WEST VALLEY CITY — Almost a year after West Valley Arts was on the brink of closure, the theater is continuing to impact people’s lives.
The West Valley City Council’s decision to close West Valley Performing Arts Center was met by outrage, resulting in the community rallying around the theater to change the city’s mind. The theater then saw record ticket sales last fall during its run of “Legally Blonde.”
While performing “A Chorus Line” with West Valley Arts, local actress Bailee Johnson has seen firsthand how important this theater is to the community.
“There’s a level of intimacy and a family-like quality to it. You don’t understand that until you attend and feel they are doing such good work here. It’s a special place, and there’s so much talent in Utah,” she said.
Growing up in Draper, Johnson always loved acting. She acted in several feature films and short films as a child and frequently performed with local theater companies. As she started college, she knew she wanted to study theater as it was what came natural to her.
In the past year, however, it started to feel like all of the bridges she had built and networking she had done in the industry throughout her life were no longer bridging over, and she was starting at square one again.
“I had to decide if I wanted to do it for myself. This is one of the first shows where I did it for myself,” she said. “It sounded cliche and self-centered when people would say that, but this process has taught me that that is what counts: the stuff that speaks deeply to you.”
As she turns 25, Johnson’s most recent role at West Valley Arts came at the perfect time to stretch her and show her what she is capable of.
“It’s made me reflect a ton on my childhood, and I feel like I’m finally out of the woods in terms of I’m not doing this for fun, for a check, for a director, for parents … I’m doing it because I really like it,” she said.
In the last year, Johnson has started reaching out to experience new theater companies, pushing the boundaries of where she feels comfortable. She has been a lead in a play and musical before, but none of her previous roles have been like the role of Cassie in “A Chorus Line.”
“It’s a role I never thought I’d have the threshold to play. I really do think it’s pushed me more than any other role I’ve done, and it’s been the most soul stretching thing I’ve ever been a part of,” she said.
The production depicts dozens of dancers auditioning for a coveted spot in the chorus line, with the characters expressing how their backgrounds have led them to this point. It’s a love letter to the ensemble, Johnson said.
“It’s paying homage to the dirty work of performers and how beautiful and special it is to be part of something larger than yourself. ‘A Chorus Line’ is all about looking at all the stories behind the people on the stage — it takes so much out of a person,” she said.
The role of Cassie requires vulnerability, deep emotional acting, strong singing and technical dancing. As someone who always claimed she was an actress and vocalist first and dancer after, Johnson said she has struggled with feeling inadequate to play Cassie.
“In casting me, they knew it was out of my wheelhouse. They saw the part within me when I literally didn’t see how I could surface it in myself, just because it’s so difficult,” she said.
Johnson says she couldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement from her directors and choreographers. Even though she has been in films and performed in larger venues, “nothing has scared me as bad as playing Cassie.”
“It’s forced me to confront parts of myself. It’s forced me to heal my relationship with dance and to my body and trusting the movement,” Johnson said.
Clinging to the passion she has for performance and the work she has put in to honing her craft, Johnson embraced the role and has been playing Cassie for almost a month, trying to give a gift to the audience each night.
“I feel lucky because I actually feel right on time. I was lucky to be in this show, at this time, with these people,” she said. “I do think it was divine timing. I needed it right now, and it fostered growth in a way that I don’t know how else I would’ve grown like that.”
Johnson graduated from BYU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in April and is headed to New York this summer to try her hand at the big leagues. She is so grateful she gets to be a part of live theater, which can seem so “fleeting” as it is different, raw and real each night until the show closes.
“Playing Cassie has made me feel — as I open this new chapter of my later 20s — like I have a springboard for the types of material I want to do. It’s increased the bar of what feel I am capable of and I do feel it will be like a launching pad into how I view myself now as a performer.”
West Valley Arts’ “A Chorus Line” closes on Saturday, May 3.
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