Jeffrey Nolan From McLean to the Stage
McLean Native Spotlight, Where Are They Now?
Jeffrey Nolan
From McLean to the Stage
Headshots by Twin Cities Headshots
For Jeffrey Nolan, the path to a professional life in theater did not begin with a grand plan. It began in McLean, first with music, then with a high school stage, and eventually with the realization that the thing he loved most might also be the thing worth pursuing. Today, Jeffrey is an actor, writer, and teaching artist living in Minneapolis, where he is part of Children’s Theatre Company’s 2026 to 2027 Acting Cohort and serves as an understudy for Pinocchio.
Jeffrey grew up in McLean and attended Kent Gardens Elementary, Longfellow Middle, and McLean High School. His first connection to the arts came through band, where he began playing trumpet in fifth grade and continued through high school. “I really credit those band programs for teaching me a discipline that I still carry with me today,” he says. Theater came later, during his freshman year at McLean High, but once he began, he was hooked.
A family trip to New York helped make that passion feel real. After seeing Wicked and watching Elphaba rise above the stage during “Defying Gravity,” Jeffrey turned to his father and said, “That’s what I want to do.” Back home, acting teacher Amy Poe helped turn that excitement into discipline. Jeffrey remembers her as someone who pushed her students hard and, in doing so, taught him that he was capable of more than he realized.
Even then, a career in acting did not seem obvious. Jeffrey entered St. Olaf College as an undecided student, telling people he did not know what he wanted to study but knew he wanted to keep doing theater. Eventually, he recognized the pattern. “After saying that enough times, I figured I might as well pursue the only thing that I knew for certain I wanted to do,” he says.
The years that followed were built on persistence. Jeffrey performed in community theater, often for little pay, while balancing day jobs and long nights of rehearsal. He continued because he loved the work. “I am so privileged to be starting to build a career as an actor, but it has been my hobby for a long time, and it will continue to be, no matter what direction my career might take me.”
That commitment led him to a range of experiences, from performing Shakespeare with BARd Shakes to working with Brave New Workshop, the longtime sketch comedy company. He also began writing and producing his own work, including A Very Good Christmas Carol, a two person adaptation he created with writing partner Hawken Paul and has performed each December for the past four years. Writing, Jeffrey says, gives him a way to create opportunities rather than waiting for someone else to offer them.
His relationship with Children’s Theatre Company began in 2019 as an education intern and continued through his work as a teaching artist. Joining the Acting Cohort now brings those worlds together. “I have learned so much from this company,” he says. “My teaching pedagogy was built there, and I admire their mission so much.”
As an understudy in Pinocchio, Jeffrey is stepping into a new kind of challenge. The production depends on a small ensemble playing many roles, exactly the kind of work he enjoys. “As an actor, that’s my favorite type of role,” he says, “to be able to run around and play all kinds of parts I wouldn’t normally be cast as.”
Looking back, Jeffrey says he never imagined as a child that acting would become his career. That is also why his advice to young people in McLean is simple: “If you love doing something, then keep creating, no matter the scale.”
For Jeffrey, the stage has always been about more than performance. “For me, being on stage means connecting with my community through stories,” he says. It is a fitting perspective for someone whose own story began in McLean and continues to unfold one role, one audience, and one new opportunity at a time.
See Jeffrey on Stage
Jeffrey Nolan is part of Children’s Theatre Company’s 2026 to 2027 Acting Cohort and serves as an understudy in Pinocchio, the opening production of the season. The imaginative, music filled production brings Carlo Collodi’s classic story to life for young audiences while exploring empathy, accountability, and what it means to grow into the person you hope to become. To learn more about Pinocchio and upcoming productions, visit childrenstheatre.org.
Photo by Susan Nolan
