Saturday, April 27, 2024
When you’re 23, life can pick you up like a twister and land you somewhere far, far over the rainbow.
Such is probably in the wind for Cheyenne Shreve Throckmorton after she removes her red slippers for the last time following the final curtain call for “The Wizard of Oz” at the Granbury Opera House on Sunday, Aug. 25.
For Cheyenne, the rainbow may be Germany or some other European country. Norway, maybe. Or Spain. Possibly France.
The first stop, though, will be Greensboro, North Carolina, where her new husband and fellow Granbury Theatre Company (GTC) alum Logan Throckmorton will attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to pursue a master’s degree in opera performance.
“I want to travel in my 20s, and right now Germany and other places in Europe are kind of snatching up opera singers,” Cheyenne said of what she hopes lies ahead.
Logan will be headed to North Carolina soon to be followed by his new bride once “Oz” closes. He will temporarily stay with former GTC volunteers Tom and Sara Baker, who coincidentally recently moved there after selling their Pomegranate House bed and breakfast on Pearl Street.
Cheyenne said she hopes to stay connected to community theater, even if living in foreign lands.
“I don’t plan on going professional,” she said. “That’s just not what’s in my heart. I like the idea of community theater. I like how everybody is encouraging and uplifting and not doing it for a paycheck.”
Wherever the wind takes her, the Granbury Opera House will always be home to the Tarleton grad who moved to Fort Worth with her family at age 10.
Cheyenne played the role of Belle in the GTC’s “Beauty and the Beast,” that of Rapunzel in “Into the Woods” and was part of the ensemble for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Footloose” and “Mama Mia!”
Although some actors turn down ensemble parts if they are denied leading roles, Cheyenne’s GTC resume proves her to be a team player.
“Just because you didn’t get the (lead) role doesn’t mean you’re not talented,” she said. “It just means you didn’t fit that role.”
Currently Cheyenne is playing the lead role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” and her Yorke-chihuahua rescue pup, Sissy, is playing Toto, much to the delight of audiences.
“She’s a real actress,” Cheyenne said of her dog, who has received no formal training. “She has to do things like run onstage to me and not stop to say hi to any audience members. She has to jump in my lap. She dances for a treat, too.”
The music and theater major feels so tied to the Opera House that she and Logan asked to have their June 1 wedding there. The two met at Tarleton where they first spotted each other in the music hall.
“Later I saw him sitting on a bench and I went and sat down next to him and I said, ‘Do you want to be best friends?’” Cheyenne recounted.
The two dated for three years before becoming engaged. During that time, they performed at the Gran-bury Opera House.
“We made so many happy memories here,” said Cheyenne as she sat in her dressing room, her hair in braids, shortly before the Saturday evening performance. “We looked at other wedding venues, but I just couldn’t picture it anywhere else.”
Board president Micky Shearon said the GTC cannot accommodate such requests from the general public. However, the organization tries to grant the wishes of staff and company members when possible.
“We did that for Logan and Cheyenne because we love them so much and they are just such sweet kids,” he said.
For the young couple, it wasn’t so much the Opera House setting but the family environment created by the GTC that made them want to recite their vows on the stage where they have enjoyed camaraderie and the applause of appreciative audiences.
“It amazes me the kindness that I’m shown here,” Cheyenne said. “The atmosphere of family and acceptance. Everybody wants nothing more than to just embrace one another. It really is a special place.”
ENTER, HOUSE RIGHT
The “aisle” that Cheyenne walked down at her wedding is known as the “crossover.” It spans from left to right, and is where patrons enter and exit the theater.
“We entered house right, through the cross-over, and then finished house left and came on stage,” she said.
The marriage rites were performed in the packed theater by her father, Mike Shreve Sr., pastor at College Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
Shearon was among those in the audience. Stephanie “Stevie” Simmons, with whom Cheyenne became friends during “Beauty and the Beast” when they were roommates at the now-closed building off the square known as the Opera House Dorm, was one of six bridesmaids.
The wedding colors were lavender and silver. The “crew guys” with whom Cheyenne has played Dungeons and Dragons draped the stage in tents of white fabric, she said, “and lit up the backdrop, the cyclorama, as lavender. It was so beautiful.”
CHOSEN PATH
In “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy follows the Yellow Brick Road, which symbolizes a path leading to good things.
Cheyenne began going down the road of stage performing as a child when she participated in church musicals.
“I’ve been singing since I could talk,” she said.
She performed in middle school musicals, including playing the role of the orphan Tessie in “Annie.” She went on to be cast in high school plays.
“I played a magician that turns into a parrot, and from that moment forward, every show I’ve ever done, my dad gets me Birds of Paradise,” she said.
The bouquet was perched on her dressing room counter-top, the makeup lights shining on the brilliant orange and blue tropical blooms.
With opening weekend behind her, Cheyenne and her cast mates have 16 more performances to go.
Shearon said there were probably “well over 100” performers who competed for Oz roles, with more than 80 receiving call-backs for a second round of more in-depth auditions. There were 13 finalists for the role of Dorothy, he said.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $30-$35 and can be purchased online at granburytheatrecompany.org or by calling the box office at 817-579-0952.
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258
