Her Journey From Cereal to Serious

When Erica Schaeffer was 3, she’d pop in a Disney movie into her family’s VCR and begin acting out the dance scenes for an audience that ranged from her stuffed animals to her cousins.

And even at that young age, Schaeffer thought of everything. She’d raid the pantry and put Honeycomb Cereal into little cups. After all, “I thought the audience needed refreshment for concessions,” she said.

These impromptu performances led to her parents deciding that their daughter needed a more formal artistic outlet, where Schaeffer could learn dance in a more structured environment. And now, five months after she made her SCR acting debut in the Theatre for Young Audiences and Families production The Incredible Book Eating Boy, Schaeffer makes her Theatre Conservatory teaching debut at Summer Acting Workshop. She’ll teach Grade 3-4 and musical theatre for grades 5-7.

“I love to teach more than anything,” she said. “I really enjoy watching young students pass their own expectations of themselves and watching that growth is the most rewarding thing to me as a teacher. The arts are a powerful tool we can use as educators to help young people develop as artists and as human beings. One thing I like to keep in the forefront of my mind is I want to teach life skills through stage skills. If they decide to pursue a career in theatre, that’s wonderful, but if they don’t, they were able to take something away from being a part of a wonderful program like SCR.”

Schaeffer already does that as an instructional assistant in the drama program at Los Alamitos High. A self-described “theatre history nerd,” Schaeffer never misses a moment to bring in a “this date in theatre history” or “here’s the musical of the day” to the lesson plan—even when she’s assistant directing The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical or when she’ll choreograph the school’s production of The Addams Family Musical this fall.”

Schaeffer sees her new SCR Conservatory role in two ways—to bring knowledge about acting and all of the other disciplines covered during Summer Acting Workshop, and to have as much fun as she did earlier this year playing Olivia, the Doctor and others In The Incredible Book Eating Boy. The wildly popular production, which Schaeffer called “honestly, the professional highlight of my career,” earned Schaeffer her Actor’s Equity membership as it taught her an important lesson about not only acting, but teaching.

“Audiences responded to the show because it was such a great mix of heart and absurd silliness,” she said. “(Director) H. Adam Harris did such a good job of reminding us that kids can sniff our phoniness or if you’re talking down to them. We made it engaging without being patronizing because kids can sniff that out a mile away.”

The Incredible Book Eating Boy was Schaeffer’s latest credit in a career that includes Musical Theatre West (Mack & Mabel), La Mirada Playhouse (The Sound of Music), 3-D Theatricals (42^nd Street) and Chance Theater, where she played Lucille Frank in Parade. She’s also performed in numerous Knott’s Berry Farm productions.

Schaeffer learned something at each stop, with many lessons coming from longtime SCR Theatre Conservatory instructor Erin McNally. She taught Schaeffer at Connelly High before Schaeffer went on to UC Irvine and the lessons never stopped.

“She inspired me as an educator and gave me the confidence as a performer to pursue this profession,” Schaeffer said.

And now, Schaeffer is paying it forward. But this time, you’ll have to provide your own concessions.