Truly Entering Theatre brought to the region by LCCC grads
True Troupe, the Cheyenne-based theatre production company co-founded by sisters Adrianna
and Amber True, is poised for a remarkable year ahead. The troupe, driven by a commitment
to showcase captivating forms of entertainment across various genres and styles, has
become an integral part of southeast Wyoming's thriving arts community.
Intending to make art accessible and entertaining for all people in the communities they perform in, True Troupe’s members are thriving on the idea of having a busy year.
For Adrianna, it’s amazing to reflect on how far the troupe has come since its beginnings in 2018.
“We started working through it and decided to see where it would go,” Adrianna says. “It really took off. By the time we were doing ‘Love/Sick,’ which was the second production of our first year, people were asking us what we were doing next; playwrights were reaching out to us asking us to do a playwrights festival. We decided to take on the legwork.”
“Love/Sick” took the stage at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. It was a fitting venue because Adrianna and Amber are both graduates of the junior college, where they were also taking part in the Theatre Program.
But theatre wasn’t Adrianna’s first plan when she came to LCCC. She was only 16 when she took English 1010, as she started taking college courses before she graduated from high school. By the time she was a full-time LCCC in 2012, Adrianna had a full semester’s worth of credit. Her path as a business major, however, wasn’t working out. She knew she wanted to pursue something that tapped into her passion for creativity.
“I was struggling with accounting,” she says. “My advisor was wonderful, and we made the transition into music and theatre.”
The faculty and staff at LCCC helped support Adrianna in her new pursuit and made sure she took all the courses she needed for a seamless transfer to the University of Wyoming. She went to Laramie in Fall 2015 where she continued studying the arts. In Spring 2017, she graduated from UW with her Bachelor of Arts in theatre and dance.
After finishing at UW, Adrianna and Amber (Amber was a theatre student at LCCC at the time) decided they wanted to put their skills to practical use. Amber was the more skilled actor, while Adrianna had a drive to direct. They knew how to apply for grants, so they got to work on finding funding to get their idea off the ground. In August 2018, True Troupe made its debut with a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” hosted at McIlvaine Plaza at LCCC.
The intention was always for True Troupe to provide more contemporary, edgier works than were normally available in Cheyenne. It was also important for them to make sure opportunities for women in theatre were made available through the troupe.
“We wanted to make sure Cheyenne had the stuff that’s a little more out there,” Adrianna says. “We also focus on providing opportunities for female-driven work.”
The sisters have been successful in that mission, bringing plays such as “Adults,” “Elf Academy,” “Wrights of Wyoming” and more. They’ve also taken on some classics of the stage, such as “Twelfth Night” and “Macbeth.”
With big plans on the horizon, the True sisters will always look back at LCCC as an important part of making it possible.
“Having those people who encourage students to finalize their education, doing what’s best for them, is remarkable,” Adrianna says. “They just want to make sure students can prosper in doing what they want to do, and that’s fabulous.”
For more information on the production or the Theatre program, contact Jason Pasqua at jpasqua@lccc.wy.edu or 307.778.4323.