STAGE VIEWS: Silence! The Musical and Wicked Star David Ayers | Playbill

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News STAGE VIEWS: Silence! The Musical and Wicked Star David Ayers Playbill.com's series features brief chats with actors commenting on their recent theatregoing experiences, what productions they are looking forward to and more. Here, via email, we hear from singing actor David Ayers, who is currently playing Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in Off-Broadway's Silence! The Musical at the Elektra Theatre.

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David Ayers

What show recently impressed you?
I loved Signature Theater's production of Athol Fugard's My Children, My Africa…so much that I saw it twice! Even though it was written in 1989 about apartheid, I found the piece to be extremely relevant to our current education system and the generational gaps we try to fill. My wife and I (Angela Gaylor) founded a non-profit in Colorado that works with youth in the arts. I knew when a group of the students from Broadway In Boulder were here in NYC I had to take them. It was interesting to see how the play resonated with me and the students in different ways and led to an amazing talkback with the cast. If you haven't been over to Signature recently, you are missing out: The place is incredible.

What production are you most excited to see?
The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The cast and creative team are incredible. Spontaneity is so vital to theatre, and Drood is a great example of that; I mean, it has a different ending every night voted on by the audience! How cool is that? And how scary for the cast!

What play/musical would you most like to revive on Broadway, and which role would you want to play?
I'm gonna go with…True West by Sam Shepard. I didn't get to see it in 2000 with Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly, but if I could travel back in time, I would stand in line for tickets. Then I would gradually befriend both of them and somehow convince them that I should clearly be included in the rotating cast…focusing on Austin, of course.

What are your current/upcoming projects?
I'm having the time of my life playing Buffalo Bill in Silence! The Musical. It is so incredibly funny…like, really funny. I saw it way back in 2005 at the Fringe and have always secretly wanted to be a part of the show. Chris Gattelli's direction is amazing, and the cast has me laughing in the wings every single night. I'm so happy to back in NYC performing, and I couldn't think of a job that would make me happier right now!

*** David Ayers has been seen on Broadway in Wicked (Fiyero), Fiddler on the Roof (Fyedka) and Mamma Mia! (Sky). Read more about him in the Playbill Vault.

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Broadway In Boulder students onstage at My Children, My Africa
 
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