The stars are out in Olathe: These three earned scholarships from Starlight Theatre

When it comes to theater, the stars are out in Olathe. Three students in the school district recently received scholarships from Starlight Theatre for their work in the arts.

Abby Williams, who will be in eighth grade at Indian Trail Middle School this fall, will get a chance to try something she’s always wanted to do, courtesy of the $2,500 Vincent Legacy Scholarship she received from Starlight.

An avid tumbler, dancer and cheerleader, Abby now has her eye on something a little more gravity-defying: aerial arts. That means dangling in the air from the trapeze, hoops and stilts.

“I like to go upside down, and I also like to use my flexibility in a lot of it, too,” she said. “It’s really fun. You have to do all these things with your legs and your hands to wrap yourself in the silk the right way.”

There was just one catch: Her mom said she had to find a way to help pay for it. With the scholarship, she’s been able to take a class at Kansas City Aerial Arts.

“I was really excited and proud of myself for actually getting it, because there was a whole bunch of people that auditioned,” Abby said.

To get the scholarship, she wrote an essay and had to perform a dance she choreographed using pieces of old routines from cheerleading with some added tumbling.

Abby’s not the only Olathe student to receive a scholarship from Starlight. The theater’s Blue Star Awards recognized two of the district’s recent high school graduates with prizes as well.

For Molly McBride of Olathe South, it was double the fun, as she received the Dream Production award for choreography, as well as a performance scholarship.

The Dream Production category lets students from all over the metro choreograph, direct, work in design lighting and more for the same musical, chosen each year by Starlight. This year’s musical was “My Fair Lady.”

Molly found herself choreographing for the song “Get Me to the Church on Time.” Using the sheet music, she created dances for the lead character of Eliza Doolittle, the female ensemble and the male ensemble.

In addition to creating the dances on paper, she also recorded videos of what each section would look like. She ended up with 12 minutes of videos.

“I felt kind of bad, because the video was so long, but I think they really appreciated the detail I went into for that,” she said.

Molly has been dancing for years and began choreographing in middle school.

“I look at other choreographers and see what they do first, but I kind of taught myself what works for me and what things I appreciated about choreography,” she said.

Over the last few years, she’s done a little bit of everything in the theater. When the school did “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Molly directed and choreographed the show — then found herself in the role of Charlie Brown on stage when the lead actor had to drop out, and they needed a last-minute replacement who knew the choreography.

In addition to the $200 Dream Production award, she also got a $200 performance scholarship based on a special dance she learned for and performed at the Blue Star Awards ceremony.

She’ll be attending the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in the fall.

Also getting top marks from the Blue Star Awards was Brandon Heflin of Olathe West, who received a $2,500 Rising Star Scholarship. Like Molly, he’s been very involved in all aspects of his school’s theater program.

“I’ve just really pushed for community and collaboration and just coming together as one,” he said. “Some people feel like there’s a disconnect between actors and techies, and I advocated for that not to happen in my department.”

His roles on stage have included SpongeBob, the Cowardly Lion and Gomez Addams. Off-stage, he served terms as president and vice-president of the drama club in addition to helping build sets.

“I try to reach out and talk to people, because growing up, I was kind of a loner; I had anxiety issues. I wanted to make sure everyone was welcome. When I was very young, I didn’t always have that,” he said.

He’ll attend the University of Kansas this fall to major in pre-pharmacy but plans to minor in theater.