Olivia Deane has never shied away from the stage.
Some of her earliest memories not long after she could walk and talk were putting on plays for her family in their living room.
She was 12 years old when she took part in her first community theater performance, and it wasn’t long after that when she knew she wanted to take on a greater role.
“I remember my second production, we were in rehearsals, I was 12 years old, in middle school, and looking across the table at the director of the children’s theater. I thought, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do,’” said Deane, financial specialist associate in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Deane recalls one rehearsal in particular reinforced that desire. The director spent about 45 minutes working with three children who were struggling to stand in a straight line.
“They just could not figure out where she wanted them to stand,” Deane said. “But then I watched as she worked them through it. She was so patient, and then it clicked for all of them. And I watched it click for them, and I said, ‘That’s what I want to be able to do for other kids someday.’”
Someday has come, and that’s exactly what Deane does for other children when she’s not supporting the finance operations of SMTD. Deane has been involved in children’s theater for several years, the last two with In The Mitten Productions in Novi and Farmington Hills.
She works with a team of directors to treat Metro Detroit theater fans to musicals and other productions. Deane primarily works with children between 6 years old and their freshman year of high school, while the company offers opportunities for children as young as 4 up to their senior year of high school.
Deane was home-schooled during her middle and high school years while living in Wayne, so community theater was her only option to whet her theatrical appetite — other than the living room shows.
Her first performance was as a member of the chorus in “Seussical the Musical” as a 12-year-old, and she said she had so many chorus parts, she remembers needing about 13 costume changes during the show.
“It was the time of my life,” she said. “I remember at the cast party, they did mock awards for all the kids in the show, and mine was that my singing voice was so loud that they could always hear me even over the band.
“As a kid I was so proud of that, and now as an adult, I’m like, ‘Oh man, that’s not a good thing,’” she said with a laugh.
It wasn’t long until she took advantage of an opportunity to direct. When she was a high schooler, she attended a children’s summer camp, and because the organizers knew she had an interest in directing, they handed her the script of a five-minute skit and asked her to direct the many children in their performance.
“It was for sure solidified for me then,” she said. “Looking back, it was just a children’s theater thing, but being on the other side of the table, it really made me go, ‘I feel comfortable and natural here,’ and I absolutely love it.”
Deane received her bachelor’s degree in theater with a minor in business administration from Rochester Christian University, and the position at SMTD suited both her love for theater and finance.
She also directed other shows for summer camps and holiday pageants for her church, but still took the stage every now and then as a performer. She and her husband moved to Livonia a couple years ago around the time she started at SMTD, and she decided to audition for a part in a local production of “Romeo and Juliet.”
“I had never wanted to do (Shakespeare) when I was younger, but I really found a love for it throughout college,” she said. “So I thought, ‘I’ll just go and get plugged in, get a little bit part and enjoy the theater community.’ And then I got cast as Juliet. I was like, ‘OK, I guess I’m diving into this head-first.”
NOMINATE A SPOTLIGHT
- The weekly Spotlight features faculty and staff members at the university. To nominate a candidate, email the Record staff at [email protected].
She has since turned her focus almost solely to directing — almost, since she and her husband, Jordan, welcomed a daughter on Father’s Day. Because her husband coaches football at Livonia Churchill High School, she elected to take the fall off from In The Mitten.
Still, she has occasionally dropped in on rehearsals for this fall’s production of “Anastasia: Youth Edition” and is looking forward to the spring musical, “Once Upon a Mattress.”
She said she’d love to eventually direct “Little Women the Musical,” which she’s performed twice in the past. But for now, she enjoys the time she spends with the children and seeing those light bulbs go on when something clicks.
“We have seen kids who we thought were in the hardest shells come to life on stage,” she said. “You might not have the kid who was like me who wants to put on musicals in your living room, but the confidence I have seen built in theater because it becomes this family and this safe space for kids, it’s priceless.
“The show is great, it’s awesome that we’re going to have something to put on for an audience, but I feel like I’ve done my job if I’m helping kids grow and building their confidence every single day.”
