A Triumvirate of Talent Coaches
Photography: Mark Maziarz
Park City has a culturally rich, artsy vibe. Our fair town is known worldwide for the Sundance Film Festival, and we have a plethora of superb art galleries and arts organizations. Best of all, we can boast about three incredible talent coaches who inspire our youngsters in the arts.
Thanks to these gifted women, there is no need to fly to New York City to watch quality productions, or head to California and its numerous talent managers to refine performing skills. We have our very own triumvirate of talent coaches right here in Park City!
Jane Talley – Egyptian YouTheatre
During her sophomore year in high school, right on cue, Jane Talley dropped a tea cup on stage. The shattering porcelain brought about a dramatic pause for her fellow actors, startled the audience and instantly filled Talley with a love for performing. She continued to study acting in college and became a semi-professional actor after her university years. Even while raising her three children, she directed productions for youth in Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas.
“I have seen transformations in young actors’ lives in almost all of the plays I’ve directed,” says Talley. She quickly recalls two powerful moments for some of her young actors. The first occurred when an autistic boy received booming applause for his entrance on stage. Her second crystalline memory is of a high school senior who could not read, but delivered his lines with perfect clarity. “Everyone likes applause in life, but seeing the look on a child’s face when he or she is standing on stage for the first time and hearing the thunderous applause … that is priceless.”
Talley is convinced that children who perform have incredible parents who back them. “Theater parents are the greatest, and Park City parents are no different from parents I have worked with in other parts of the country, she explains. “They love their children and want to see them succeed.” Working for her third year at the Egyptian Theatre, Talley’s hope is to help parents understand that it is not necessary for their children to have the leading role in a production or even the bulk of the lines in a play in order for the child to benefit from acting. “It is being a part of something that will give them instant gratification,” she says. “It’s being a part of a creative and a collaborative process. ”
Tanya Taylor – Taylor Productions
Encouraged by her parents’ love for music and their constant belief that she should pursue her dreams, Tanya Taylor grew up taking dance, piano and voice lessons. Because of her parents’ unwavering encouragement, she grew up confident and felt at home on the stage. She is now sharing her wisdom with children all over the Park City area as she puts together multiple musical productions each year. As the rehearsals come to an end and the performance dates grow close, Taylor begins to feel proud of her students as she watches them fine-tune their numbers for the show opening. “Music is a positive outlet for kids and a way for them to learn to express themselves,” says Taylor. “When they walk onto that stage in front of the audience, there is a lot of pressure. Eventually, they learn how to deal with the pressure and how to communicate successfully despite the audience. That is a great life skill.” Taylor is convinced that learning how to manage those moments in the spotlight helps kids become more confident and prepared to face real life challenges.
Taylor likes to think that she and her students evolve together. “Every student I teach, I hope, makes me a better person, or at least a better teacher. We are all working on becoming better or greater at who we are.” Several of Taylor’s students have gone on to perform in lead roles at the Egyptian Theatre. As she sits in the audience and watches them in their youthful glory taking the stage, a variety of emotions overtake her. “It is an awesome feeling to see them understand the art of entertaining,” says Taylor. “It makes me so happy and proud that they have developed lifelong skills and talents that will forever help define who they are.”
Debra Cook – Utah Conservatory
According to Debra Cook, watching her students perform in recitals and seeing the smiles of all their parents in the audience makes working with children one of the greatest blessings in her life. “I love the opportunity these children have to bring joy to their parents through their performances,” says Cook. “I am very aware that one of our main missions is to build family memories and appreciate the joy of having children in our lives.”
In working with the children of Park City, Cook takes a non-critical approach, which encourages the students to be critical of their own work. “I find that 98 percent of the responses from my students are just what I’d like to address as the next step as well,” she states. “Children are smart and intuitive, and I want them to increase their abilities to self-analyze on their way to adulthood.”
Cook also has a solid belief that studying music can improve cognitive powers and improve scholastic test scores. “Arts education, which is so important to a child’s development in spatial learning, makes actual neural connections between both sides of the brain,” she explains. “Music students consistently perform at the top of their classes in school with 46 percent higher scores on SATs than their non-musical counterparts.”
Having been a professional performer for her entire adult life, a professor and head of the Voice Department at the University of Utah, Debra Cook also sees music as a way to bridge cultures and strengthen our empathy for others. “Music is for everybody. It is the pillar that makes us a civilization. Music is critical for progress, innovation, and it encourages us to live spiritually with a language that all can tap into.”
C.J. Johnson is a stagemom and a freelance writer.
Your comments may be edited for brevity and foul language.