At every school, there are bright sparks, and at WRA, in 2018, that was Noah Frato-Sweeney.
A down to earth, friendly and joyful kid flowing with creative talent. A natural performer and songwriter, with a sense of humor that crosses between boyish, mischievous, and wholesome; he shines.
“Ten minutes to philosophy… but what does time even mean” - From our second musical with WRA “The Moments”
He’s the standout performer of our breakout musical Your Second Home (2018) which becomes the bedrock of our creative reputation in this field.The following year, together with Noah, we produce another musical and six episodes of a talk show he hosts, called The WRAp.
We always knew that of the thousands of students that we’ve worked with from, Noah is on the shortlist.
So when he reaches out in 2024 having just graduated from college, it’s exciting. He’s headed for New York to make it in the big city as a writer and standup comic, and as serendipity would spell out for us, his first day in the city coincides with our first day at an upper west side school, Calhoun.
Stranger still, the couch Noah lands on in New York, belongs to a Calhoun graduate, a good friend of Noah’s from Wesleyan.
The Host of a comedy talk show called The WRAp - This is from Episode 1, A Carpool Karaoke with Head of School Suzanne Walker Buck
Noah joins us to write a musical for the school. It feels like the right mission, given how we met. Normally a school requests the musical specifically, but in this case we propose it. Calhoun is the beloved alma mater of Ben Stiller and many more artists, and it boasts a great amount of talent, so it feels right. We also have to do a good job, because we’re aware that “Mr. Stiller might see this” (as we joke between ourselves).
Quickly, Noah takes center stage in the writing room (which happens to be Mick Jagger’s old townhouse dining room). Noah is full of ideas and proactively puts himself in the creative room. He has rhymes to offer, melodies to sing, and in no time, we are in business.
Noah directing the sixth graders
We negotiate rhyme and verse for a whole day and come up with a catchy song that the school was sure to love.
But the kids are skeptical at first. They should be, it makes sense. These are the creative bohemians of upper west side New York, or so Calhoun appears to us at least. We are some random adults saying we wrote a song about them.
It’s often daunting to sell kids on a song you’ve just written a day before, about their school. They have to like it enough to perform it on camera, and that’s a big vote of trust. But Noah trusts, and it shows. He brings so much enthusiasm to the filming process that the kids feel comfortable giving it too.
He’s often the most genuine and energetic one in the room. He and ‘Sohype’ make a dynamic hyping duo.
The project is difficult, logistically more than anything. A boarding school gives you evenings and weekends to work with the students. Here we only have school days. So the amount of time we have to build trust with students is even less than usual. Nevertheless, Noah brings so much to each space that it pushes the project in the right direction whenever he’s around.
Noah arrives early for dinner, classic.
To any future employers considering Noah Frato Sweeney, he’s a delight, a bright shining spark.
Thank you Noah and to both WRA and Calhoun for this full circle moment.
P.S. He’s very punctual.
Another P.S. - We’ve written various college recs for students we’ve worked with, and are always happy to hear from them. To the students reading this, you know how to reach us.
