If you’re looking for live theater entertainment, there are a number of options DeSoto County offers. Names like DeSoto Family Theatre, Kudzu Playhouse and the Warehouse Theatre in Olive Branch quickly come to mind.
Taylor Smit, with 15 years of acting experience overall, has been active in theater since she and her husband moved to the Mid-South from Orlando, Florida about three years ago. Smit was part of the ensemble cast in Cinderella, which was performed at Theatre Memphis last year. She also directed “Frozen KIDS” for the DeSoto Family Theatre Summer Camp last month, ending in a performance on June 20. Smit has also performed with the Bartlett Performance Arts Center, performed in “Oklahoma!” with Kudzu Playhouse and has been teaching private voice lessons.
Before the Mid-South, Smit’s background included three performances with Disney Cruise Lines and “Finding Nemo the Musical” with Walt Disney World for four years until COVID shut it down and she and her husband came to the Mid-South when a job opportunity opened for her husband.
While active in the Mid-South performing arts scene, Smit has observed one stage DeSoto County doesn’t have, and she’s ready to help fill that need: a non-profit professional theater company.
“I noticed that there was a real love for the arts here and a real thriving community theater scene,” Smit said. “I’ve noticed there is real talent, especially in the high school age, and a desire to do theater professionally.”
To that end, armed with acting experience and a business degree background, Smit is the organizer of The Grove Theater and Conservatory. The vision is to hire professional actors, designers, and directors, offering paid positions and pre-professional training. Her plan is to also provide educational programming and a high school-level conservatory where students can train alongside professional actors.
Taylor Smit, The Grove Theater and Conservatory
“I just felt it was time,” Smit said. “I see a need here, I see a hole here. I was just really looking forward to creating a new opportunity, and paid opportunities for people.”
Right now, Smit is fundraising through a GoFundMe page for startup costs. As a non-profit, The Grove Theater will be able to operate through grant funding, sponsorships and donations.
The theater will initially produce small shows and offer classes in acting, voice, and movement, but Smit envisions the theater as a cultural and economic hub, attracting locals and tourists, and contributing to the local economy.
“It’s going to be small shows in the beginning, cast sizes of maybe two or three people to a maximum of 12 people who have been studying and training to do it for a long time,” said Smit. “Educationally, I want to put on acting classes, voice and speech classes, dialect, movement classes, and more.”
The offerings will also include classes on the technical side of theater, how to prepare for auditions, and dance classes.
The theater will pay its staff, including actors, directors, and designers, and offer Actors Equity contracts for benefits like health insurance and pensions.
“I want to be able to offer that to anyone who comes to work for me,” Smit said.
It is hoped The Grove Theater can locate somewhere in the Snowden Grove area, tagging onto the entertainment development happening in that part of Southaven.
“I just really envision this as a place where people can come on a date night, have something to eat, and then go and see a show, and have drinks afterwards,” Smit said. “If people come here for any business gathering, they can have some entertainment in the evenings, and even pull in some people from Memphis, just draw people in to spend some money in DeSoto County.”
Smit talked about The Grove Theater being what is termed a “black box theater” at the outset. A black box theater is one that is a highly flexible performance space in a neutral setting, designed to focus attention on the actors and storytelling. The concept was extremely popular in the 1960s and works well for smaller production companies.
“I’ve just been so impressed with the level of theater here,” Smit said. “We’re not looking to compete, we’re not looking to pull anyone away from what is happening here. We’re really just looking to fill in a hole, and that is to pay people and really let this be a staple for the city of Southaven and DeSoto County as a whole.”
Learn more about The Grove Theater and Conservatory and donate through the theater’s GoFundMePage.
