CARLYLE - Two young women from Missoula Children’s Theatre in Montana put in long hours last week at the Carlyle Elementary School.
The rehearsing of Hansel and Gretel started immediately after school on Nov. 28. Later that day, five high school and 40 elementary school children passed their auditions and were selected to play various roles. Rehearsing from after school to 7:30 p.m. every day, the students were ready and performed in the Dec. 2 event.
Talley Sugg, 23, is from Winston-Salem, N.C., and Elke Myers, 22, was born and raised in Boise, Idaho. Both these young women applied for jobs at the theatre and last spring were awarded with one-year contracts.
Not knowing one another, both found it hard to believe how compatible they have become being on the road for six straight months with nary a break.
“It was hard at first, I am a night person, Elke is a morning person. But we adapted and over time have become best of friends,” said Sugg.
Since May, the team has travelled to seven states and two provinces. Their signature red truck is well known to many of the schools that host the children’s theatre. Recently, they have travelled to Lafleche and Kyle, and to Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. Finishing their stay in Carlyle, they are now headed off to Alberta before heading home for a short Christmas break.
Both Sugg and Myers thoroughly enjoyed their stay in Carlyle, with their lodging graciously donated by the Ramada Hotel. Carlyle Pharmasave sponsored the cost of the entire production.
“It is so exciting to see how the confidence and self-esteem of the young actors and actresses blossomed with each passing day,” said Myers. “By the Friday performance, the group had become a cohesive unit and the show was simply amazing.”
“Elke and I have really enjoyed our stay in Carlyle and have enjoyed the hospitality. We even stayed an extra day and took in the Dickens Festival on Saturday,” added Sugg.
This is the Missoula Children’s Theatre group 50th year of touring. They have fostered developmental skills in more than a million children and have an international division. Missoula has performed in 17 different countries around the world.
Both these young women wish to use their experience working with the Missoula Children’s Theatre as a steppingstone to bigger and brighter things. Eventually Sugg would like to become a full-time children’s playwright, while Myers wants to be an actress in a professional theatre company.
