Nancy Boyd Lives Her Dream as Witty Smitty

The irrepressible Nancy Boyd (center) as Smitty, who fixes up Finch (Jason Wilhoite) and Rosemary (Emilie Tole)
PHOTO by Jan Cartwright

For Nancy Boyd, it happened when the curtain went up on her very first Broadway show.  That moment when your dreams unfold before your eyes and the possibility of your own onstage success becomes tangible.  The show was How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Nancy was hooked: “As cheesy as it sounds, when that curtain rose in the first number, there were tears in my eyes. How to Succeed will always have a special place in my heart because it will always remind me of why I love what I do and encourage me to work hard at my craft.​ So actually having the opportunity to be in a production of the show is so exciting!”

In the Farmington Players production, Nancy plays Smitty, who “says it like it is, and is not one to sugarcoat the truth. Because of this, she gets a lot of one witty one-liners! I think that Smitty is someone who doesn't care about how other people in the office view her as much as she cares about getting her job done, whether it be getting new tax withholding blanks or setting up her best friend on a date! Although she is skeptical of people's intentions, she believes that Rosemary deserves the ideal fairy tale romance that everyone wants, and she will encourage her and Finch to live out this dream.”

Nancy’s natural inclination is to be “a cockeyed optimist” and “too trusting of people.”  By contrast, Smitty is bold, cynical and honest to a fault.  So Nancy decided to model Smitty on two “very strong women in my life: my best friend Meghan Griesbeck and my mother Suzanne Boyd!”  Nancy defines success as “’effort. If someone is always trying to improve themselves and the world around them, they will always be moving forward and will make changes and have ideas that no one could ever imagine!”  She sees How to Succeed as “timeless” because all “people can relate to the struggle of climbing the ladder in their career and their love life. We all have goals that we want to achieve, and this musical brings to life how we strive for them every day (including when things go comically wrong!). People will be able to relate to it, and laugh along whenever something doesn't go quite as a character planned!”  (Such as when Smitty loses her cool after discovering that there’s no coffee!)

Nancy hails from Highland, Michigan and is currently double majoring in Music and Broadcast and Cinema Arts at Madonna University. She enjoys photography, unicycling, playing with her three-legged cat, and “making videos that for some reason usually involve pastries!”

The Farmington Players production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is proudly sponsored by TruVista Wealth Advisors.  The show includes 13 performances from April 24 – May 16 and tickets are available online at farmingtonplayers.org or by emailing boxoffice@farmingtonplayers.org or calling the Barn box office at 248-553-2955.