By Clara Moffitt
At TPA, many talents lurk in people you least expect. Although there are several talents at our phenomenal school, we’d like to take some time to single out a few students who have participated in a local theatre group by the name of Valley Youth Theatre.
VYT (www.vyt.com) is a group that has been around since 1989. Although VYT is a mere youth theatre, they produce “professional-quality shows” on a not-too-huge stage. VYT provided training wheels for the well-known celebrities Jordan Sparks and Emma Stone.
One TPA-er enjoyed her last summer while spending time with Valley Youth Theatre. Her name is Avery Strochan, 11A. Her first experience with the theatre was as an Assistant Stage Manager for Into the Woods, in June. With no breaks, she plunged right in to being in the ensemble for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She is now being featured as the Glowworm in James and the Giant Peach.
“I’ve always liked to act. I think I realized this at a young age when I used to go see many Broadway productions,” says Avery. Though she always loved acting, she never did anything serious until she ran into VYT. Avery loves working with the Artistic Director, Bobb Cooper. Her favorite thing about acting itself is that, “it’s fun to step out of reality for an hour or two and be able to portray the character that you’re given.” She definitely wants to pursue acting as a career by “continuing to do local shows, but hopefully I’ll make it to Broadway someday!”
Now let’s step backstage into what happens behind the scenes. TPA 7th grader Alex Watson works as head tech at Valley Youth Theatre. Alex’s job is to move sets, help with scene changes, lighting, and basic backstage operations. The last show he teched for was Into the Woods. He describes his experiences as, “fun… but usually painful [because] I get run over with set pieces a lot, or people put iron bars on my foot.” Alex loves the opportunity to meet new people. He describes his new friends as, “awesome and so are the crew.”
In the future, Alex wants to pursue his talent by being the stage manager at VYT. Last year, Alex was the stage manager for our school musical, Carousel. He intends to do this until it is time for him to go out and be a stage manager in the real world.
The talent here at TPA only gets bigger. There are so many opportunities in our community. You don’t have to be good at singing in order to participate at VYT or in our local fine arts programs. You can exercise creativity or leadership skills like Alex and assist with lights, sets, and backstage. Or, you can be like Avery and be onstage. If you may be interested in sharing your talents, go to www.vyt.com. Lastly, don’t forget to see James and the Giant Peach, which runs through Oct. 25!