By Aidan Clark ’21

Noah Edwards is a new force in the Westborough High School Theater Department. While only a sophomore, he is already co-captain of the Improv troupe, and was recently cast as Nick Bottom in the upcoming production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream.

He is known for his cat shirts, bought from a small kiosk in Bangkok, Thailand, near where his uncle lives in Vietnam. His most recent theatrical performance was in Miscast Cabaret last May, a night of gender flipped musical songs, where Edwards sang “History of Wrong Guys” from the Broadway musical Kinky Boots.

Edwards first joined the Improv Troupe freshman year. Although, he almost didn’t go to the audition because he was too scared. However, his mom forced him to go, which turned out well, as he was eventually elected co- captain of the troupe, along with senior Tyler Kaufman, at the end of freshman year.

He bases his improv characters off strange voices that he can do, most notably “Scooter, a skater bro; Chez, a frat brother who’s all about the protein on his show ‘Cooking with Chez’; Chester Bimppington, an old British guy; and Cody, a kindergartner who’s clueless about the world.”

Edwards description of people like himself who do improv is that “we improvise and make it up on the fly because we can’t memorize to save our lives.”

To lead the Improv Troupe, Edwards must organize and plan the games that they will do on stage for each performance. His favorite game is Slideshow, where everyone freezes in random positions and someone narrates as if presenting a slideshow of vacation pictures.

He tries to follow the rules of improv, such as always adding details by saying “Yes, and…” to keep the scene going. However, he cautions people in applying these rules to normal life, as always saying “yes” can get you into some sticky situations.

Edwards describes the troupe as “the branch of the Center Stage family tree that’s falling off. We’ve tried to tape it back on, but it isn’t working that well. We’re like the weird uncle that keeps on showing up to family reunions.” Nevertheless, he and the improv troupe continue to perform at many school events, such as Acapalooza and Ned’s Coffee House.

The first audition experience Edwards had was for the musical Urinetown, performed last year.

“My audition experience was horrible,” he says, “I didn’t know how to act, so I just got up there and said it [the lines] because I was afraid I was overacting. But now, I realize that is what you’re supposed to do, and overacting is how I got the part of Nick Bottom.”

His best tip to play Nick Bottom well is to make an excessive amount of donkey noises.

While Edwards is extremely passionate about theater and improv, he does not currently view either as viable career options. His dream career would be to own a food truck, called “Noah’s Ark, a duck boat style food truck where everything is served in twos.”

However, for now, Edwards will continue to lead the improv troupe through the coming years.