Life & Work with Drew Droege

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Droege.

Hi Drew, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve loved living in LA for almost 23 years. I’ve had a creative home here as an actor and writer, having trained at The Groundlings Theatre and School, where I currently teach improv. I’ve also been a regular performer at Upright Citizens Brigade, Celebration Theatre, and Casita del Campo, where I’ve been a part of the long-running Golden Girls drag show. I’ve written and performed five solo shows around LA, two of which moved Off-Broadway. I’ve worked as an actor and writer in tv and film, most recently on “The Goldbergs”, “Bob’s Burgers”, “Search Party”, and the upcoming Netflix film “Me Time”. I’m best known for my online parodies of indie starlet Chloe Sevigny and often perform as her around town. On a personal level, I have been incredibly lucky to have made so many brilliant and lovely friends along the way. I have seen this city embrace artists in a way that other cities cannot, with its abundance of spaces and resources. I love that there is always something to do here, yet also we know how and when to chill. Proud to be an Angeleno!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I feel like I’ve been incredibly lucky and also still have to work really hard. I look back on my twenties, in which I waited tables, often into the middle of the night, begging to get put on unpaid comedy shows, trying to get into casting offices, on top of dealing with the drama of being in my twenties, and I don’t know how I did it. I came very close to some very big jobs early on, and none of them came to be. I started creating my own work, and that’s how I started my career. And it’s still what I have to do. It’s easier to get work now that I’m a bit more established, but I still have to make opportunities for myself. On the other hand, generating my own material has been deeply rewarding and has given me some sense of control in a business that often makes zero sense.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m proud of the stage shows I’ve gotten to do in LA. In addition to The Golden Girlz (I’m Rose), I’ve gotten to do 2 Charles Busch shows (including Die Mommie Die at Kirk Douglas Theatre with Celebration Theatre), countless parodies of everything from The Devil Wears Prada to Troop Beverly Hills to Teen Witch, I’ve gotten to share the stage with Julie Brown in The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun and Alison Arngrim in Little House on the PrairieOke. Writing and performing my solo shows was really daunting but the most thrilling time I’ve ever had on stage. I love that people do theatre in LA because they love the work- we are lucky when we get the HOLLYWOOD jobs but we come back to the theatre to stretch and workshop and do the hard, scary stuff that we crave as artists. I’m proud of the comedians I got to come up with as we struggled and navigated this city and business. I’m proud of never being without something to do.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I play a lot of loud, insane strong bitchy characters, but in real life, I crave calm and quiet.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @drew_droege
• Twitter: @drewdroege