Noah Eppler ’16 landed in Beijing, China, on February 12, 2017—he had been awake for the entire 14-hour flight. He knew no Mandarin and he had never even been to China—but in the midst of the exhaustion and worry was pure exhilaration as the Evansville, Indiana, native headed for his new home of Xianju, Zhejiang, China, to begin a teaching career.
WM: At Wabash, you were a theater and English double-major. How did that path take you across the world to China?
NE: My initial plan was to attend Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre for its Regional Theater Fellowship in Literary Management, but that plan fell through. Meaning, I didn’t get accepted. I had considered going abroad for a while, but the opportunity didn’t present itself until after I graduated. I was with my father in Parker, Arizona, getting my grandfather’s belongings in order after he died. While in our hotel room, I saw the job posting for the Ambassador Year in China on the Career Services’ website. My younger sister was actually adopted from China, so I thought it was perfect.
I was supposed to be there by the fall of 2016, but my visa took so long to process that I didn’t end up there until February of 2017. The public school offered me a yearlong contract. So that’s what I did. I taught English and lived in this tiny, tiny place in the middle of the province. I was the only non-Chinese person there for a period of time.
You’re now teaching theater in Shanghai through ENREACH Education. When did you develop your passion for theater?
I was 14 years old. My very first high school play was All Shook Up (an American jukebox musical with music from the Elvis Presley songbook). Part of the inspiration for the plot is William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which was one of the first shows I directed in China.
I was only in the chorus, but I absolutely fell in love with it.
Once you got to Wabash, you had lead roles in Misanthrope, Take Me Out, Macbeth, and many others. When did you decide you wanted to share your love of theater with others through teaching?
I think it’s always been there. It’s a cliché that every actor’s favorite moment is the roar of applause. For me, acting was never about that. It has always been an act of giving. I’m giving out for the audience. And it’s the same with teaching. I love sharing my favorite subject in the world with my kids.
What do your classes typically look like?
There isn’t anything “typical” about it. There is no standard curriculum, which is awesome for me. I’ve taught students as young as six and as old as 19.
ENREACH is a private education company that provides extracurricular programming. So, I direct shows and I teach diverse drama-related subjects, including playwriting, theater history, and improvisation. We have a relationship with the Educational Theatre Association in the United States, so I also teach preparation courses for the monologue, duo, improv, and group scene competition categories of the EdTA festival.
Is theater a common extracurricular in China?
It’s not common at all. We’re pioneers at ENREACH.
China has a rich history of theater, but many of its dramatic traditions got wiped out during the revolution. Many of China’s senior citizens love theater and still really enjoy going to shows. Whenever I go, everyone else in the audience is at least 30 years my senior.
Because drama is primarily being taught in English-language classrooms, students aren’t learning indigenous Chinese theatrical traditions. And whether or not drama teachers realize it, the conventions we’re using are based on a dramaturgy that is Western in its design.
I want to teach the thing I love the most, and that’s what I’m employed to do, but they should learn about some of their own culture’s theater history.
Do you think you’ll stay in China for a while?
I would like to come back to the U.S. at some point to pursue a PhD in Chinese theater. I’ve considered doing a program in Hong Kong, but it’s not so translatable if I ever go anywhere else. I don’t know where this road is going to lead me—but I do know China is always going to be part of my life.