BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Episode 1 with Jason Schmidt
INTRODUCING OUR LATEST SERIES - BEHIND THE CURTAIN. Come along as we take you backstage with performers and artists to discuss the depths of their passions, analyze the art of their craft, and reveal the inspirations that fuel their creativity and drive.
Luna had the pleasure of meeting with the charismatic actor, performer, and singer-songwriter Jason Schmidt. Schmidt can currently be seen on stage as Sodapop Curtis in the Broadway production of The Outsiders. The Tony Award Winning Musical is based on the novel by S.E. Hinton & Francis Ford Coppola’s film, now personified through music by Jamestown Revival members Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance, with Justin Levine. With Danya Taymor’s direction, Adam Rapp’s adaptation has been beautifully brought to life on stage. Schmidt’s tender portrayal of Soda has marked audiences even before Broadway when it first premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2023. The Outsiders novel has been on and off banned book lists for decades making this seminal story as relevant as ever.
Offstage Schmidt is constantly creating, from silly but addicting jingles in his dressing room with co-star and friend Daryl Tofa to his latest indie pop-rock single “My Ego Loves You.” His co-stars can also be seen dancing to this song because everything Schmidt touches is gold. Later this summer we’ll get to play his next single “Growing Up” on repeat. Inspired by a mentor’s quote and the current state of his closest creative community, Schmidt wrote “Growing Up” about the realities and complexities of adulthood. It’s sure to be a relatable and relevant hit. Learn more about Schmidt’s characterization and writing processes below.
LUNA: Thank you for meeting to chat with Luna, and congratulations on your recent Tony Win!
SCHMIDT: Thank you.
LUNA: You and Brent Comer, who plays your brother Darrel Curtis, spoke about how it was such a fast experience and the win not settling in. It's been a little bit now, would you say that it's settled at all?
SCHMIDT: I think it settles in every few days, it hits me a little bit more. Also being recognized by the general public and the theater community helps it settle in because it feels tangible. In the audiences, in the crowds outside the theater, there's got to be around hundreds of people every night at the stage door now. Which is something I've never experienced before. It’s a very tangible way for people to express their interest in the show by coming out and then expressing all their thoughts to us after the show which is so beautiful. It's gotten progressively crazier. In previews, the audiences are seeing a new show for the first time and then we got to experience initial audience reactions for the first time.
I think I talked about this in another interview, but doing a show outside of New York, especially out of town like The Outsiders was at La Jolla people seem to be happy getting that they're getting the Broadway level of performance. Then when you come out here in New York, at least my experience with my debut was, that the eyes are more skeptical to start with. It's a little bit more like, “Okay, what is this? Is this going to be any good?” With time you start to win them more. Now of course, after the win, all the audiences have been super electric, and the crowds have been crazy. And people are crying when we come out of the stage door. Just the other day we came out at the same time as Stereophonic, our neighboring show, and all of our fans were scattered together. When I walk out there's this girl who hands me the playbill, and she's just crying, tears pouring down her face. There's a Stereophonic fan, next to her kind of giving her the side eye, like "What- this is crazy.” (laughs) We have a very different fan base, I imagine. It has started to settle in more, I don't know that I've truly let myself be truly proud of it. But it's starting to settle in a little bit more.
LUNA: Do you think that it's like imposter syndrome? Like do you not feel worthy of the recognition? Or do you want to hold on to it as long as you so can that it doesn't lose the luster?
SCHMIDT: I think it's a combination of things. I think for me, I feel like we're still in the process of doing it and we're gonna be in that process for for a while now. So that was only a little part of the job and as it continues there are so many more people to tell the story to so in a way, it's like, I wonder what it'll feel like when I finish this contract, will it settle in more? Being able to look back and see what we got to do and what we did. Also, I do think it is a little bit of a dose of it being my first time out of doing Broadway. It was such a huge dream to be a part of like, I want to win stuff myself, but more so in my life, I want to be a part of great things. So I think that is the most special part. It doesn't feel real for that reason, because it feels quick and early on. But also makes sense because the show is so beautiful.
LUNA: It's nice to hear your perspective on it from the inside. Since theater can still seem so unreachable sometimes. Even being able to listen to the cast album and watch interviews and music videos, I’ve been so impressed with the show. It’s nice to know that you guys are equally impressed with it and the experience is just as authentic for you.
SCHMIDT: Yeah, I mean, a lot of us are young people. Over 10 of us have made our debuts with this show. So I think we all share that sentiment. I think it's a good mixture of like, when we did this in La Jolla, it was not the same show. It got a lot better, but I still think most of us knew there were some really special ingredients and some really special moments. So as we got the rehearsal process out here, it became even more and more of that. I think we all knew that it had big special potential. But then you also question your own judgment and taste. Who am I to say what's good and what's not good?
LUNA: I would argue at this point that you guys are onto something good. The creative team has been so cool to learn about. I love that it was written by a young girl originally and now is being directed by Danya Taymor.
SCHMIDT: Oh, yeah, she's incredible.
LUNA: You've said that Dr. Pepper was your favorite soda. What's your least favorite soda?
SCHMIDT: I like most sodas. I don't like any seltzers like Lacroix is not for me.
LUNA: What if you could have only one for the rest of your life, what would it be?
SCHMIDT: If I could have one for the rest of my life? I don't know. I think Dr. Pepper is my favorite right now. I literally have one over on the ledge from dinner last night. But I think if I could have one for the rest of my life, I think it'd be root beer. It's a little tamer and one that I’ve liked more consistently throughout my life.
LUNA: The drive-in movie theater plays a pivotal role in The Outsiders story, what is your ideal drive-in double feature lineup?
SCHMIDT: Oh, that's good. One of my favorite movies of all time is Warrior. It was with Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Morrison, and Nick Nolte. It's about these two brothers who – "brothers" classic theme for me here – who then get separated and they both become fighters that come back at the end. But I've seen it over 10 times now because I've shown it to so many friends. And it makes me cry every time I watch it. Then one that I just watched and that I would love to see again would be Interstellar.
LUNA: Those are good drive-in picks. In the book and movie, the Curtis brothers eat chocolate cake with their breakfast. What is the weirdest thing that you've eaten for breakfast?
SCHMIDT: The weirdest thing that I've ever eaten for breakfast, was I think on a trip in Europe. I had cheesecake for breakfast. Which is pretty strange. I've never had it for breakfast again.
LUNA: In the story, Ponyboy is the reader of the family, but have you read Great Expectations yet?
SCHMIDT: I haven't but I’ve been told by a lot of people that I should. Maybe I’ll get around to it one day.
LUNA: In Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, you played Buddy the Soc and now you're playing Soda the Greaser. Is there a role that feels more natural to you as Jason?
SCHMIDT: Yeah, surprisingly, for me, I think the greaser has been more natural. I think it’s more the outsider feeling that I resonate with rather than being the super popular, well-loved kid that Buddy was.
LUNA: Would you say that your experience playing a soc first has impacted your role now as a greaser?
SCHMIDT: Yeah I was thinking about this the other day, just being knowledgeable about the world and its social dynamic. In Rise of the Pink Ladies, the socs and greasers had differences between them but they weren't violent with each other. There were a few moments of light violence, but it's a lighter show. Versus in this show, anytime they're near each other it's on the brink of violence. That’s a big difference with the characters. So knowing the dynamic of it gave me a good place to start without having to do my research again. A big part of The Outsiders is the author Suzie has said that it's not about the greasers being the outsiders. It's in fact that everyone is an outsider and even Bob, Paul, and Cherry are all outsiders in their own way. It’s about what Danya would call radical compassion.
Although Bob is written pretty harshly the intention is not to automatically hate him. It makes you think something led him in his life to be this way. And in Pink Ladies, I kind of played the ‘Bob’ in a way, the leader of the socs. Buddy wasn’t as terrible of a character as Bob was, but he did have some bad qualities. As the person playing the character, I got to explore all the reasons that he was that way. His dad kind of neglected him and made him into exactly who he wanted him to be. He had no autonomy over his life and decisions. That gave me more compassion for the other characters, which I think Sodapop holds. I also think he's somebody who sees people for who they are not the front's that they put up.
LUNA: What has your personal personification process been like for this version of Soda? What did you do personally to make this your own?
SCHMIDT: I was exploring a lot during the process, especially in La Jolla. I went to Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh, and they teach a lot about techniques. While I love that part of it, I found that having a looser, more spiritual take on an acting process was almost more helpful for me. I had read the book, I'd seen the movie, and I'd read the book again, going into the La Jolla process. Instead of reading through the whole script, dissecting the whole thing, and making all these predetermined opinions on what each scene should be, I decided to let the impulses of my imagination of this character take over. Then during rehearsals, I allowed this character to explain things to me as they were happening instead of coming in with premade decisions on how I thought scenes should go. So now I'm following these impulses, I'm reacting to the things that my scene partners are giving me and I'm replying based on the reactions, which then gives me an insight into who this character is.
That was a huge part of making my own version of the character and not doing exactly what the books or movie did, while finding something that feels fresh and unique for the character. Adam Rapp also wrote a beautiful script. And when you have good writing, you don't have to do a lot. Same with the music as well, it’s just easy, it creates the character for you. I'm a big believer that whatever you do up there is the character and it's not a mistake.
LUNA: Growing up with all sisters, was there anything you did to prepare for and adjust to being in a group of brothers?
SCHMIDT: I have three older sisters, but I had two cousins that lived very, very close to me. And so I spent so much time with them growing up. But also I have played basketball for 10 years – that's just a group of guys too. And so I do think that brotherly energy is very familiar to me. Especially because our cast is a bunch of sensitive theater boys who are such kind people and that's easy to work with.
LUNA: You and Danya have both mentioned that Soda is the heart of the show. How do you keep that energy authentic without being emotionally drained performing it 8x a week?
SCHMIDT: I'm still learning. I think it's about never pushing it. The last scene in the show, I won't spoil it for you, but it's a lot of emotion. Soda breaks down for the first time in this show. It's supposed to be big. Danya and I discussed in the rehearsal process, for my version of soda, the reason he doesn't talk about things seriously. In the book, he takes care of a horse that wasn’t actually his, and it gets sent away and he cried for days over it. And we've made up this theme, like when his parents died, he cried for days. He holds all of his emotions in and then when he finally gets them out, he can't stop, he can't hold them back. That's the energy I'm trying to bring into the last scene. So doing that for eight shows a week is exhausting. I'm still learning how to do it properly. The ‘not pushing things’ is kind of becoming more important to me recently.
Like, tonight, if the waterworks don't flood out of my eyes, that's okay that’s who Soda is tonight. I’m still trying to make sure I'm tearing my heart out for the audience, because they paid good money, and they deserve that. I think it doesn't have to be this one picture of what I have in my mind to get the same effect, with so many different takes on the scene, while also allowing the writing to do the work for me. Because it is such beautiful writing. And what I have found in doing that is as long as I'm staying true to where I'm at it works and people are affected by it, because the writing’s so special.
LUNA: “My Ego Loves You” has been on repeat since its release. You're coming out with a new single called “Growing Up.” When can we expect to get a new song stuck in our heads?
SCHMIDT: I don't have a release date yet. Literally all I need is some cover art. And my sister's working on that. She did a cover for “My Ego Loves You.” We have a little picture that we're gonna put some little art doodles on. And then I'll schedule the release date, but it should be in the next month, two months, and I'm very proud of the song, the most proud of a song I’ve ever been.
LUNA: What is the origin story for “Growing Up?”
SCHMIDT: I wrote about moving out of the place we stayed in during La Jolla. It's this idea that all my best friends, all my people are pretty scattered across the country. Because they're all chasing their dreams and trying to pursue what they really want to do in life. This is a huge reason why they are my people, because they inspire me, and I love them so dearly. My mentor once told me that growing up was missing someone everywhere you go. I'm either in Chicago and I miss the people who are out in New York, and I'm in New York, and I miss my family in Chicago or my best friend in LA or my best friend in Dallas. And so no matter where I am, there's always somebody who's not with me, versus when you're growing up in high school, probably most of your friends are a 30-minute drive from you at most. So it can be a hard thing to wrestle with. But also I'm grateful for it because it's the type of people I want in my life. Then when I do see them, it's so beautiful. So yeah, I'm excited for people to hear it.
LUNA: You mentioned in a previous interview that you started writing songs to cope with sleeping issues, insomnia, and everyday troubles. Is that still your standard process or has it changed?
SCHMIDT: It does tend to fluctuate. Since falling in love with writing through the process of doing it to help me sleep, I now write much more frequently than I did at that time. Now songs come from all sorts of places, like one word that I hear. One time my friend said the phrase, “I'm lucid” to describe his state of being at the time. And I thought that was so interesting, so I wrote a whole song based on that. Or it's like a matter in my heart that I kind of can't get over and I have to get it out on paper. Or it's a melody that I hear in my head. And then the feeling of that melody informs what I want to talk about with it. And so now it comes from all sorts of places, but I think the biggest part for me, and kind of going along with where I'm at with my Outsiders process, is not forcing it.
I try to sit down and write as much as possible. But for me, first of all, I'm never trying to write something good when I sit down to write. I now have 30 to 40 songs written that I’m very proud of that I try to use as motivation to attempt to write something even if it's bad. And now I can just write because I love writing, and it's good for me, it's like journaling for me. I don't have to put pressure on it being something great. And then generally what happens, as you go to sit down, you're freed from this idea of trying to be good which that's when something good comes because you start to break the bounds of writing and recording things.
LUNA: Would you say that your experience performing different styles and genres of music has influenced your personal music style?
SCHMIDT: Yeah, for sure. I recently sent the “Growing Up” final mix to a mentor of mine, the same mentor who said the line that partially inspired the song. When he heard it he said that in my songs I tend to have an idea of an arc, it's a full, complete story. I don't think a lot of music is like that. I don't think that's a problem in any way. It's just different styles of songs. But I think for me because I am a storyteller in most genres in my life and then theater especially, it's all about stories. Musical theater songs have an arc, a climax, a beginning, and an end. Generally, a good musical theater song should change a character in some way over the three or four minutes that they are singing it. I think a lot of my songs have that resemblance of an arc. With the writing process being therapeutic, I do end up in a different place by the end of it and so I think that helps create the arc naturally. I do think the music that I perform and the different genres I get to explore while acting, definitely informed what and how I write as well.
LUNA: Do you have a current tracklist planned for an upcoming album?
SCHMIDT: Yeah, I'm starting to work with some more producers on projects that are a little more pop-rock. I have these eight tracks that I produced myself that are super indie and acoustic. I'm hoping to get those finished and release them by the end of the year. Hopefully sooner than that, but I can't give a firm date. And I'm really proud of those especially because I produced them myself, it feels like the most authentic sound I've ever made and I really love it. It's all songs that are incredibly personal to me. Not all of the songs I write are therapeutic, some of them are fun ideas but these eight all are therapeutic to me. And that's part of the reason I wanted to produce them myself. And yeah, I'm very excited for people to hear it because I think it's the most unique-sounding thing I've ever done.
LUNA: You’ve mentioned wanting to further explore your fascination with the many moving pieces of TV/Film, was this interest sparked from something you watched or from your personal experience being on set?
SCHMIDT: I think both. Being on set for Pink Ladies, I fell in love with it so much. I fell in love with attempting to make something as real as possible. Even Pink Ladies, that style of show is not realism, but just being on film and TV, I want to figure out how to take away any type of front, any type of acting, and create the most realistic portrayal of a human being as possible. There's some of that in theater and The Outsiders is much more realistic. But it's still theater and you have to enunciate, which I’m not always great at. (laughs) You have to project and present your body and cheat out, all these different things to perform for the audience. With TV and film, there's still some of that, but it’s a different energy. Sometimes you're looking at a friggin piece of tape on the wall and pretending it’s the person you’re in love with.
The attempt to find something real within it is what I'm drawn to and interested in. That's the biggest part I think. Then, it is the same thing with watching films and TV. I'm so fascinated by how subtle people and their performances are. Specifically, Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar when he's watching the video recordings, and time has passed. It fascinates me the simplicity of sitting there having a camera on you, you're acting as if you're watching these videos, this crazy intense scenario. I mean, he does such a beautiful job with it. It's something as simple as that. It's just so interesting to me. That's what draws me to it.
LUNA: As a multi-hyphenated artist, is the stage performer, screen actor, and singer-songwriter all one Jason? Are there certain parts of you that are designated for each role?
SCHMIDT: I think of it as one Jason. The different wells of creativity fill me in a lot of different ways. I find it so lovely to have that multiplicity and it helps me not get bored of one. I have such an urge to create, and I'm always thinking about what I'm going to create and do next, which is natural in an artistic career. Currently, I'm doing the theater show I've prepped for and I'm not creating a character every day anymore, I'm living within what I've already created. But now I'm over here working on more music. And the creative energy I get from that helps with the theater and acting side and opens it up back and forth. There are different points where I'm in a songwriting phase, and I want to write every day and then there are points when I’m in an acting phase, and I want to pick up some random monologue every day. This way it keeps me very fulfilled.
LUNA: In your Authority magazine interview with Elena Cohen you shared that you have a list of life lessons in your notes app. Would you pick one to share with us to close?
SCHMIDT: I haven’t added to it in a while but I can share one. I wrote down dates for them, too. Oh, damn. This one's pretty heavy. November 25, 2022, “You can't expect honesty from people who lie to themselves.” That’s a good one. I'll take that.
LUNA: Thank you for sharing that. Who is someone that you would love to see spotlighted for their work in the theatre community?
SCHMIDT: I have two people and the reason I think about them is because they’re also musicians and they're the two people who kind of inspired me at the beginning of my writing journey. One is Andy LeBuhn, whose rapper name is Kid Wolf. He's gonna drop an album soon. And then Nuala Cleary. They both went to school with me and are the biggest inspirations for my writing, and they are both phenomenal actors.
