COCA Spotlight: Neil Coker “Democrat writer acts, sings, in 'Jesus' musical”

Neil Coker knows what it means to be on both sides of a proscenium arch. A writer since third grade, inventing narratives in a worn composition book, he’s always been fond of a pen and…

Neil Coker knows what it means to be on both sides of a proscenium arch.

A writer since third grade, inventing narratives in a worn composition book, he’s always been fond of a pen and paper and felt a pull toward the arts.

For a time, he considered being an opera singer, receiving vocal training at age 16. He continues to sing for his health and own enjoyment, and hopefully, he remarked, the enjoyment of others.

His father, a trumpeter who earned his master’s degree from Florida State University, was one of his first musical influences. Coker recalls hearing him sing in church and inherited the same deep vocal range that he now puts to use in his acting. The 27-year-old Tallahassee native admits to being painfully shy growing up until theater ramped up his extroversion and provided a much needed outlet.

“I wanted a novel experience and I was searching for that elusive thing within all of us that feeds our soul,” said Coker. “I always saw theater from a distance and was curious about it.

When I finally auditioned for a school play, I felt a sort of spark inside of me and I knew that it was something that really spoke to me.”

Eleven years ago Chiles High School drama teacher Shannon O’Bryan plucked him out of her homeroom class and cast him in the musical “42nd Street.” Coker has been deeply embedded in the Tallahassee community theater scene ever since, attending Tallahassee Community College and continuing to perform around town.

Coker was acting in the play “Stop Kiss” at Theatre Tallahassee when he fell into theater reviewing.

From editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper to freelancer, and eventually staff member at the Tallahassee Democrat, his writing allows him to play dual roles in the theater world. As a critic, he aims to objectively analyze all aspects of the medium, paying attention to variables such as the characters, set design, and lighting that come together to make a performance. Coincidentally, seeing so much theater around town has bolstered his own chops.

“Since I started writing theater reviews, I feel more of an impetus to perform at the standard to which I hold others,” remarks Coker. “We’re all our own worst critics, but I’m inspired every day by people who do things that I can’t. As an actor, I take in what I’ve seen and naturally pick up things I like or don’t like, and what I want to emulate and adopt.”

As a journalist, his inclination to observe and people watch allow him to pull energy from those around him and translate it into his acting onstage.Trained in the Stanislavski methodology, the culmination of his experiences has served as his greatest teaching tool, and he often relies on intuition and adaptation.

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