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It almost feels surreal, that in just four weeks we will be seeing for the last time (on our television screens) the remnants of the young gay love story that captivated the hearts of viewers worldwide.  I can only be talking about the story of Luke and Noah.  And with so much attention recently on LuRE, Reid and Luke’s burgeoning romance, it was die-hard fans of their favorite couple, Nuke, who jumped to it, wanting to hear from the guy who they felt got left behind in all this, Noah Mayer… actor, Jake Silbermann.  And as an equal opportunity soap opera website – having previously interviewed Van Hansis (Luke) and Eric Sheffer Stevens (Reid) – we were not going to let ATWT go off the airwaves without having each of the actors you have loved throughout the telling of these stories, a chance to say their views and parting thoughts.

Jake Silbermann came on to As the World Turns a little over three years ago, and as the stoic Noah, was the perfect counterpart to Luke Snyder.  One was level headed, and one was impulsive… a perfect soap opera match, indeed.  But, as with any soap through plot devices, some successful and some not, the couple was tested, leaving us with an upcoming ending for this historic love story that may leave some camps happy, some camps not-so happy, and some camps simply throwing their hands up in the air!

On-Air On-Soaps caught up with Jake to discuss the impact of being part of the same-sex couple, Nuke.  Jake tells us how much it meant to him personally, and how much he has come to realize this groundbreaking story has touched others, as well.  Plus, the ATWT series finale!  How does Jake see it?  Does Noah go out with a whimper, a roar, or a purpose?  Then, it’s on to: Van, Eric, “Gay Paree”, his exciting new film project, Stuffer, and a conversation on the continued fight for seeing under-represented segments of the population on your daytime television screens.  Jake has some very, very, good food for thought.  So with all that said… I give you one final ATWT time….Jake!

MICHAEL:

Jake, many of your fans, and fans of Nuke have wanted to hear from you. They want to know your thoughts on Noah’s lack of airtime for the past several months.  It’s been hard for them.  Some feel that you were shoved out of the picture to build up the Reid and Luke romance.  What are your thoughts on how this all played out? Were you upset by it?

JAKE:

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As an actor, there was no emotional response from me because this is the story that ATWT executive producer, Chris Goutman, and the writers were looking to tell.  I was told I would be filming up till the very end of the show, which I was.  It was just very spread out, but I don’t take it personally.  I guess I was a little surprised in the way they chose to tell the story.  But I understand where they were going with it.  It was kind of interesting for me too, because I thought, “Hmm…  I wonder how they are going to end this?”  I didn’t know.  My real concern has always been that I hope at the end of the story that the fans are happy.  I have said this in other interviews… that is my one concern.  I know there is no way to make everyone happy, especially at this point, because a lot of fans want Luke and Reid to be together.  But, I have also been thrilled to take part in this storyline.

MICHAEL:

Many believed this story was supposed to be an actual triangle.  But since you were not on-air as much, they also feel that the word “triangle” is often used too loosely in regards to this story.  It has incited many Nuke fans.  Do you think this story is a true romantic soap triangle?

JAKE:

I think it’s a triangle, because fans probably know where Luke is coming from.  It’s part of the story even if Noah is not physically there.  I would think that Luke still thinks of Noah.

MICHAEL:

So last week, Noah told Luke he was moving to L.A.  And that he always envisioned that the two of them would head out west together.  Did he really always envision that?

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JAKE:

That’s what he says he wanted.  I remember the two of them thought one day they might move to New York, too.  They wanted to get out of the Midwest, bad. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

They wanted to go to some metropolis where there were more gay people! (Laughs)

JAKE:

I guess so. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Noah’s blindness was a story for you, but also a means to an end, as a plot device to bring in Dr. Reid Oliver (Eric Sheffer Stevens).  But, I also felt like this story really showed that Noah grew up as a man and didn’t just take everything lying down.  He fought back!

JAKE:

Yeah, Noah can often come off as backing Luke up in whatever he does, and/or disagreeing with Luke, and then cleaning up Luke’s mess.  It’s nice to have had Noah go through a little bit more, and be a little less perfect.  He was such a Boy Scout before.  I am always up for having him being a bit more ruffled up.

MICHAEL:

Was it hard for you to pull off playing blind?  Sometimes on soaps, some actors look believable playing this physical disability, while with others it feels forced.

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JAKE:

I did some research, and it was something I wanted to portray as accurately as possible, of course.  I hope I was able to pull it off.

MICHAEL:

In a recent item for TV Guide Magazine, between the publication itself and ATWT’s executive producer Chris Goutman, they sort of blew the lid off the ending of the Reid/Luke/Noah story, leaving fans angry, when the following was stated: “Prepare for a tragic, yet heroic, twist to the Luke-Reid romance — one that’ll set the stage for a potential rapprochement for Luke and Noah.”   Then, Chris Goutman added, “Without giving too much away, I do think Luke and Noah will always have a deep and abiding relationship.  Reid came along and challenged that love and his presence made Luke and Noah grow up.  Their relationship will endure.”  Goutman also revealed if the show hadn’t been canceled, Luke and Reid could have been a couple for the ages! “Their connection was immediate, and they are dynamic together!  Soon after Reid’s arrival, we had a lot of die-hard Luke and Noah fans suddenly rooting for Luke and Reid.  It was the best of what soap opera can be.” Jake, can you give me your reaction to this?  Many Nuke fans and fans of this story, are feeling from this precursor that all the gay people in Oakdale will be the one’s left unhappy, while the heterosexual characters will have their loves and ride off into the sunset together!

JAKE:

That is the first I ever heard that statement from Chris.  I don’t have any comment for it, except, I am not surprised that Chris said that, because Reid is a more interesting character than Noah.  (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Jake, are you happy how the story ends for Noah?

JAKE:

Yeah, absolutely.  In the end Noah did grow up a bit, and in that way it was kind of a real story, not some over romanticized depiction of a first love.  These guys did have their moments, and sadly, sometimes people who grow close do move away from each other.  Ultimately, I am happy if the fans are happy.

MICHAEL:

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Many have termed Luke and Noah’s romance as a “puppy love”, but many also have to remember how much the audience and the viewers have invested in these two!  We have watched them grow up together, go through heartbreak and tragedy, break-ups, and evolve.  I have interviewed former ATWT head writer Jean Passanante, Eric Sheffer Stevens, and Van Hansis (Luke) and asked them this question, and I would like to propose it to you.  Where would you like to see Noah five years from now, since we will never get the opportunity to see him on screen?  Jean told me that one of the guys might want to get legally married and perhaps have or raise a child.  Could you see Noah getting married?

JAKE:

Yes, of course, I could see Noah getting married.  He is an old-fashioned guy.

MICHAEL:

Noah is a filmmaker.  Could you see him in the future using his talents or lending his support to gay rights issues on a larger scale if ATWT was still on the air, or leaving us with some indelible impression in our psyche of what he will be doing?

JAKE:

You know, I enjoyed when Luke and Noah were pursuing grandeur causes other then just themselves.  I would love to do the gay rights storyline angle.  I thought the unique thing about As the World Turns is that it could have social impact.

MICHAEL:

It has been such an honor to be one of many who helped continue to bring this story to the gay community. You and Van did so much good through your roles and your openness to commit to the material.  The LGBT community is very sad these days, that when you, Van, and Eric go off the air in four weeks time, there will be no true gay storylines being represented anymore on daytime.

JAKE:

I think in that way, it’s pretty lousy that there has not been another same-sex couple that has really worked for a long time, and we are seeing it everywhere else.  I am a huge True Blood fan, and we are certainly seeing it there, and I think it’s great.  I think gay characters and depictions should be all over the place.  It is all over the place, except it’s not in daytime!

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MICHAEL:

When I did speak with Jean Passanante on the end of Nuke’s storyline, and the lack of portrayal of gay characters… she offered the following statement: “I don’t think when ATWT goes off; it’s the end of gay characters. We are far from over when we have a world that has all types of people in it.  I think the best soaps will always reflect that.” Yet, earlier in 2010 the Kish romance on One Life to Live got axed, because many believed it was because middle America was just not “ready for it” and thus the rating were reflecting that.   Did you ever encounter a backlash?

JAKE:

I did not encounter any negative ill will or anything.  When I hear that, I think if any story is told well, you can tell it.  An eloquent romance should have little to do with the sexual orientation of the character, as long as it’s interesting.  When I hear that people aren’t “ready for it”, I am kind of at a loss.  I don’t get what it would take to get people “ready for it” at this point in time in 2010.

MICHAEL:

Y&R’s head scribe, Maria Arena Bell, told me for the same feature for Pride Magazine, that at one juncture the CBS network was inundated with a lot of Y&R viewers saying, “It’s not that I don’t like gay people, it’s just that I don’t want to see them on my show.”  That is the climate out there, it seems in part.  It’s a double-edged sword.  If fans don’t want to see gay characters or other minorities represented, then it doesn’t change the minds of the higher-ups to feel safe to deliver that to their fans without having people tune out and lose viewership.  This comes at a time with the soap genre suffering major setback after setback.  It’s quite the conundrum.

JAKE:

The thing is; I am sure they said that at one time about black romances, and that Americans did not want to see those characters.  I am sure there were times on the soaps where they were trying to represent it and people were writing in, too!

MICHAEL:

On a happier note, Jean also informed me that the Nuke fans sent hundred of neckties to the writer’s offices of ATWT, in support and recognition for Luke and Noah’s first on-screen kiss, which happened as a result of Luke adjusting Noah’s necktie.  Were you aware of the significance of these neckties?

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JAKE:

Yes, but I did not know people were getting them sent to them!

MICHAEL:

Jake, has it felt to you through all that has happened for you in story, and with all the publicity generated behind Nuke, that it all happened in a blink of an eye, or does it feel like it’s been a long time?

JAKE:

I had been playing Noah for little more then three years.  It’s a funny thing.  I think those first few months feel like a long time ago, but it also felt like it went by quick.  Honestly, it was really a lot of fun.

MICHAEL:

Eric Sheffer Stevens told me in a recent interview, that one of his favorite scenes was when you decked him!

JAKE:

He said that it was one his favorite scenes?  (Laughs) You know, it was fun to finally see Noah do something so assertive.

MICHAEL:

How was working with Eric?

JAKE:

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He is great, and I would love to work with him again.  He is one of those actors who comes in and has very specific thoughts on every scene.

MICHAEL:

So would you say, that both Reid and Eric were good adversaries?

JAKE:

I did not look at him like that as the character, or Eric like that.   As an actor, I wished we had more scenes together.  One of my favorite scenes with him was when Noah first confronts Reid.  I think he punches him in the bar.  But we had little verbal sparring, and I would have loved it if they could have strung that out longer.  That would have been great!  That is generally in soaps how they used to be. They would elongate these storylines.  I saw with ATWT, that our story arcs were getting shorter for whatever reason.  But every now and then I would think it was a good thing, and sometimes I wished that we could have taken our time a little bit more.

MICHAEL:

You and Van Hansis… Where do we begin?  You played the first real young gay male love story on daytime.  Off-screen as friends, I know you go to movies together, and you have flown around the world together to fan events.  Can you put into words what it has been like to work with Van, as your on-screen acting partner for most of the last three years?

JAKE:

First, it’s great to be able to work with somebody that you are really good friends with. So on that level, being on set and to spend that time together, is great.  Van is a great guy.  He is so professional to work with.  We would want to do the work and tell the story.  I felt there was that mutual respect for each other, and the crew, and the producers, that showed we were ready to dive in and make changes, as we needed to do on the fly.  It’s something that can be jarring, but I felt like we could rely on each other.

MICHAEL:

The phenomenon that is Nuke, took off globally like I have never seen for any couple in the history of daytime television.  From facebook, on twitter, at fan events…  people’s lives have been affected by the roles of Luke and Noah, which gave an under-represented segment of the world population something to look at and feel a part of.

JAKE:

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I never thought it would be as far-reaching as it was.  But I knew when I was told by my agent, “Congratulations. You got a nice little summer job here.”  And I said, “Yeah, that’s great.”  I did not know the world of soaps, but I just knew there was a chance it could go longer.  And, I did not know until I started meeting with people from the show, that it was going to be the first gay storyline that was ever going to be really told.  From that point, I had some intuition that it would go longer.

MICHAEL:

You and Van have gone to Paris for two fan events.  How were they?  Many Americans are extremely jealous that they could not be there, especially this final visit to France.

JAKE:

We were just there last month in July.  It’s a big thing!  We went in October of last year for the first time, and then I think because we wanted to do it again; we did not want to do it again this October.  Van and I knew the show would be over by then, and we wanted to be able to do it over the summer, since we were asked to.  We did the event right before Bastille Day.  We had so much fun!

MICHAEL:

How do you think the European fans differ than the U.S. fans of Nuke?

JAKE:

I think everybody who makes trips out to these events are just passionate about the couple, and they really care.  I think that is definitely global.  One of the differences I feel with the worldwide fans is because they are watching the show via You Tube; they are not actually watching the episodes of the full show.  It just seemed like they were watching Luke and Noah.  What is interesting about that is, we brought up a question regarding the show, and some other characters or actors on the show.  Van and I could not remember what happens, and usually the audience knows better, and nobody knew.  I thought if that would have been an American audience, they would have known because they might have been fans of the show first.  It seems that fans overseas are very much fans of Luke and Noah over the show.  I cannot wait to share my new film with these fans.  I am not playing Noah in the least, when they see me in Stuffer!

MICHAEL:

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How is your new film Stuffer coming along?

JAKE:

It’s going great, and I have been working really hard on it.  Right now, we are about a week or so away from being fully completed.  It’s at a very exciting stage, where we are tweaking it, and it has been very rewarding.

MICHAEL:

So what will be your plans for it?  Why the decision to do this story as your first foray into screenwriting?

JAKE:

The plan for this film is; I thought it would be a great experience for me to tackle something on a smaller scale, writing-wise.  I am not the lead in this film, but I wanted to write something that other people would want to take part in.  I wrote it with actors and directors in mind, so they would want to work on it, in whatever way they could.  I wanted every single role to be something an actor would be interested in.  This is my first screenplay.  I wrote some smaller things before, and since Stuffer is a short film, I am working on extending it.

MICHAEL:

What is the premise behind this film?

JAKE:

It’s about a female officer returning home from Afghanistan to her husband and child in fear they are going to foreclose on their home.  She is coming home with a secret.  And, the secret is that she is smuggling heroine.

MICHAEL:

What do you play?

JAKE:

I am playing her contact in the States.  We are going to have a screening in September and it won’t be readily available to fans at that time.  But, there will be a private screening for a small group of fans.

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MICHAEL:

Will you invite Van and Eric to your screening?

JAKE:

Of course!

MICHAEL:

So we could possibly see the three of you in the same room at the same time? (Laughs) During your time playing a gay character, did it make you become more aware of gay issues, than perhaps you were before you played the role of Noah Mayer on ATWT?

JAKE:

Yes.  Before, I always felt knowledgeable about gay rights and was always sympathetic, but now I feel more involved.  I feel so proud to be part of something that fans say helped them.  And, I get sad when I hear people are so negatively affected by this one aspect of their lives and that they feel because of it, things for them could be made so difficult.

MICHAEL:

I have some news for you that you may not have known.  Did you know that you made it into the final three, and were third runner-up in Soaphunks.net’s annual Adonis 2010 contest?

JAKE:

Oh yeah?  Wow!  Well, did I get the sympathy vote? (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

You think?  (Laughs)  No!  Is the label “Soap Hunk” OK with you?

JAKE:

That’s Ok with me!  I am not offended.  I think it’s sweet more than anything else, and flattering.  I don’t let something like that go to my head.  I don’t look at myself like that. (Laughs).

MICHAEL:

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Were you on the set of the taping of the last episode of ATWT?  Or, had you wrapped up your scenes as Noah earlier than that?

JAKE:

I was not there the final day. There was a wrap party that was fun.  It made me sad that we didn’t have more parties before that!  I was like, “Wow! This is a really great group of people.  We should have done this more!”  I am sure there were some tears shed, and it’s a different situation for everyone.  For some people, that is the end of not a career, but of a specific time in it.  Some people have been with ATWT for such a long time. What an amazing experience for them, to have taken these characters through so much.  I feel like I have done quite a bit in three years, and there have been moments where Noah has been heavy in story, but for the most part over that time, certainly not as many episodes as the show veterans.  Just a thought of what I went through in that amount of time I was there…. I can’t begin to imagine the experiences and the days they put in.  Some of these guys have probably forgotten more episodes than I was in.  It was a wonderful ride, and a very amazing experience.

MICHAEL:

What has been your all time favorite storyline of Noah’s?

JAKE:

His first storyline definitely, when he came out.  He only got to come out once.  And even then, it was a struggle for him.

MICHAEL:

And Noah’s father, Colonel Mayer, was not too happy about it.  That’s an understatement, I know.  But so many gay people are afraid to come out and face their family, because of their upbringing, and the possible disownment from their loved ones.

JAKE:

With that… here we had this character… we understand what he is afraid of.  There are so many people out there who that story related to.  Noah was trying to deny that part of himself and eventually, not wanting to fight it anymore, and not willing to deny who they are.  I think that can be such a scary and terrifying thing.  I know there are people out there who go through a difficult time, and when they decide to come out, it may not be a supported action from those people around them who are supposed to love them, no matter what.

MICHAEL:

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It is shocking when they are not loved by the people who they think would love them unconditionally.

JAKE:

It is shocking, and it is sad.

MICHAEL:

I am sure you received many emails, letters, etc, from people thanking you for seeing their lives depicted, and for being someone on television for them to be able to look at and identify with.

JAKE:

I did.  It always meant more than anything to me to hear that, and to know that.  It was always a good feeling.

MICHAEL:

What would you like to say to the fans now, as a “thank you” for being so passionate about your character, Noah, and for you as an actor?

JAKE:

I would like to thank every one of them for supporting, and watching and caring about my character and my work on the show.  It means a lot.  I hope they will follow my career as it moves along, and that I will play other roles that may or may not resonate with them on an emotional level, but may still be entertaining, interesting, and illuminating for them to watch.

MICHAEL:

Would you play gay again in future projects?

JAKE:

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Of course.   I would happily play any character no matter what sexual orientation they are, as long as there is something about the character in terms of story.  I am not sure I would go and play a gay character on another daytime show.  But in that sense, I do not say to myself, “Well I have done the gay thing.”  I just want to keep playing interesting characters.   I would love to play a gay vampire on True Blood.  I just love that show.

MICHAEL:

Ok, Jake, as we close our ATWT exit interview together, what is a tease from your perspective on the end of the Luke and Noah storyline, that we can say?  And, as I always ask in big situations like these, most importantly, will we need our hankies?

JAKE:

It’s a soap; of course you need your hankies.  I am saying, I think fans will be able to see what they are looking for in it.