McCoy taking advantage of opportunities to develop teaching, theatre experience

As a seventh grader, Billie McCoy accompanied her older sister on a tour of the Northwest Missouri State University campus and was so impressed that she took possession of the T-shirt given to her sister and set her sights on attending the University when her time came.

Now the native of Raytown, Missouri, is completing her sophomore year at Northwest as a speech and theatre education major and gaining valuable experience as she pursues her career goals. 

“It’s amazing because in a lot of places you don’t get to act until you’re a couple years in,” said McCoy who already has worked on several Theatre Northwest productions, not just as an actress but as an assistant in the costume shop.

Most notably, McCoy was a semifinalist this spring in the annual Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition, which begins with more than 300 students competing at the regional level. After submitting a video audition that showed McCoy presenting two monologues – in her bedroom with a ring light she bought for $30 – she was announced in January as one of the 50 semifinalists to compete at the Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in Des Moines, Iowa.

“They put up on the screen and we’re all looking, and my name’s right there – Billie McCoy – and we’re like, whoa,” McCoy said. “We were freaking out and jumping up and down because it’s a big deal when people even make the semifinals.”

The next day in front of an audience of about 100 festival attendees, McCoy performed a scene from “Overnight” by Natalie Bates and presented her monologue, depicting a convenience store robbery in “Why We Have a Body” by Claire Chaffee.

“I was so nervous and I was scared, but I got up there and we did it and our scene went well,” McCoy said. “The audience was super reactive, laughing, and I did my monologue about the robbery, which people liked.”

McCoy was not among the 16 students selected to move on to the final round of the scholarship competition but remains grateful for the experience.

“It was a very cool experience,” she said. “I’m glad I did it because it makes me know, OK, I can try again next year. Now I know what to expect when I go in and we’ll see if I can do better.”

McCoy has participated in some capacity in almost every theatre production staged at Northwest since she became a student on the campus. She made her Northwest stage debut in the 2022 First-Year Showcase, an annual production that introduces Northwest audiences to some of the University’s newest stage performers and crew members. She also appeared in “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Humans” before assisting with costumes on “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.”

During Theatre Northwest’s 2023-24 season, she was the associate director for the First-Year Showcase presentation of “Launch Day” and the April production of “Radium Girls.” She also portrayed Jo March in “Little Women” and appeared as Clara in “Miracle on South Division Street.” The latter earned her a nomination to compete for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship again next year.

On “Launch Day,” McCoy worked alongside Professor of Theatre Dr. Joe Kreizinger and had the responsibility of directing two scenes on her own. For “Radium Girls,” McCoy took ownership of directing five scenes while collaborating with Kreizinger on others.

“I love directing because you get to see this whole vision come to life,” McCoy said. “You have this idea in your head and you like the script, and you feel like you can tell a story with it. Then you get to cast and you get to bring all of these pieces together. When you’re an actor, you don’t really see all those pieces, but when you’re a director, you see how it all comes together and it creates this artistic unification. It’s a really cool process to see a show come from little pieces into one big masterpiece in the end.”

Kreizinger has mentored McCoy as a director as well as her academic advisor. McCoy also works with Kreizinger as a recruitment coordinator for Theatre Northwest.

“She is so serious and so into it – and just a great, great kid,” Kreizinger said. “For purposes of continuity, often in college, a director will not give specific scenes to an associate director, but I’ve given her five scenes that are all her own.”

McCoy also is active outside of her coursework in TRIO programs and as a member of Future Speech and Theater Educators, of which she recently was elected co-president. Last fall, she worked as an assistant director at The Rose Theatre in Maryville, where she worked with children on an adaptation of “Caps for Sale” that turned the storybook into a musical.

“That was super fun, and that was also a great opportunity for community engagement and teaching theater to young audiences, using creative dramatics,” McCoy said.

This summer, McCoy will participate in Starlight Theatre’s Bob Rohlf Internship Program in Kansas City, Missouri, where she will help plan and implement programming throughout the summer.

As she continues her academic work at Northwest, McCoy is looking forward to directing Lab Series productions during the 2024-25 season. Additionally, she plans to work as a substitute teacher and complete her student teaching requirements during her final year at Northwest.

After finishing her bachelor’s degree at Northwest, McCoy hopes to teach in a middle school or high school setting while directing theater and coaching speech and debate.