Isabel Nisley: How long have you been involved with theater?

Lydia Noll: Oh my gosh. My first show was in fifth grade, at Wyoming Middle School. I’ve done as much theater as I can here and outside of Walnut as I can find and get involved in.

IN: How did you get involved with theater?

LN: Honestly, I wanted to be Miley Cyrus when I was really little and so I’d sing, and I was always very animated and loud, so my mom was like ‘you should audition for the musical’. I was like ‘Okay’, and then I got in and I never got out of it.

IN: It seems like you’ve been a part of a lot of productions before this. What are the top three WHHS productions have you previously been a part of?

LN: Top three which I have acted in would probably be: She Kills Monsters, Agnes was my favorite role I’ve ever played ever, this [Pippin] is probably number two, and number three, even though I was just in the ensemble and I had like two lines, Ragtime, just because that was so special to be a part of.

IN: How would you compare your role in Pippin to roles in other productions?

LN: There’s a drastic difference between Pippin and She Kills Monsters for me mainly because in She Kills Monsters I was doing so much stage combat that my shoulder still hurts, I have bruises still. That was so physically demanding. In this show, I’m the only character besides my son who doesn’t have to dance and I just get to play around much more with her [Catherine] than with Agnes. This show was just a break from all of that physical stress on my body.

IN: So what is your role in the play?

LN: I play Catherine. She is a lovely young widow with a large estate and she has a son named Theo. She keeps falling in love with these guys who are playing Pippin and they keep leaving her because she’s not enough for them. And so throughout the show she goes through all of these different obstacles and Catherine is kind of showing him what ordinary life is like. He decides that he likes that, but at first he thinks, ‘Oh it’s not extraordinary enough’, and spoiler alert, he ends up falling in love with her and they change the whole course of everything. She’s really cool.

IN: What has been the most challenging part of playing this role?

LN: The most challenging part. Hm, probably just figuring out exactly how I want Catherine to be because she can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. I’m trying to find my mold of previous influences and my own thoughts and opinions on her and kind of developing a character that way. Also, not breaking the bed set piece has been a challenge. Because that happened yesterday.

IN: Oh no!

LN: It’s fine.

IN: What draws you to this show?

LN: I love how unique it is and how meaningful it is, and how the characters, especially Catherine and Leading Player, are very complicated and there’s a lot of depth to them underneath everything that we’re doing and everything that we’re saying. Because it’s a play within a play, you’re probably totally confused…

IN: Oh, like a Midsummer’s Night Dream thing?

LN: Yeah, except the entire time is the show and the Leading Player is controlling everyone. It’s a play within a play, but it’s also a cult, but it’s also a metaphor. I just love to dive into and analyze how deep and complicated everything is.

IN: Would you say any of the themes from Pippin could be applied to life today?

LN: Oh my god, so much. It’s literally about Pippin trying to find what fulfills him in life, and he’s looking for all these extraordinary things, and he sings this song during my section of the show called ‘Extraordinary’. He sings about how fixing the chicken house isn’t enough for me and I want to do something that’s really important and impacts people, but in reality, the things we need to focus on are the people that we love and the people that really impact our lives in a positive way, instead of people who manipulate us like Leading Player. I think it’s a really important play for a lot of people.