"Why We Tell The Story"

(Picture taken by Amanda Stubbs Caroll)

This weekend I drove all day Friday to Orem, Ut for a show called, "Why We Tell The Story"

Background: I moved to Orem, UT the summer before my senior year of hs and you can imagine how that felt.  Drama & Choir were my saving grace (and of course all my amazing friends)!  Syd Riggs, my drama teacher treated me as if I had been at Orem High all along. I was in "Hello Dolly" and "Peter Pan" under her direction at OHS and a few musicals at Hale Center Theater in Orem with her help.  I also played the piano for her "after school" musical theater class.

Syd knew that I loved to play the music from all the various plays she had (and it costs a lot of money to purchase all the song books) so she let me borrow a few at a time and I loved her for that (and for many other things).  I miss Syd. I missed her funeral because I was in Boston and I really wanted to be there and support her and her family.

So when I saw that there was going to be a fundraiser for the "Syd Riggs Scholorship" I decided this was my chance to pay tribute to Syd, my thank you to her, and a way for me to see her family.  Also I knew there were going to be a ton of performers I hadn't seen for 10 years or so that I did show with back in the day. It was a musical reunion and worth every minute of my drive to and fro UT/AZ!

Thanks Syd for all your love, support, direction, challenge, and for believing in and taking a chance on me! You are greatly missed by many and have left behind one amazing legacy!