Welcome to the first in our six part blog series on the the team behind Georgian Bay Musical Theatre Company. In this series we will get to know each of the GBMTC team members, what makes them tick, and what talents they bring to the table.
Today we will get to know GBMTC Secretary & Media Relations Director, Shelley Barry.
From an early age Shelley has been interested in musical theatre. As a child her family made annual trips to Toronto to enjoy shows. These trips sparked an interest in her and in middle school she was cast in her first musical, Evita. She went on to attend Mayfield Secondary School for the Performing Arts where she majored in Drama and minored in Vocal. As she approached college though, her path detoured. While focussing on her studies in Radio Broadcasting, Shelley put her musical theatre career on hiatus. It would remain on hiatus for over ten years.
Fast forward to 2013. Shelley, now Director of Creative at Larche Communications Inc., is approached by a colleague to attend an audition for a musical being produced by Huronia Players and Triple Threat Summer Company. The musical was RENT and Shelley was cast as the outrageous, bi-sexual performance artist, Maureen. The role would reignite her passion for musical theatre and open a floodgate of opportunities for her. Following RENT Shelley was brought on as co-vocal director of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat at St. Theresa’s HS, Cast as Snoopy in the Huronia Players production of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, and began teaching a Triple Threat class at Georgian Bay School of Dance. Most recently, Shelley has exercised her voice talents playing multiple roles in Huronia Players production of It’s A Wonderful Life – The Live Radio Play.
Shelley is very excited to bring awesome minute taking skills, and over ten years of experience in media relations to her role as Secretary & Media Relations Director of GBMTC. The rest of the team is just as excited and always look forward to Shelley’s keen wit and loving smile.
When she’s not belting out musicals, you can usually find Shelley enjoying a movie or expressing some of her tastier talents in the kitchen, baking delicious cakes and treats… Sometimes all at the same time!
The future is bright for Shelley. She believes that life is all about challenging yourself, and that you don’t have to be good at everything, but you can’t be afraid to be bad at them until you are good at them. She still dreams of gracing a stage on Broadway one day, but even if her dreams come true, she hopes to one day direct a GBMTC production and instil a love of musical theatre in local youth.
