Acting with Heart

ACT Foundation and 2nd Act Thrift Store promote local theater with Milissa West at the helm

Milissa West’s first acting role was at Pierre’s Theatre (formerly Pierre’s Playhouse) in Victor when she was sixteen years old. She had one line—“Pocket watch”—which she said every night in a thick Southern accent. She clearly remembers the part.

Milissa’s family, the Parsons, moved to Teton Valley in the 1990s, when she was in high school. Her father grew up here and, as a kid, saw the benefits of the burgeoning theater scene centered around Teton Valley’s talented Egbert family and Pierre’s Playhouse. Although he never acted as a kid, he built sets and helped where he could. When he returned to the area with his own young family, they quickly fell back into the theater community. Milissa, her brothers, and her parents all performed in Pierre’s summer melodramas, as well as in its annual A Christmas Carol production. Her mother also helped prepare the chicken dinners that were served on the patio prior to performances.

It’s a family tradition the Wests carry on today. Two of Milissa’s sons, Gage and Emmett, are actors, while her husband Mike and their third son Brenden provide support backstage.

“Live theater is so important for communities,” Milissa says. “It’s just as important as sports. Not everyone is athletic, so a lot of voices don’t get heard and personalities are never shared unless they have another place to shine.”

In 1963, Tom and Margaret Egbert purchased Victor’s 1950s movie house. They transformed the place into an old-fashioned melodrama theater and christened it Pierre’s Playhouse, in honor of an early name for the valley, Pierre’s Hole. For the next forty-plus years, they hosted chicken dinners and melodramas for audiences. It was participatory theater, the traditional melodrama style: the audience was encouraged to boo and cheer for the actors throughout the performance, making the experience more personal and fun.

But in 2006, Pierre’s stopped offering its live shows—although it did continue operating as a small movie theater until 2020—and the tradition of community theater in Teton Valley ended.

“We’ve lost so many community icons,” Milissa says. “We used to have a bowling alley, a dance hall, two movie theaters. It’s hard to see the valley change—to lose its history. We have a lot of places here where people are in and out quickly. We don’t have a lot of gathering places where you can see friends and share a laugh or a memory. Theater offers history and a place for people to come together.”

Milissa says that the theater community was scarce when Pierre’s stopped staging plays beyond the annual A Christmas Carol production that did persevere. The high school still offered plays, but most roles were reserved for students. Milissa longed to fill the gap—to provide opportunities for everyone, young and old, to get involved in acting or production work—but it wasn’t until her kids started expressing an interest that she decided to take things into her own hands.

In 2021, she established the ACT Foundation, which stands for Arts, Cinema, and Theater, with the mission of “supporting, developing, and promoting creative programs and cultivating new artistic avenues” in Teton Valley. To support the foundation, Milissa, who managed Teton Valley Hospital’s See-N-Save Thrift Store for fourteen years, opened the 2nd Act Thrift Store in Victor.

“Because I ran the hospital thrift store, I had a lot of experience and I knew that a thrift store supporting a nonprofit has a lot more heart than a for-profit one,” Milissa says. “People are more willing to give when they know it’s for a good cause. I opened 2nd Act to support the foundation, but it also provides props and costumes for our plays. Things like someone’s great aunt’s fur coat—they bring it in because they never wear it, but it can be a great costume for one of our productions.”

The foundation’s work is thriving. Milissa says she’ll have fifty kids show up to audition for three or four children’s roles, so she’s always looking for different ways to keep them involved. And it’s not just children; Milissa has had amazing results from adults as well. She says one woman in her seventies had always had acting on her bucket list, but it wasn’t until she retired that she took a chance and tried out for a play with ACT.

“It doesn’t matter how young or old you are,” Milissa says. “Theater is an outlet. You get to play dress up. You get to pretend to be someone else. You become part of a new community.”

Zinnia Saxer, who turned twelve in September, started acting at age seven. Her mother Iris says Zinnia had never expressed much interest in theater until she decided she wanted to audition for A Christmas Carol five years ago.

“Zinnia whipped out a British accent from nowhere,” her mother says. “She was cast as Ellen that year.”

“It snowballed from there,” Zinnia chimes in.

Since that show, Zinnia has participated in theater camps with 2nd Act, and acted in other local plays, like Alice in Wonderland, in which she played the Mock Turtle. Her mother says Zinnia is a bit of a smart aleck and likes comedy, and Milissa will often tailor Zinnia’s roles to her strengths.

Zinnia was able to find a social circle and a new passion through theater. Some days, she even goes to rehearsal when she isn’t actually performing—she’s just so happy to be there.

“Milissa tries to get everyone involved,” Iris says. “She took her knowledge from the thrift store and her own theater background and channeled it to create theater opportunities in the valley. Her family members all pitch in. She’s amazing, super-human, generous, creative, and a happy person.

“Maybe the only thing she’s not that good at is asking for money and help,” Iris adds.

Anne Fish, a real estate agent with Engel & Völkers who has her own background in the performing arts, bought Pierre’s in 2021. She’d heard rumors that someone was thinking of buying the space for a laundromat, which she thought would be a travesty. She asked a few of her friends—musicians, an opera singer, as well as Milissa—if they thought she could make a go of the place as a community theater.

“Towns with theaters thrive,” Anne says. “People go out to dinner before or after they go to a show. They walk around downtown. I talked to the owner of the Brakeman [American Grill] restaurant, and he said one evening he had forty kids come in for dinner after a kid-friendly show. It was crazy busy, but he wasn’t complaining.”

Her idea was well-received, and since her purchase, Pierre’s has hosted plays, movies, improv comedy, renowned musicians, and more to sold-out audiences. Anne recently passed the torch of Pierre’s to Heather Mortensen, who is committed to keeping it a theater.

“I am thrilled to take on the operations of this wonderful asset to Teton Valley,” Heather says. “We look forward to working with the ACT Foundation and carrying on what Anne started.”

“Milissa has been critical to [Pierre’s] success,” Anne says. “The ACT Foundation has been very instrumental in keeping the arts vibrant in Teton Valley.

“Really, it goes back to the kids,” she continues. “Milissa’s work is teaching kids values. It gives them confidence and perspective about a larger world beyond Teton Valley. Even if they don’t pursue acting, they learn important life skills that they will have forever.”

A standing ovation is due for Milissa West and her work to keep the arts thriving in Teton Valley. To learn more, get involved, or see a show, visit actfoundationtvi.org.