CONNECT 2021

STORY KYLE STRINGER | PHOTOS SARAH HOYT T heatre has given Sarah Hoyt so much in her life. Now the 1966 alumna is looking forward to giving future thespians the same opportunities she was afforded by creating the Sarah K. Hoyt Endowed Scholarship in Theatre. Hoyt’s interest in theatre and performing started before she was even in school. She grew up as the only girl in her neighborhood in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan. She wasn’t allowed to play with the boys there, so she built her own world using her imagination. “I made stories that I acted out with my puppets, and then I had paper dolls and I drew and painted on them to design their clothes,” Hoyt said. “I had a dollhouse that I redecorated over and over again with the sofas, chairs, lamps and other things I’d cut out of the Sears catalog.” Turns out Hoyt was cultivating her lifelong love for theatre and getting her first taste of performance and costume and set design. When other little girls moved into the neighborhood, Hoyt gladly welcomed them into her homegrown theater. Together, they expanded on what she had done with puppets and dolls to put on skits that mimicked the soap operas their moms listened to on the radio. She earned her first principal role in kindergarten. “I got to play the fairy godmother in Cinderella , and that was a lot of fun, getting to go around and sing her songs,” she said. Throughout her early childhood, the lure of the stage grew. She was drawn by the endless possibilities as well as the lessons that scripts and performances presented. She jumped at the chance to be in drama class at Harding High School. “There’s always something to learn from the script that you’re reading,” she said. “There are so many new things you’re exposed to. You are constantly learning and doing something with good company and good guidance.” Much of what she learned had application away from the stage. “Learning a role can show you that your emotions are OK. It’s OK to be sad or to be angry … as long as you realize what you do with those emotions,” Hoyt said. “Theatre teaches you that for every wrongdoing, you get payback, and that can be an important lesson.” Hoyt was set to attend the University of Oklahoma once she graduated. That was until her performance as Lady Thiang in The King and I pulled back the curtain on a life-changing opportunity. In the audience was Vivia Locke, a member of Oklahoma State University’s theatre faculty. Locke offered Hoyt a full scholarship to OSU one day after the performance. “We left the next week to enroll, and I got to chat withMs. Locke about my responsibilities and what was expected of me,” Hoyt said. Sarah Hoyt ALife-Changing Performance Sarah Hoyt’s scholarship changed the course of her life — now she wants to do the same for future theatre students 34 CONNECT 202 1