Choir Director Alberta Smith Found a Refuge in Theatre Then Paid It Forward at SLT

There is a great comfort in practicing a song, then looking across the music stand to see choir director Alberta Smith cheering you on. Her joyful spirit and enthusiastic encouragement are often the greatest reward for a hard-fought performance. Affectionately referred to as “Smitty” by her students, Smith is best known for her musical talents. However, she is passionate about being involved in every facet of theater. Being well rounded, she says, is at the heart of Springfield Little Theatre’s culture.

“I was on and off stage. I love doing both kinds of things,” Smith professed. “It seems like everybody does that at SLT. If you get really involved, you’re not just on stage. If you’re just on stage, it’s like, why would you do that? There are so many jobs you can do to help out.”

Smith is now the Choir Director at Westminster Presbyterian Church following more than forty years as a choral director across Missouri. Locally, she is perhaps best known as a beloved former teacher at Central High School where she was once a student. Her cheerful disposition seems innate, but her passion for students in the arts was born in her own crisis.

Smith’s parents deserted their family when she was just entering high school. Courts granted her older sister custody of the young teen when she was in her freshman year. Despite the domestic turmoil, Smith’s friends encouraged her to audition for the Central High School production of THE LARK, featuring the life of Joan of Arc.

“It was a drama, not a musical. I tried out for it, and I got a role in it,” Smith recalled with wonder. “I was Joan’s little sister. Then I was the understudy for Joan.”

Smith dedicated herself fully to her assignments. Performers can be tempted to be dismissive of an understudy position, especially for a short run of a show. She, instead, was thorough, learning multiple roles of her own and fully committing the lead to memory. When the senior student cast as Joan became unavailable after the first performance, Smith stepped into the spotlight for the rest of the weekend. 

“As the understudy, I took that really seriously and I memorized her entire role. It was a lot,” Smith admitted. “[Joan] was the centerpiece of the show. We had three performances. They let the senior play it once. I, as the understudy, played the other two. That was my first introduction to theater.”

Through that performance, Smith discovered her passion and connected with a lifeline. Central’s drama teacher at the time, SLT alum Kay Jones, encouraged her to continue in theater, and gave Smith somewhere stable to live – with Jones’ mother. Jones was active at SLT and invited Smith to explore opportunities within the organization.

“[Kay] played leads in big shows,” Smith admired. “She played in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF with Tess Harper, and I worked backstage for that show. Kay was like, ‘You should come work for the show.’ I think I worked CAMELOT, MAME, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, and then the beginning of my sophomore year, I tried out for a play. I got the part.”

Jones inspired Smith to continue in the theater, but she always knew she loved singing. It wasn’t until her junior year that Smith connected with one of her biggest lifelong mentors and fully realized her passion for music.

“I got in choir with Connie Bilyeu. I wasn’t even in there with her until my junior year of high school. I was doing all the drama stuff,” Smith emphasized. “I asked her to play for me at the drama banquet. She played for me and asked, ‘Why aren’t you in choir?’ So, then I got back into choir.”

Having an outlet where she could be creative and challenge herself during a difficult time at home revealed to Smith what the arts can do for young people – especially in times of need. She loved the craft and became committed to helping kids. Bilyeu helped her envision that interest as a career.

“I did a lot with her, worked for her a lot, helped her as much as I could. She said, ‘I think you could do this, if you want to,’” Smith recounted. “In my mind, the way I grew up and everything behind me, it never even dawned on me that I could go to college. I hadn’t even thought of it. I decided then, I’m gonna be a choir teacher, so that’s what I did. I never looked back. I never doubted it at all.”

Smith has become that inspiration and champion for her own students. She enthusiastically praised former students who have graduated and gone on to build – and even found – arts organizations in the Ozarks.

After attending Southwest Baptist University and teaching in St. Louis and rural Missouri, Smith primarily taught at Central High School in Springfield. In the 2000s, she noticed her students were as plugged into SLT as she once was.

“When I started teaching [at Central] I realized, ‘Oh my goodness, these kids do it all.’ They did the IB program, they did my program, they did Gretchen Teague’s program, and they did Y.E.S. Troupe,” she marveled. “I didn’t understand how involved that was for them. They just juggled it all. They came to everything I needed them at. They rarely missed.”

One year, Central and SLT partnered to take students to New York and Smith served as a chaperone. It would become the first of many such trips and led to her more dedicated involvement in the SLT education program.

“I really got to know the Troupe kids [on that trip], then [SLT Education Director] Lorianne [Dunn] asked me if I would do their vocals,” Smith explained. “I did it for several years. We did New York trips so that each student involved in Troupe could go to New York once in their four-year term with Y.E.S. Troupe.”

Smith says teaching at SLT reinvigorated her own interest in performing. Although doing shows for an audience is always special, Smith says that her most magical memory at the Landers actually occurred during an audition. Several of her own students watched her callback for CATS. All the auditioners who were up for a role were asked to sing ‘Memory.’

“A whole bunch of my kids at Central, had tried out for CATS and made callbacks. They were all standing in the wings watching me sing,” Smith reminisced. “It didn’t really dawn on me, they had never heard me sing in a professional sense. Of course, they would hear me sing in choir and at the end of the year I would always sing this song called ‘May You’ to the seniors, and I would cry my way through it, so that was their memory of me singing. But I nailed that song in my audition. I turned around to walk out, and those kids all came rushing me and crying like, ‘We didn’t know you could sing like that!’ That is like my greatest memory.”

That audition landed her the role of Jennyanydots, marking her first named role in a musical at SLT. Previous performances she enjoyed include JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, SWEENEY TODD, CINDERELLA and CHILDREN OF EDEN. Smith says she has marveled at all the talent she has seen and performed with at the Landers. Many have gone on to great professional success, including her own students.

“Think of all the families that have been [at SLT], starting with the Crosbys back in the 70s. Kim [Crosby] was in OLIVER! Being in a show with Betty Buckley – she played Nancy in that show,” Smith recalled. “Then I was in other stuff like THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. Tess Harper was in that. I was in a show with Tess Harper. It was just fantastic and just all the people who have gone on and done incredible things that you get to share the stage with.”

Throughout her career, Smith was busy raising her own family who shared her interest in music. She appreciated that bringing her children to work always felt welcome and that they also enjoyed being involved.

“It’s this place that feels like family. Everybody is very connected. I think any place you’re at, any program you’re at, connecting with people is the most important thing. SLT is really, really good at that,” Smith reflected. “[My daughter] Aubrey was in a lot of those shows with me. She was very focused on opera, but we did several shows together and that was so much fun. My older son, Quint, I dragged him along to everything. He had to sit in the auditorium at the Landers and watch me. My grandson definitely is going to be at SLT when the time comes.”

Smith says she has stayed involved at SLT because it aligns with her primary value as an arts educator. If there is any lesson she successfully imparts on all her students, she hopes it is this.

“SLT has an environment of kindness and this drive to persist to the perfection. You should always persist to the perfection,” she encouraged. “Don’t expect to achieve it, because it’s live theatre. Anything can happen. All of us have seen stuff happen on stage. It’s that dynamic of its real life, but it’s all of these people persisting to that perfection that makes it so special.”

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