Cibby Bowden, NTTPA-Fairview Youth

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It's typically when you first have your first rehearsals or you're

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having your casting auditions and you see that very

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timid, kind of unsure little kid

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who's just kind of doesn't know where they fit in. And then

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by the end of your performances, they've got

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30 new best friends and they're ready to do it again and again. And

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you know, it's a life changer. It really is. It really is. Every time I

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see that, and I see that all the time. Welcome, friends,

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entrepreneurs and visionaries to Getting Neighborly. Fairview, Texas, very own

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gateway to opportunity, proudly presented by the Fairview Economic Development

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Corporation. I'm your host, Super Dave Quinn, here to navigate the journey through the

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heart of our thriving community. In each episode, we unlock

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the doors of Fairview, offering you a firsthand look at the vibrant life and

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booming business landscape that define our community. We're not

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just neighbors here. We're collaborators, innovators and friends, building

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dreams and turning visions into reality. From insightful stories

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of local success to exploring the advantages that make Fairview an

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ideal community for your business, this podcast is your inside track

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to discovering why Fairview isn't just a place to do business. It's a place

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to grow, to belong. And to call home. So whether you're looking to start

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up, scale up, or simply soak up the spirit of community that champions

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entrepreneurial success, you found the right spot. Welcome to Getting

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Neighborly in Fairview, Texas. Let's make your business dream a

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community success story.

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Howdy, friends, and welcome to another show. This is Getting Nightly, the show

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where we celebrate the people, places and purpose driven organizations that make

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Fairview feel like home. I'm your host, Super Dave Quinn, and today

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we're talking stage lights, transformation and the magic of theater

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with someone who's not only taught performance, but has helped shape

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the lives of hundreds of young actors in our community. Today I'm with

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Sibby Bowden, who is the director and managing director of the North Texas

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performing arts in Feria. With more than 35 years of experience in

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directing and acting and arts education, she's a force behind the

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scenes and a voice from the wings. Earlier this year, she received the

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prestigious Freddie G Fellowship Award given to only

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five theater educators nationwide. She's brought

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stories like Matilda, Beetlejuice, and Little Women to life on the

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fairy stage. But today, she's sharing her story with

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us. Sibi, welcome to Getting Neighborly. Thank you so

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much. Glad to be here. We're so happy to have you here. As I was

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mentioning before, we recorded I have a son who graduated from

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Baylor in theater. And so I have a special place in my heart for

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those in the theater world and what all that means

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as a parent of a theater kid and someone who is not

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familiar with theater. And then having a son is. Was quite an

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adjustment for, for me. But we've grown to love the theater and

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all. I mean, we still love to go watch high school theater performances

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even though our kids are out of high school now. So thanks for being here.

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Thank you for having me. Glad you love theater.

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Right, so listen, I want to talk a little bit about that. Do you remember

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the first time that theater really grabbed you? Like it

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got into your bones and you wanted to be associated in this

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industry? You know, it's funny you ask

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because I have just this faint flash memory

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of being a girl in front of a line

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of princes. And I was in probably

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second grade and I was actually living in Milan, Italy at the

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time. So I was going to an English speaking school there and

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I just remembered the applause and like going, oh my

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gosh, this is amazing. Just that little feeling. And I

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don't have any idea what it was. I have no memory of what it was.

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Since then I can remember some more things I've done.

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So second grade, Milan, you just know, like,

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this is pretty cool. Yes. Loved it. From

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that moment on. That's my story. That's

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phenomenal. You've obviously directed and performed for decades, right?

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So you've been in the theater world. Tell us a little bit about that journey.

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What? What? From second grade, Milan, Italy to today,

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sort of recap that journey. I was heavy into

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theater in my elementary and middle school years

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and then we transferred actually over

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to Sugar Land, Texas and unfortunately

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there was not a theater program at my high school, if you

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can believe that, because now they're in every high school. Yeah. And so

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that's one of the reasons why I'm actually pretty passionate about theater and these

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young people lives because they have such an amazing

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opportunity that we offer them. So that's, that's one of the

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things that drive me to get the kids to do it now because I

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didn't have that growing up when I was in high school. Have you

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seen things change over the years in like

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on the performing arts side and what you're talking about going from it

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not being available to today. What, what really has, have you seen change in the

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theater world as you see it? Yes, absolutely.

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I have to say that a lot of it has to do with a

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publishing company, Music Theater International, because they

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Produce not only Broadway scripts make available,

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but they also have what's called the Junior Collection and

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the Kids Collection. So now we've got

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students in the younger years, kindergarten through like 8th

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grade that are able to do cuts like miniature

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versions of these big Broadway shows. And so

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by the time they're in high school, they already have a lot of experience when

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they're ready to do the full versions. So that's, that's a

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game changer. Music Theater International so really making it. Easy

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for amateur and, and, and the

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kids theater, performing arts folks to really

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grab that and not have to work. I mean it's a lot of work to

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cut a full length play into like a one act or

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like high school theater. So you're really talking about someone, you know, they, they just

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made it easy to cut and then produce.

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Yes. I mean it's gone from the, the elementary

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music teacher trying to put something together.

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That's what it used to be. It used to be just that. Or the

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librarian trying to find a script that you know, she could direct some

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kids with. So it's, it's pretty well nationwide now actually

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it's worldwide. But this, this one company I attribute a lot to,

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they're not the only ones that do the Junior cuts, but they're the,

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they're the largest by far. Okay. So I guess

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being in, in the industry you've probably acted, directed, you've

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taught. Is that, am I making that presumption? Have you formed all

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those roles or. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

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I did a little spiel out in Hollywood for just a

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little bit. Nothing very, not a very big deal. I actually

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returned to the stage about 12 years

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ago and at my theater where I was working

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in Katy, Texas, I was the managing director of a

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theater there and we did some Shakespeare

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and did some musicals and I got back on stage. My

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favorite role was playing the role of Joanne in

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Stephen Sondheim's company, Lynn, which I don't know if you know the show, but

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Company is just a fabulous musical. Very difficult.

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And I played a woman who has been married

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several times, as she puts it, and she's trying to set up a younger man

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with someone in the future. And she's a

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sassy, sassy young lady. Well, not young lady, she's a sassy,

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probably 60 something year old. So I related to her.

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Yeah, it was great fun. So. And then my

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boys were in a private school in Keddy, Texas that did not have a theater

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department. And so with the support of the principal, I was able

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to start a theater department there. Oh, wow. And we did. We did

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some of the Junior shows. We did Music Man Junior, Fiddler on the Roof

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Junior, Once Upon a Mattress Junior. And so

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that program. I've since obviously moved to Dallas area,

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but that program still exists, and I was very fortunate to have the support

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of the principal to be able to do that back then. Man,

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that's amazing. So in all those roles, which.

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Which one would you say really had the most impact on you to who

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you are today in your life? Like, when thinking about back over your career, which

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one really moved you? Well, by far,

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the Being the educator is. Is where my heart

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is. Director. And then just straight up

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after school theater classes, teaching the young ones the basics.

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So I much prefer being on that side of the stage now and

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just love to see, you know, theater kids since you had one. You know,

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they're unique. They're a unique brand of kids. They're

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amazing. I'm crazy about them, love them.

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They are awesome in their own little way. They

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are so awesome. They're very, very confident

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and very supportive of each other, which I just love seeing on the

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stage. It is something, you know, we've. We talk about that.

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Obviously, you know, you have a. You pay for a college education, for someone getting

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a theater degree, and some realms, you know, they're like, I

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don't know about that. But you think about the skill set.

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Like, I would put my son in a room with no direction

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he could thrive. He just. He can. He can move from

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person to person. He can talk to them. He. He doesn't get freaked out by

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things like not going as planned. He's used to

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being able to deal with that. And. And he just enjoys

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the situation. It doesn't. He kind of thrives in that environment where

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others would see chaos. And like, I don't. You know, he kind of can bring

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order to that. And no matter which direction you go, he kind of rolls with

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it. And that, I think, comes from his time on stage and just being around

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people. And so it's. It's been a pretty interesting thing to

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watch. Well, and you bring that up. And one thing that

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is very, very unique about North Texas Performing

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Arts and what I do at Fairview Youth Theater, we have something that's called the

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10 characters that we emphasize. In every

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rehearsal, every class, we give out awards based on the 10

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characters. And it's stuff like discipline, respect,

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integrity, self confidence, positive

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attitude. There's 10 altogether that we emphasize,

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and we really teach those using the art.

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And so we're creating really solid kids.

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For the future, whatever direction they go in. Like you said, those

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life skills are incredible to have.

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So let's talk a little bit about the ntpa and specifically in

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Fairview. What makes that place a little bit different, you

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know, from. From other programs? Why would parents put their kids

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into this sort of educational activity?

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Mm, that's a great question. Well, like I said,

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we are known for this, for our 10 characters, and a lot of parents

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love that, that the kids are learning much more than just stage

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directions and how to memorize lines. They're learning these life skills, and

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that's a big, big game changer for a lot of parents. We

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are the largest nonprofit youth organization in the country,

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and we have five major branches. We also have new

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branches. In fact, a little plug. We're starting a new branch

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called NTPA Silver, which is for

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adults 62 and up. That's amazing. MTI has just.

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MTI has just come out with a line of. Of

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shows like Guys and Dolls Senior into the Woods

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Senior, Fiddler on the Roof, Senior. And so we're just start. We're gearing up to

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start that in January, which is going to be real exciting. That's amazing. We also

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do. Yeah, we also have. We do program primarily for

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kindergarten through 12th grade, but we also were in our

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third year, maybe even our fourth year now, of doing our community

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shows, which has kids in them, but mostly

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parents and adults from the community get to take their turn on stage.

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We did Matilda with the community, Fiddler on the Roof with

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this huge success last year with the community with kids playing the kids

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roles and adults and all the adult roles. And a lot of them are families

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doing. Taking the stage together. It's really special that I

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remember doing. That once with my son way back in maybe he was

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elementary or a little older, and we did Community Players down in Bastrop.

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And, you know, it was like I played this coach with the whistle, and I

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had like one line. I got to blow my whistle and say this, like, I

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thought was like the. The. The line of the show. Right. Like, I was

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thinking, really, it was so much fun to do

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that for musical. Was it High School Musical? I don't remember.

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I just remember the coach and I had a whistle and I had this one

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line and I thought, like, it's great. It's. It. You know,

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what a great. That's. I think that's an awesome opportunity for families

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to get with their kids, to be able to do that together. What a neat

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thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when we stay very busy, Fairview Youth

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Theater. We produce about 30 productions a year

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and most of them run two weekends. So we have, we

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end up having about 500 guests every weekend walk into

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our doors. We keep, we keep that, that end of

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the mall very busy. Support. We support all those

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restaurants and everything. So in the end we have.

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It's hard to guess the exact amount because kids

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do several shows at a time. Not at a time, but per year. We have

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a whole bunch of kids that do two to four to five shows a year.

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And then we have. We just finished a whole summer of summer

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camps which kept us busy all day long. And then we'd

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go into the evening and have all our rehearsals. So it's, it's a

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hopping place, that's for sure. Yeah. Well, we've loved having you guys

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in the town center. It's obviously a great location for people

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in and out. It's easy to do if parents drop off their kids for the

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rehearsals and they can grab dinner and whatnot. And I gotta tell you, if,

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if you want to keep your kids busy, get them in the theater because like,

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it takes up a lot of time. Right. Like it's, it's a pretty intense

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thing and, and the kids love it though. That's the cool thing is the kids

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tend to really enjoy. I should say my kids really enjoyed it.

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I think other kids do as well. Oh yeah. It's a labor of love, right?

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Oh yeah. And. And for each show we produce,

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it's usually about a 10 to 12 week rehearsal

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time, which is once. Sometimes we pick up a Saturday. So once or

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twice a week for three hours at a time. And then we go into

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our last week is our tech rehearsals every night. And then we

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have our shows. Yep. That's when everything comes

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together. And, and you know, the microphones

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and the music and the props and the set pieces and there's a lot of.

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Life lessons that happen in tech week. It can, it can be very

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stressful, I try to say pretty organized. I'm kind of

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known for having pretty chill tech weeks because we're, we're usually ahead of the

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game, which is great. We're in the middle right now of Frozen

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Junior. We opened last weekend and we have a show

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tonight and the rest of this weekend we have Disney's Frozen Junior. That's

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been very popular with the audiences. Awesome. So,

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you know, you've been doing this for years. You've been helping kids and

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really pouring into them, as you said, through the education and whatnot.

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You think about thinking back over that time. Is there a moment that sort

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of give you. That. That gives you goosebumps when you think back.

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That was amazing. Do you, you know, do you have a moment that kind of,

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you know, keeps you going and doing those things? It's a

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moment that repeats itself. It's typically

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when you first have your first rehearsals or you're having your

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casting auditions and you see that very

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timid, kind of unsure little kid

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who's just kind of doesn't know where they fit in. And then

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by the end of your performances, they've got

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30 new best friends and they're ready to do it again and again. And,

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you know, it's a life changer. It really is. It really is. Every time I

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see that, and I see that all the time, it. It keeps me going

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with just a heart full of joy for. For what's

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happening with them. That's awesome. I want to talk a little bit

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about the. Your award, the Freddie G.

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Fellowship award that you won. I mean, when you say only five theater educators

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in the nation, there are a lot of theater educators

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in the nation. So tell us a little bit about how that came

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about. Yeah, well, not all of them apply for it. You do have to

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apply for it, but I understood it was several hundred,

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so that was pretty. It's still quite the accomplishment.

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Thank you. Thank you. It's quite the honor. And it's named after

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Freddy Gershon, who is the person who

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concede the idea of bringing the Broadway shows to the

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junior versions so that he's like the daddy of all the

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junior shows. Okay. Wonderful man. I got to meet him when I was out

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there. I was out there in July. They flew the five of us out

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there, stayed at really nice hotel, wined

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and dined us, and we got to tour

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MTI Music Theater International. We got to

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work with all the people at Itheatrics who are the

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organizers of the large Junior Theater Festival

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that we can talk about, too. And then lots of master classes,

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and we got to see a couple of Broadway shows, and it

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was. They treated us like royalty. It was. It was very

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humbling, actually. What a fun. Really a super

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weekend. Yeah. What a fun experience that must be and

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rewarding to have your work

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recognized like that. I think we're very fortunate in Fairview to have someone like you

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working in our neighborhood who is helping shape the future generation of the

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actors and. And young kids, not just actors, you know, who

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knows what they go to do once they, you know, move into the real world?

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But thank you for doing that. It means a lot. And congratulations.

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I just Want to say I appreciate what you bring to our community.

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Thank you. I'm. I'm honored to be able to do it.

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It's, you know, it's a great job. I have a really great job.

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Tell us a little bit about what that national spotlight has meant

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for your program here and for the town of

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Fairview. I mean, has. Has it meant anything, you know,

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beyond just feeling good? You know, does it bring some national spotlight

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to the programs that you're putting on? It does.

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And in a broader sense, what I mentioned before is

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a company called Itheatrics, and they're there in New York as well.

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They have what they call the Junior Theater Festival

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every year. They have one in California and one in

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Atlanta. And we go every year in January. This will be our seventh year

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to go. And it's usually about 8,000

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people there. Oh, wow. So you're in a room with thousands

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of crazy, wonderful theater kids.

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It is a competition. You do bring a piece of a 15

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minute cut of one of their Broadway Junior versions, and

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you do get adjudicated and you do get awards. And we've gotten a lot of

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national attention from that. From that. They chose us

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to premiere Beetlejuice Jr. On the

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stage. We were the first to do that in the nation. In the world, actually.

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That's amazing. Some cuts from Beetlejuice Junior. And then

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last year, we were selected to perform at two other theater groups,

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Disney's new musical called Dare to Dream, which

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highlights all of the favorite Disney songs.

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So we got to perform that on the stage in front of the thousands of

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people as well. So we've. We've gotten. And we've won. We

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have a case of trophies at our Plano office that

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is outstanding from competing in that. Yeah. Junior Theater Festival is a

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wonderful experience for the kids. In fact, the. They just

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auditioned for it and the cast list goes out Sunday to see

329
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who made the troop. Yeah. So do those kids come from all over

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the Metroplex or all over? Is it just Fairview kids? Is it kids from all

331
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around the region? Yeah, it's kids from all around the region

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because of our five branches. Our branches are. They go all the way.

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We have one way out in South Lake, Frisco, Dallas, Plano

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and Fairview. We where all the branches and so

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it's kids from all those locations. Although we do rehearse at the

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Fairview location. So most of the kids live

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around here. Yes. Okay, let's talk a little bit about

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parents who may be seeing the show. Obviously, this is meant for our neighbors here

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and around the, you know, Lucas and Parker and the Fairview and

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Allen area. For a parent who's listening, who might be on the fence of like,

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oh, I think, I think I might have a kid that would enjoy this. Why

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should they enroll their kids in theater? Or what's the

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upside for getting involved with the NTPA

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program here in Fairview? That's a great question. And

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we offer. You don't have to jump in right away and get

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right into a production. Once a month we offer

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what's called Upstart workshop, which is a free

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two hour workshop for the kids to get to know what it's like to

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audition. And they tour our facility and then the parents come in the

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last 30 minutes and we get a Q and A session with one of our

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directors. So they kind of get their feet wet doing that.

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We also are about to start our after school classes. We have

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them from kindergarten to ninth grade. We have classes, all

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different kinds. We have this. This year we're doing, for the first time we're

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doing an improvisation class which I think would be great fun to

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do improv comedy. So there's. Other than getting

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going all the way in to be into a production, there's other

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outlets to get them ready. Why would you do that?

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It's all the reasons we've been talking about. Yes,

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it's fun to have a great show and the kids get up there and

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singing and dancing and running their lines. But the whole experience,

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the whole 12 weeks going into the rehearsal, into the production,

363
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really working on these life skills has just been a

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tremendous blessing for so many families.

365
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Well, I think too one thing that you just

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learn to work with people of all different kinds of personalities

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and, and like it, it's not everybody gets on stage and gets like

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there's a chemistry that kind of has to develop over the course

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of the, the rehearsal time. Right. Like, so you take all of these people who

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are maybe completely different, I mean, they're the same. But over the course

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of that rehearsal period, they've got to kind of meld into this

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working. You know, everybody's depending on everybody else to do their thing at their

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right time. And it's so magical to watch that

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happen. It almost breaks my heart too. Every time when

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the show's over, you're like, we only get to see, you know, you only do

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it for a couple of days and you're like, what? Like, we should take this

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on the road. All that work. Yeah. And they. And the

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kids get used to this. There's this little like hangover after the fact of

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it's over. I mean, it's a celebration. Everybody's really happy that it's over because you

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put so much work into it. But I do think it is something

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that I think really helps a child develop socially

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in so many different ways than. Than just learning lines. I mean, all of that's

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really cool, and. And, you know, that's important, too. But I do like

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that that outside of these are life skills that you can really take from

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now on. Right. When you move into a work environment. Absolutely. You know,

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you don't get, you know, you get hired, and it is the cast of characters

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you've got. And you've got to figure out how to mold into that. You can't

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just. It can't be perfect all the time. And. And so

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I think that's a really valuable skill that what you guys are doing at a,

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you know, at a young age to be able to teach the kids. That

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is pretty awesome. You. You

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just nailed it there. That's right.

393
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With all of the stuff that you're teaching. We've talked about the lessons, and

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what's one lesson that, like, if you don't get anything else out of

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this program that you want, you know, that young

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actor to leave the stage to carry. With them going forward,

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it's hard to pick one. But off the top of my head, I think

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they learn that no matter what their role is

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in the exact show, we can't do it without

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them. So even if they have a small role,

401
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if they're not there, we can't do the scene. And so I think

402
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they learn a lot that their place, wherever they're. Whatever their

403
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,840
place is at school, at home, if it's a small.

404
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If they feel small or if they feel like it's. It's, you know, very large,

405
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that it's. It's meant to be and it's needed and they're.

406
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They're welcome and they're needed. And like you said, they learn to

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trust each other because everything has to work together for

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the scene to work. And so they learn to trust each other that

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each one is going to do their part. And

410
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that's here again, that's a great life lesson.

411
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Yeah. Like you said, in the workplace or whatever. Whatever you end up

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doing in your life. Yes. So what's one thing you

413
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wish the folks in our community understood more about theater?

414
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I think sometimes it's misunderstood and what it is and its value. What's

415
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something that you wish everyone in our community knew more about the

416
00:25:52,390 --> 00:25:55,990
theater or Understood about the theater. If I can

417
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be specific about Fairview youth Theater. From the

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00:25:59,790 --> 00:26:03,470
moment you walk in the door into the lobby before a show, you'll feel

419
00:26:03,470 --> 00:26:07,250
it right away. There's a huge sense of community. Our

420
00:26:07,250 --> 00:26:11,050
parents are very involved in the process, as opposed

421
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to in high school theater. They don't get the opportunity to be as

422
00:26:14,850 --> 00:26:18,170
involved. But we say we're run by

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professionals made possible by volunteers. So when we start a

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show, there's a whole list of volunteer positions that

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00:26:25,770 --> 00:26:29,530
our parents get involved in. And they're involved in building the

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00:26:29,530 --> 00:26:33,060
set, props, costumes, working in the

427
00:26:33,060 --> 00:26:36,820
lobby, some. You know, from selling concessions to working

428
00:26:36,820 --> 00:26:40,540
backstage, we have massive amount of parents being involved.

429
00:26:41,020 --> 00:26:44,860
And so this is a great home for them, too. So

430
00:26:44,940 --> 00:26:48,580
that's really what's different about Fairview youth theater is you

431
00:26:48,580 --> 00:26:52,420
walk in and it doesn't feel like a cold lobby,

432
00:26:52,420 --> 00:26:56,180
that you're about to go into a dark room with a bunch of strangers and

433
00:26:56,180 --> 00:26:59,840
see something light up on the stage. It's very welcoming,

434
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,560
very friendly. Lots of fellowship

435
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,200
happens at the theater here. I love it.

436
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,480
I'm very proud of the community. Well, Siby, thank you

437
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,240
so much. I appreciate you spending a few minutes of your afternoon hanging out with

438
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,040
us and sharing your insights on the Fairview youth theater, the program,

439
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,040
what it means to be a theater student and in that world.

440
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:26,890
And again, I want to congratulate you on your award. Thank

441
00:27:26,890 --> 00:27:30,530
you. What's for the folks out there? If they're

442
00:27:30,530 --> 00:27:34,330
thinking about getting involved or they want to connect with you, how

443
00:27:34,330 --> 00:27:38,050
can they connect with the program in Fairview, and how do they

444
00:27:38,050 --> 00:27:41,850
start that process? Well,

445
00:27:43,050 --> 00:27:46,410
the easiest thing to do is go to our website. I know that sounds corny.

446
00:27:46,650 --> 00:27:50,330
No, that's great. And then you

447
00:27:50,330 --> 00:27:54,180
will see all the different locations, and you just click. Click on fairview. And

448
00:27:54,180 --> 00:27:57,780
then it'll show everything that's happening at Fairview, from auditions to

449
00:27:57,780 --> 00:28:01,420
classes to shows. You can come and see to what our

450
00:28:01,420 --> 00:28:04,940
lineup is for the rest of the year. So.

451
00:28:05,340 --> 00:28:09,180
And then anybody can email me anytime. I'm here to help and answer

452
00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:12,540
any questions. Well, thank you so much, Siby.

453
00:28:13,420 --> 00:28:17,220
Guys, thank you all for watching today. This has been another episode of

454
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Getting neighborly podcast. Remember, whether you're here in Fairview,

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00:28:21,190 --> 00:28:24,510
Texas, or you're dreaming from afar, you want to be in Fairview. We're always part

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of the community here. And as we wrap up, I want to say a big

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shout out to our friends, Adventure x and the premier working space in the heart

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of Collin County. Whether you need a private office, a collaborative workspace

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or a place to get things done. Venture X Fairview has you covered with a

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professional and modern environment designed for your success. So please stop by,

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check it out, Tell them Super Dave Quinn sent you. Big thanks to the team

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over at Venture X in Fairview for supporting Getting

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00:28:49,380 --> 00:28:53,100
Neighborly and the Fairview Texas edc. So I'm your host Super Dave Quinn,

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reminding you that here in Fairview, Texas, you're not just a neighbor, you're a family.

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Until next time, keep creative spirit alive, stay neighborly and make it

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a great day.

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And that's a wrap on another episode of Getting Neighborly. From the heart of

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Fairview Texas, this is your host Super Dave Coin and I can't thank you enough

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for letting me us your ears and hearts today. If our story stirred something in

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00:29:15,950 --> 00:29:19,670
you, hit the subscribe button. More tales of innovation, spirit and community

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00:29:19,670 --> 00:29:23,350
await showcasing why Fairview isn't just a place

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00:29:23,350 --> 00:29:27,150
on the map, but a destination of dreams. Before you go, take a moment

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00:29:27,150 --> 00:29:30,630
to share your love with the five star rating and review because your support

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means the world to us and helps us spread the neighborly spirit far and wide,

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00:29:34,710 --> 00:29:37,110
inviting others to join our close knit community.

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Are you considering giving your business a fresh start or a grand

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expansion? Fairview Texas is calling. With unbeatable

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resources, a supportive community and endless opportunities, we're here to help

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you succeed. Dive into possibilities today at

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www.fairviewtexedc.com

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where your business dreams have a place to grow and flourish.

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From all of us here, getting to every podcast and the Fairview Economic Development

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00:30:05,930 --> 00:30:09,610
Corporation, thank you for your incredible support. Here's to

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more connections, more stories and more success together. Until next

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time, stay inspired, stay driven and above all, stay neighborly.