As High Tide Theatrical prepares to launch its first full season with a standing-room-only show, the company’s 24-year-old executive director doesn’t appear nervous. In fact, it seems like Grace Billingsley has been preparing for this moment for a long time.
“It’s a perfect storm,” Billingsley said while sitting in High Tide’s home space adjacent to Martha’s Vineyard in downtown Springfield. “I started my own production company to produce ‘Broadway Backwards’ when I was 16 and I have always been a natural leader. I like taking initiative, but I saw myself as a performer — and I still do, sometimes. But that very first ‘Backwards’ was when I realized that arts administration and philanthropy is where my passion lies.”
‘Red Hot & Backwards' to raise money for AIDS Project of the Ozarks
High Tide raises the curtain on the 2024 season Sunday, Feb. 18, with a show called “Red Hot & Backwards.” It’s inspired by “Broadway Backwards,” Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ annual celebration of LGBTQ+ stories told through musical theater.
High Tide’s production is a benefit for AIDS Project of the Ozarks. Billingsley is both directing and producing the show.
“Men sing songs written for women and vice versa,” she said. “We kind of go into it genderblind. We look at it as gender doesn’t matter but love does, so it’s kind of a celebration throughout the evening.”
There are more than 30 songs and 20 performers listed for the show, which is choreographed by Jordan Alexander-Holt, Jacob Deck, Angi Griffee and Allegra Schaeffer. The music director for the show is Kristen Walker. “Red Hot & Backwards” starts at 7:30 p.m. inside Martha’s Vineyard. As of 10:30 a.m. Feb. 16, only a small number of standing-room tickets remained for sale.
‘This is a very personal project for me'
The roots of “Red Hot & Backwards” go back to 2016 and that very first show by her company, then called CB Productions. Billingsley was a member of the Y.E.S. Troupe and a pre-professional track student at Springfield Little Theatre at the time. With help from SLT’s Beth Domann and Lorianne Dunn, she staged the show at the Landers Theatre.
“I had a close family friend pass away of AIDS-related causes when I was young and I didn’t know why until years after he passed,” Billingsley said. “So this is a very personal story to me, a very personal project for me.”
The Landers hosted a pair of Billingsley’s “Backwards” productions, as did the Old Glass Place. The shows have raised money for Rare Breed and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
“I think it was year three when someone told me about APO and since then, we’ve done this fundraiser for them,” Billingsley said. “I’m happy to contribute to raising awareness for APO.”
The show is a partnership between High Tide and Billingsley’s personal production company, now called the Young Artists Collective.
A theater camp in Joplin started her trajectory
While “Broadway Backwards” was the first show Billingsley produced, it is far from the first show she participated in. She got her first exposure to the theater as a young child in Joplin.
“I did a theater camp, really just because I needed something to do over the summer,” she said. “My dad put me in theater camp and my mom was like, ‘I don’t want a diva in the house acting insane.’ But they saw how much I enjoyed it.”
That camp connected Billingsley with a voice teacher in Springfield and eventually led to her first show. When she was 7 years old, she played Tessie in Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s production of “Annie.” It was staged in the old theater on the fourth floor of what is now Hotel Vandivort. At age 8, she was taking classes at Springfield Little Theatre, where she was part of Springfield’s “freaky vortex of talent,” as Domann is fond of saying.
“Springfield is just a beautiful melting pot of all sorts of different arts,” Billingsley said. “I grew up at Springfield Little Theatre with Cailee Spaeny, one of my dear friends who just played Priscilla (Presley in the biopic ‘Priscilla’), and with Aryn Bohannon, who is on tour with ‘Six’ the musical.”
Billingsley graduated from high school early, at age 17, and started teaching classes. She also traveled to New York City to study at the Broadway Artists Alliance before starting the education department at Marshfield Community Theatre. During her time there, she directed a production of “Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.”
Role in a High Tide production introduced her to the company
She didn’t stop performing, though. Billingsley played Miss Phillips in SLT’s January 2023 production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” before reprising one of her favorite roles — Janet Weiss in “The Rocky Horror Show.”
She first played that role for Springfield Contemporary Theatre in 2017 before taking the stage for High Tide Theatrical in November 2023. That role, like the “Backwards” series, has a special place in her heart, as she explained to the Springfield News-Leader’s Greta Cross.
“My dad passed away last year and he actually is the one who talked me into doing it the first time,” Billingsley told Cross. “He said, ‘This is the most fun you're ever going to have,' and he's absolutely right. He's definitely on my mind today. He would love what we are doing.”
That show was Billingsley’s introduction to High Tide Theatrical. She took over as executive director in January 2024.
“(High Tide) was run by a really small-but-mighty group of volunteers,” Billingsley said. “They were doing theater and as it was expanding I was asked to come on. With my experience with starting new programs at different theaters, it just seemed like the right fit so I was happy to help.
“The reason it was so easy for me to say yes and jump on board is because there’s already a really passionate group of volunteers that are pushing this organization forward.”
Aiming to be ‘the people's theater'
High Tide’s team remains small-but-mighty, with Joshua David Smith serving as artistic director and Luke Atkison as technical director.
It was Smith, whom Billingsley calls a “creative genius,” who selected the shows for this season. They include “Tick, Tick… Boom!” April 12-20 and “Next to Normal” Aug. 16-24 before “The Rocky Horror Show” returns Oct. 11-26. That production could become an annual tradition for High Tide.
“We’re doing (“The Rocky Horror Show”) for three weekends because it sold out so quick last year,” Billingsley said. “We see the shadow cast done a lot when they play the movie, but it’s not very often in town we get the actual stage version of ‘The Rocky Horror Show.’ Springfield loves it. As long as they want to come and as long as we’re here, we’re going to keep doing ‘Rocky.’”
Most of those shows will be staged in the space next to Martha’s Vineyard, which currently seats 60-80 people. Renovation work continues on the yet-unnamed venue, which will become a black box theater, giving each show’s director a blank slate to work with.
“We’re really excited to tell stories that aren’t told in the area,” Billingsley said. “We take a lot of pride in the meaning behind what we’re doing. We’re touching on some pretty deep topics, like mental health and the AIDS epidemic. We’re talking about all sorts of things that aren’t easy to talk about and make people feel uncomfortable, but they’re stories that need to be told.
“Moving forward, I think that is on our radar as well as making sure that we continue to be the people's theater, which is what we love to call ourselves, and really involve anybody and everybody. There’s a place for everyone here and everyone’s welcome.”
High Tide Theatrical's 2024 season
“Red Hot & Backwards”: Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m.; directed by Grace Billingsley
“Tick, Tick... Boom!”: April 12-20; directed by Mallory Maggi; auditions begin Feb. 25
“Next to Normal”: Aug. 16-24; directed by Joshua David Smith
“The Rocky Horror Show”: Oct. 11-26, directed by Micha Pelkey
For more information: Visit High Tide Theatrical's website or follow them on Facebook
Volunteers needed: Executive Director Grace Billingsley said High Tide is looking for performers, costumers, set builders, graphic designers and more. Information is available on High Tide's website.
“There's room for everyone,” she said. “Tell us your skillset and we can find the place for you.”
