Anna Schaffer: Thespian, Teacher, Volunteer
The quintessential girl that you wished lived next-door, Anna Powell
Schaffer is the person you always wanted to have as your best friend.
Pretty, vivacious, talented, gregarious; her demeanor is not only
engaging, but infectious.
Originally from Fuquay-Varina in North Carolina, Anna is an only
child who embarked on her music career when she was five years old.
Now a piano teacher, among many other talents, she says, “I’ve always
played the piano; now I teach the same curriculum I studied in 1995! I
grew up with a piano in the house and I constantly put on shows for my
parents, Jane and Ted Powell. I was quite bossy,” she laughs, “I
didn’t love dance but I wanted to do recitals for my parents, so I
would put on tights and then told them they had to watch me. So it’s
not surprising that I was also involved in the youth theater.”
Never single minded, Anna played the clarinet in the school band,
(“I got a lot of attention carrying that instrument in the case in the
school halls!”), sang in church, performed in several productions at
at Fuquay High School as well as working on the production and
costuming for Macbeth. She had a voice teacher, a drama coach, and
studied music theory, which she says, “was instrumental in getting me
to the next level.” At North Carolina Theater Conservatory, she
studied dance and acting, and enjoyed working with Broadway veteran
actor Ray Walker, who gave Anna good experience as an ensemble
character.
Anna attended Elon University and graduated with a major in
history and political science. “I started in performance arts and
switched my major four times! Elon’s performance department is
outstanding and my classmates were all so talented; it was quite
competitive but challenging. At one point I studied with a German lady
who was just ‘perfectly’ nuts, she had been in the German premiere of
Cats and she always picked out lopsided amounts of music in German.”
After graduation in 2011, Anna married Brooks Schaffer, and moved
to Beaufort; Brooks is a commodities broker with Palmetto Grain
Brokerage in Okatie. Anna loved living in a coastal town, it reminded
her of childhood summer vacations, but she was at a temporary loss for
what she wanted to do. Law School? Nope. A project then. So she took
on a renovation process for a house they bought on Lucy Creek on
Lady’s Island and did a beautiful job with it. Classically furnished
with a camel back sofa, wing chairs, oriental carpets, a baby grand
piano, and lovely crystal and china displayed throughout, their home
beautifully sets the stage for Anna’s personality.
“Everything stays polished, the crystal is always bright and
shiny. We use our good china, it came from my grandmothers, Nanny and
Nama, when they downsized. I have always loved entertaining; during
the holidays I think about who shared those plates over the years.
It’s great to have the house filled with their things! Nanny gave me
her beautiful jade tree,” Anna studied in China when she was at Elon
and minored in Asian studies, “so I have an appreciation for it. ”
As involved as the house project was, Anna needed more. “When I
got here, I got a voice teacher, then I started tapping on tables so I
got a keyboard, then I had my parents send the piano.” With her
amazing amount of energy and drive, Anna is President of the Board of
the Beaufort History Museum, gives private piano and voice lessons, is
involved with the USCB Center for the Arts in Beaufort where she
enjoys teaching classes and performing along with partner in crime
Libby Ricardo. Anna also serves on the Board of the Main Street Youth
Theater on Hilton Head, as well as performing in several productions
at USCB Center for the Arts and the May River Theater Company, teaches
acting skills, and is taking acting classes with the Shakespeare
Repertory Theater. “Acting classes are like therapy for me!
“I love giving the private piano lessons to six and seven year
olds; it is always a reminder of how important music is for kids, and
besides that, they are just so stinking cute!” (For those who took
piano lessons as a child, the norm seemed to be that fingers got
whacked with a ruler if the student hit a note incorrectly, or didn’t
raise the fingers high enough above the keyboard, or she was just an
old lady in a bad mood.) Anna laughs as she says, “I remember my own
piano teacher when I was that age, and she actually had a ruler.”
The teacher in Anna comes out when she explains about the vocal
arts. “There is a lot of technical work that your body does to create
a sound. The foundation of breathing is the diaphragm which pushes
all the internal organs down so the lungs can expand. Sound should be
unaffected by things like tension in the jaw, the face can get in the
way of sound. I was fourteen or fifteen when I started voice lessons.
I believe Southern girls have it the worst since we are encouraged to
smile all the time, even when we are talking, and as a result we can
develop terrible placement and a not so attractive sound when left to
our own devices.”
When she isn’t teaching, acting, volunteering or studying, Anna
likes to find her way to the water. “I love being on the water. I grew
up water skiing and sport fishing competitively.” When she was at
Elon, Anna co-founded their water skiing team and served as captain.
“My father has a Sport Fish and is a member of the Hatteras Marlin
Club; I just love to go out on that boat and spend time in Eastern
North Carolina. I also love swimming and spend most mornings in the
pool at the ‘Y’.”
“I also like to cook for special occasions, but not so much on a
week night because I give lessons most evenings. I read whenever I
can, mostly non-fiction, and history of this area. My passion for
history is equal to my passion for the theater. A lot of musical
pieces are historical fiction, rooted in historical events. I am
grateful to live in a community with so many programs. And one of
those is community theater which is the heart and soul of a community;
it creates family and even if you’re not on stage you can still be a
part of the production behind the scenes. It’s an important aspect
offered to the community to participate outside of just the
entertainment aspect.”
Should you happen to see Anna around town, say hello and
introduce yourself. Her effervescent personality will definitely
brighten your day and you may even find yourself taking piano lessons
or volunteering for the community theater.
story by mary ellen thompson
photography by susan deloach
