credits include: Broadway Bound and One Man, Two Guvnors! (1st Stage); Unnecessary Farce (Keegan Theatre); Peter and the Starcatcher (Constellation Theatre Company); Blue, Inside Out, Aquarium, and Wake Up, Brother Bear! (Imagination Stage); Be Awesome....Mixtape and Secret History of the Unknown World (Flying V, Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Choreography in a Play). INTERNATIONAL: Inside Out! (Imagination Stage South Korean Tour). FILM: "Lying Dormant" (Crash of Rhinos); "The Coming Storm" (Rocket Media). He is a Flying V Company member.
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