As I’m coming up on my third summer with Missoula Children’s Theatre as a Tour Actor/Director, I’m reflecting a lot on how this experience has changed me. It’s not only helped my hone my teaching and communication skills, but it has also taught me a lot about different people and places around the U.S., places I would never have even considered visiting if not for the job.
When you first arrive in Missoula, Montana as a new TAD (Tour Actor/Director), the sheer quantity of new is overwhelming. For me, it was my first time working professionally, and as a freshly 20 year old sophomore in college I was one of the youngest in my training class. Starting the day after I arrived, we spent nine 12-hour days in the MCT building. This training period was extremely packed with information, but it also provided plenty of time to connect with other new and veteran TADs, which connections I still keep up with to this day.
My first summer I toured with Alexandra Fleshman on Hercules!. We toured the pacific northwest, and essentially went on a food tour of the PNW, eating out whenever we could and immersing ourselves in local businesses (It was so fun, but drained my wallet excessively. Worth it!). My favorite place we stopped this summer was a little town called Silverton, Oregon. Our contact this week, Don, was a sweet man who had been hosting Missoula Children’s Theatre for generations (literally, we had many kids in the show whose. He was even good friends with one of the founders, Jim Caron. The two had met in college, and as far as I know, are still friends to this day.