Pensacola Little Theatre ready to spread the acting bug to more diverse groups

Actors are known for being able to transform into a wholly different person on the stage. However, acting can sometimes help a person change offstage, too.

Sid Williams-Heath, executive director of the Pensacola Little Theatre, has seen students stand up a little taller and speak a little louder after just a theater few classes.

"Having a background and a foundation of incorporating arts into education is something that changes the way that children grow and think," Williams-Heath said. "And so we want people to have both access and awareness those things are right in your backyard at the local Little Theatre."

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The Pensacola Little Theatre brought on Topher Warren to serve as the new education director and Kimberly Scott as the new community outreach director. The recent hires, along with with the theater's upcoming depARTure fundraiser, are all part of an effort to help make the theater more accessible to all children from all backgrounds.

Meet the new education director

Warren has a few goals he wants to implement as the education director. Currently, the theater's education program offers multiple acting classes divided by age groups, as well as an Advanced Improv Academy class.

Warren would also like to push for an expanded adult acting class and new classes centered around stage management and lighting, stage and sound design. 

He would also like to break down acting classes into nonmusical plays — for classic works of Shakespeare or Greek tragedies — and a musical theater class that incorporates singing, dancing and acting.

Theater has always been a safe haven for Warren.

He grew up in Gulf Breeze and was a part of the Little Theatre from elementary to high school. He went on to University of West Florida and afterward toured the U.S. and Canada with the Missoula Children's Theatre. He then moved to Atlanta where he acted and performed and got his first teaching job. 

After three years, he moved back to Pensacola and reconnected with the PLT community. When he heard the Little Theatre had an opening for an education director role, he applied and got the job. 

"I really wanted to create a space where children feel comfortable to be able to discover who they are and really explore a side of the arts that I think a lot of people find intimidating," Warren said. "To me, it's where I got to really create the best relationships because theater is such a vulnerable thing and it's where you get to kind of build those relationships with other people by sharing that common task, which is theater."

Meet the new community outreach director

Scott hails from Virginia but made her way to Pensacola to play basketball at Pensacola Christian College. After she graduated, she spent three years teaching theater at Dixon School of Arts & Sciences. 

Her time at Dixon allowed her to introduce more people to theater and build a foundation as an artist, teacher and community advocate. This experience, along with her love for the arts and interacting with the community, gave her motivation to apply to the Pensacola Little Theatre.

"I'm so excited to be in this role as a Black woman because I can offer perspective. And I love that they are embracing that about me and I love being somewhere I can be my true self," Scott said. “:And being Black and working in the school system has given me insights that help guide me in working and moving forward with different communities."

Scott's goal is to reach out to as many demographics as possible and find ways to incorporate them into the Little Theater’s classes and experiences. She said she plans to visit local schools, libraries and organizations to talk about the program and said she will bring the spirit and energy of theater with her. 

Scott said she hopes her efforts will result in more diverse casting in Pensacola Little Theatre productions and inspire others to get involved, especially younger children.

"I think theaters should reflect the communities they perform in," Scott said. "I remember how encouraged and inspired I felt as a young performer when I would see a Black person on stage, and I want our community to see themselves in our theater as well."

Get ready for depARTure

PLT will hold its annual arts education benefit event, depARTure: A Cut Above the Rest, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Pensacola Little Theatre, 400 S. Jefferson St. 

The event will have someone taking home a $10,000 diamond from Elebash Jewelry Co. as part of a game to find the real diamond among fake ones.

The event will also feature the return of an annual trip giveaway, which this year includes a three-day trip to New York City and a behind the scenes tour through Cartier's and the Nieman Marcus gem collection. Flights and hotel are included included. Attendees must be present to win the diamond but not the trip to New York. 

For more information and to purchase tickets for depARTure go to pensacolalittletheatre.com/departure.