Lone Peak High School actress, artist and streamer brings Big Sky art to virtual viewers
By Jen Clancey DIGITAL PRODUCER
It’s easy to forget that someone is behind the camera during live streams of shows– especially when they are good at what they do. Big Sky productions at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center has a key and sole player manning the lenses, and she started just four years ago on a whim.
Abby Meredith began working with production of live streams in eighth grade for Big Sky’s 2020 TEDxBigSky event. Andrew Blessing, technology director at the Big Sky School District, encouraged her to check out the behind-the-scenes work and see what she could learn.
The experience struck Meredith– it was a different style of storytelling, and one that would become vital as COVID-19 forced a reliance on technology in the spring of 2020.
Since TEDxBigSky, Meredith has worked 24 shows, and counting.
“I had started helping stream sports not long before we did TEDx,” Meredith said. Sports games were different, but an art form nonetheless, according to Meredith. “Football: you kind of have to anticipate different plays … or basketball, you have to anticipate where the ball is going.”
Meredith has found her flow at WMPAC, however, capturing a range of productions from live community events to elaborate choreography. “As an artist, I enjoy crafting stories,” Meredith said.
The run of show off-screen
When Meredith is doing a show, she arrives with a little bag of Goldfish Crackers and a Diet Coke, according to John Zirkle, Lone Peak High School’s music teacher and executive director at WMPAC.
“She’s gotten to the point where she’s up there and she’s in full flow mode,” Zirkle said. Throughout the show, she’s gnawing on her snacks while maneuvering cameras. “And then she also has her little sketch pad where she’s … trying out different animated characters in between shots.”
“Her ability to master the systems and then humanize them is truly astounding,” Zirkle continued. “Abby has an intuitive sense of what’s going on onstage and how the story is developing. Those skills that marry technology and art are something that we just truly treasure.”
According to Zirkle, demand for live streamed shows in Big Sky has increased, something that may hint at the desire for experiencing a show collectively, even if it’s virtual.
“And that’s what great theater does. It brings us into a moment together at the same time,” Zirkle said. He describes what Meredith does as a “magic trick,” and one that takes years for professionals to master. “She’s convincing [people] thousands of miles away that they’re actually in space with us.”
As a Lone Peak High School senior involved in onstage and offstage productions, and working as a hostess at the Riverhouse BBQ & Events, Meredith relies on her ability to pick up the mood, themes and elements of a show quickly.
Zirkle explains that there are times when a community event needs broadcasting and Meredith will enthusiastically take on the job, heading from her work at the Riverhouse, to WMPAC.
“Probably over 50% of the time it’s going in blind, maybe knowing the premise or type of the show, and not much else,” Meredith said.
“It’s definitely trying to figure out … what they’re trying to say. Is the [stage] set static? Is there stuff moving around? It’s essentially trying to anticipate as much as possible,” Meredith said. ”It’s fun to use my cameras to mirror the emotions … or events of the show.”
Learning on and off stage
Perhaps the interest in capturing shows comes from Meredith’s own experience on stage. This year, she is starring in the holiday high school musical “White Christmas,” based on the 1954 Paramount Pictures film. She stars as Betty on Friday, Dec. 14 at the WMPAC.
“It’s a classic … I’m getting to know [Betty] and be her as a person. It’s really fun to embody all these different personalities,” Meredith said of acting.
She remembers acting as Miss Honey in “Matilda,” Paulette from “Legally Blonde” and the ability to take on different characters. “It’s fun,” Meredith said. “That variety is fun.”
Knowing the people on the stage makes the experience of both streaming and theater so special to Meredith. “So the first night, it’s my friend Logan [Barker, playing Betty]. She’s the best … She’s super talented,” Meredith said.
“Any of the community theater shows are always a joy, because it’s fun to see the people I know [who are my] friends,” Meredith said, describing what it’s like to capture the Big Sky community when she’s not on stage. “I love filming Big Sky Broadway shows. The actors are really fun. The sets are exciting.”
“I think a lot of the shows with local talent, I can connect those really well. I love seeing the friends and people that I know, grow and blossom as theater performers,” she said.
Even outside of WMPAC, her life is surrounded by art. She’s an avid drawer and loves to design characters. Meredith describes drawing for hours every day.
“I love to draw digitally. I love to draw with pencil and paper,” Meredith said, and laughed about how teachers might comment about how much she draws in class. “I like character design and [drawing] human characters… it’s really fun to do.”
Bringing productions across the world
There are times when community members will see Abby and thank her for the work she’s done to capture WMPAC shows, whether a family member was sick or they wanted to share a clip with their office.
“It’s what has kept me coming back, really. The people are what makes it worth doing,” Meredith said. “On some streams we get hundreds of people watching from all over the world. It’s really incredible to be able to be a part of that.”
“It’s art, it’s made on the fly, like a live painting almost,” Meredith said.
Meredith dreams of continuing to produce shows just like the ones at WMPAC, but also gain experience in larger live stream productions, inspired by documentary and streaming work done on Netflix and Disney+.
As a high school senior, she doesn’t want her legacy to disappear when she leaves after the year. “It’ll be sad to not be a part of all the shows, as I might have once been, but I’m also really excited to get somebody else behind the camera.”
“What I see is truly a young artist and in her element,” Zirkle said. “She’s one of the true unsung heroes of this space.”
“The quality of the broadcast that she puts out, it’s hard to believe that it’s just one high school student running this whole thing,” Zirkle said. He explained that the staff at BSSD and WMPAC want her to be celebrated.
You can see Meredith in the upcoming high school holiday musical and see her behind-the-camera skills online for the “Her Gift/Her Creation” production on Sunday, Dec. 3.
To view Abby Meredith’s artistic portfolio, click here.
