Acting troupe shares love of theater

       t’s just a few minutes before

the curtain goes up at the Little Theatre and Keith Meyers stands

before his actors in the green room.

“The important thing is to have fun,”

he says.

“We’re definitely going to have

crashes, but let’s have fun,” he adds.

Meyers fittingly stands at the center

of his little troupe and gives last minute reminders. He’s the one

who has drawn this group — a mixture of seasoned performers and

novices together.

The Pitiful Players, a loosely formed

theater group, has put on several performances in Libby and Troy.

Last week they performed “The Purloined Players (or) Who Stole the

Show,” a melodrama about gypsies and actors.

During a past performance Meyers

jokingly called his actors the Pitiful Players and it stuck.

Meyers describes the group as about 20

or 30 actors who put on plays.

“I just round up a bunch of people and

put on a play,” he said.

Meyers, who’s day job is as a mechanic,

writes the scripts and actors bring their own costumes. He keeps

things simple, which allows him take donations for admission. Some

of the cast are high school students and some are community members

new to theater.

“I’ve written off and on all my life. I

write for (high school) speech and drama kids,” he said. “The kids

are wonderful. I love their energy and vitality.”

In just five weeks, the Pitiful Players

pull together a performance.

Still there are nerves before the first

curtain. With an hour until the play begins the actors started

gathering back stage. There were costumes to adjust and makeup to

apply.

The villain, played by Nate Miller, and

the hero, played by Mike Wise, sat together. They are both high

school students whose experience in theater is just as different as

the characters they played.

“I’m the villain everybody loves,”

Miller said with a laugh.

Miller remains calm before

performances, but he’s been acting since age 6 at church and in

Missoula Children’s Theatre plays. He attends theater camp during

the summer.

“I love being on stage,” he said. “It’s

a hobby I want to have for the rest of my life.”

Wise has performed in a few plays. He

still gets nervous, but not as much as he used to.

Meyers is the reason.

“He’s a great guy,” Wise said. “He’s

funny and nice. I was really shy and got nervous, but he’s taught

me a lot.”

April Rainey, a forester with the U.S.

Forest Service, played the gypsy dancer. She has acted in several

plays, but because of her background she was asked to perform the

opening dance number in this play. She put together her performance

in five days.

“I love to dance,” Rainey said. “I love

the sparkles and getting dressed up like a gypsy.”

Rainey has spent the last three years

attending classes at the Academy of Performing Arts in Kalispell.

She used a mix of gypsy and belly dancing to create her dance for

the play.

Monica Raab showed her nervousness

before the play. The last time she acted was when her daughter

Miranda was 4 years old. Monica took her to audition for a play and

both mother and daughter got parts. Miranda is now a senior at

Libby High School.

“She is going off to college and this

is her last play before college,” Monica said. “I’m doing it for

her.”

Miranda, who has acted in 20 plays and

participated in speech and drama, said she enjoyed giving her mom

acting tips.

“There’s one scene with just me and her

and that’s special,” she said.

The Pitiful Players will perform again

Friday, March 11 at Troy High School at 6 p.m.