Next Generation: Maddie McElroy

You might call Maddie McElroy an environmentalist. After all, the itch she most craves scratching when it comes to her performing arts journey is behind the scenes.

“Stage managing to me is a role where you are facilitating the environment of the theater,” the Augustana University junior said of her foray into the technical side of stage performance. “Your job is to make sure that you’re checking in with people, making sure everyone is doing their jobs and is okay. That they have everything they need. You’re kind of the communicator among everyone.”

Maddie McElroy

That care for communication translates to much of McElroy’s pursuits on and off stage. A Sioux Falls native and oldest of six kids, she was raised by “band kids,” both brought up in the area.

“Their love of music and musicians has always been a part of my life,” she said of her parents. “My dad played a lot of showtunes in our house growing up. My mom will sometimes go to conferences for work, and every time she goes out there she sees Broadway shows. 

“When I was younger, she would bring back CDs of the shows and play them in the car non-stop. My siblings and I have memorized entire albums of shows we hadn’t seen at that point”

And that familial connection to the art of performance drove McElroy to express herself in a variety of ways in her younger years, namely studying at Balleraena Dance Studio from the ages of four to 18.

“When I first started out, I loved hip-hop and jazz—just the energy of it—but in order to take those classes, you had to take a ballet technique class,” she said. “I absolutely hated ballet, but after I got over that it became my favorite style of dance. From there, I ended up dropping my other styles and continued with musical theatre and ballet, eventually into pointe.”

And though she’s moved onto the collegiate space, McElroy still finds herself a frequent guest at Balleraena, including volunteering, stage-managing and helping with the technical side of shows and recitals.

“Any time I get a chance to go take a ballet class, I try and head over and do it,” she said. “There’s something about it—everything kind of flows. There’s something really familiar about it, really comforting. If I’m having a bad day, that’s what I gravitate toward—a studio or a barre class where I can kind of get back to my roots.”

Once the young artist got a taste for theatre performance in middle school and the joy of making people smile through acting, the Augustana University theatre program was a natural next step.

“When I came to Augie, I had a lot more opportunities to not only act, but also to be part of the technical side and get a good balance between the two,” she said, citing instructors like Dan Workman, Jacee Casarella, Cindy Bakke and Jayna Fitzsimmons as major inspirations. “I’ve found that when I’ve been able to step into a technical position it’s been the most impactful. I could see myself now being able to stage-manage or do props. I’m also studying to be an elementary school teacher, so with what I’ve learned from Augie in these technical roles is to become well-rounded.”

That fearlessness that it takes to be involved in a live theatrical production is something McElroy hopes will serves her well as she ventures into the elementary education space as early as 2023.

“I think being in a classroom is a lot like improv. You’ve got to be quick on your feet,” she said. “As a teacher, your goal is to help your students learn and thrive, and it’s really hard to do that with a monotone voice. Being in theater and being able to read from a script makes it so that my lessons can be as engaging as possible. Class is so much more effective when you have some fun along the way.

“I definitely endorse anyone studying education to take a theater class—how do you communicate, how do you engage, how do you incorporate fun? It can help teach students that it’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to be vulnerable, it’s okay to be a little silly at times. And it’s okay to be you.”

So what’s next for the impending graduate? Besides her student teaching next year, McElroy has joined local professional troupe LiRa Dance Theatre Company, and she has her sights set on stage-managing for companies around town.

“There are just so many opportunities to get involved on different levels in Sioux Falls. I would also love to keep working on the tech side of things, even in my dance involvement. I’ve got the theatre bug, and I hope Sioux Falls keeps giving me chances to continue with it.”