“Noah’s Arcchallenged [things] directly.
We’re not ready for that yet.'”
The characters showed me the possibility of what I could be as a Black gay person.
“Noah’s Arcchallenged [things] directly. I think, at the time, a lot of Black gay men thought, ‘You can’t air our dirty laundry. We’re not ready for that yet.'"
Check out our full-circle conversation ahead.
Note:This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What do you remember the first time you heard ofNoahs Arc?
Correction:An earlier version of this post misspelled Patrik-Ian Polk’s name. The post has since been corrected to reflect the accurate spelling.
Darryl Stephens:There was a lot of excitement forNoah’s Arc.
I don’t remember there being a very clear moment of “Here’s the script.”
It was more like, “Okay, we’re going to try this.”
It was all very by the seat of our pants.
Patrik likes to say it was funded with the lint at the bottom of his pocket.
What excited you most about being a part of the show?
We were excited about it because it was Black and queer.
My biggest focus was figuring out who Noah was.
I’d never seen a character like him on screen.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to be playing him.
By the time we shot the pilot before Logo picked us up, I figured out who he was.
But for a long time, I was wondering, “Who is this guy?”
Is there a scene that you’re most proud of?
The moment in the first episode when Noah is on the phone with his friends.
A tear fell out of my eye [while filming].
I thought, “Oh, this is a real emotional moment.”
Seeing what that looks like was a huge moment for television.
We didn’t get to see us falling in love in that way.
Particularly the sensitive, femme-presenting boy.
What did you learn about yourself playing Noah?
I was stressed out and a little overwhelmed with the idea of being the lead on the show.
I’d only done a couple of things at that point.
It wasn’t like I was a seasoned acting professional, I was just getting my feet wet.
I learned that the best way to learn is to jump in.
And then I was like, “Oh, I can do this now”.
The first time I learned that was when I did the first season ofNoah’s Arc.
AlthoughNoah’s Arcis beloved now, that wasn’t always the case.
I think Entertainment Weekly gave us a D-minus review.
We’re not ready for that yet.”
It was very harsh.
We were not getting accolades for it until much later.
When did you notice a shift in how the show was received?
What do you want from me?"
I heard the show is getting a reboot.
What can you tell us?
I can tell you we wrapped shooting in October 2022.
The reboot was going to launch last year and then the strike pushed [it] back.
That’s all I can tell you.
Hopefully, it’ll launch this year.
Did you ever feel pressure to hide your sexuality for the sake of your acting career?
There was always that fear of if they find out [I’ll] never work [again].
What prompted you to be public about it?
If I’m not working anyway."
As far as I could see, being open about it can only help.
I leaped at the opportunity.
That’s when I embraced the opportunity to talk about it in ways that felt unfettered and uncontrolled.
I’d been living [out loud in] my daily life for years, though.
Noahs Arcwas the first scripted television series to center on a group of Black gay men.
What does it mean to be part of queer TV history?
There was a point when I felt like, “Maybe I’m done with acting.”
Because I felt I had accomplished what I needed to do in the first couple of years.
Young folks are still finding the show.
It’s still surreal to me that our little show was the first to do this one thing.
It’s because of the love of those characters and the ways that we epitomized a queer friend group.
Patrik knew what he was doing.Noah’s Arcwas a good TV.
What has been your favorite or most memorable fan encounter?
They introduced themselves as Chocolate.
They said, “Oh my god.
You are the first time I’ve ever seen myself on TV.
Oh my god, it’s you!”
That was probably the first I’ve been recognized in that way.
Chocolate convinced me that Noah the character was more important than I realized.
Noah’s fearlessness was important for Black queer folks to see.
You’ve appeared in several other projects sinceNoah’s Arc.
Do you feel progress has been made in terms of Black queer representation?
Outside ofPose, I still haven’t seen much representation of Black queer friend groups.
But I’ve seen a lot more queer characters, for sure.
Shonda Rhimes’ shows are moving the needle forward.
Suddenly, there’s Sara Ramirez’s character, Callie, onGrey’s Anatomy, just living her life.
There’s been a benefit to expanding our reach.
It’s not your business.
You’re producing your own queer stories now.
We were very intentional about hiring queer folks and people of color for the crew of this project.
The [cinematographer] is Black.
We had Black and brown people helping to create the sets.
In telling this particular story, we felt it was important.
All of these things are doable if you’re intentional about it.
Who is your Black queer icon?
Also, Colman Domingo gave a brilliant performance in [the Netflix] film [about his life].
Marsha P. Johnson is another one, and [singer-songwriter] Meshell Ndegeocello.
What does Black History Month mean to you?
Or who they’ve been able to recontextualize as peaceful, and not too much of a threat.
Black queer women started the Black Lives Matter movement.
Because that’s also important for us.
That’s the Black history that makes a difference.
What do you want your contributions to Black history to be?
There’s power in owning who you are.
Ultimately, I want us to be as free as we can be.
Thanks for chatting with us, Darryl!
Be sure to keep up with Darryl Stephenshere.
you’ve got the option to read moreBlack, Out & Proudinterviewshere.
Correction:An earlier version of this post misspelled Patrik-Ian Polk’s name.
The post has since been corrected to reflect the accurate spelling.
