Scott Lynch
THEATER scene
Scott Lynch has been involved in local community theater for over
10 years and has performed with SVCT & Limelight. He lives in Gil-
roy, attended Gilroy schools, and graduated from Stanford University
with BS and MS degrees in Industrial Engineering. He is currently
the president of South Valley Civic Theatre.
Meet
Tegan Leong
M
y children never gravitated to
theater; I think they always saw
it as “Dad’s thing.” I realized
early on that wherever children find their
niche, they should be nurtured and en-
couraged to participate and succeed. For
my children their first passions turned out
to be ice hockey and figure skating. For
many children in Gilroy and Morgan Hill,
they find their passion in theater.
I have had the privilege to work
with many kids through South Valley
Civic Theatre’s children, teen, and family
productions and it has been incredible to
watch them grow and mature as a result of
their theater experiences. One such youth
is Tegan Leong. Tegan auditioned for
SVCT’s production of “Oliver!” in 2014.
She was shy and unassuming and sang
with an angelic voice that gleaned her the
role of “Oliver.” She performed the role
wonderfully and endeared the audience
with her renditions of “Who Will Buy?”
and “Where Is Love?”
Having caught “the theater bug,” she
went on to perform in five more SVCT
productions playing such varied roles as
Mushu in “Mulan” and Sebastian”in “Little
Mermaid.” But Tegan is one of those
young people who jumps all-in. She has
been in fourteen productions in the last
76
five years including Oakwood Middle
School’s productions of “Peter Pan, Jr.”
and “Hairspray, Jr.” Most recently she
has joined the Ohana Arts Theatre Co.,
performing in their Bay Area Tour cast
(San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento)
in “Peace on Your Wings,” a story of
a child who succumbed to leukemia
from the effects of the Hiroshima atomic
bomb radiation. When asked about
her favorites, Sebastian from the “Little
Mermaid Jr. ”will always be at the top of
my list. Not only was the cast and crew
like another crazy family to me, but I
don’t remember a single bad day that fall
of 2016. Plus, how can you pass up the
opportunity to wear bright-spanking red
pants and speak in a Caribbean accent?”
She also holds another production in
special regard, “One experience that
changed my life was the Bay Area tour
of “Peace on Your Wings,” a theatrical
rendition of Sadako and the thousand
paper cranes. The whole thing was a lot
of firsts for me. First touring production,
first full-length professional children’s
musical, first time I’ve ever seen an all-
call for just Asian actors. It was the first
show I’ve done that really carried weight
and a message behind it - something the
world needs to know but doesn’t.”
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
FALL/HOLIDAY 2019
Though I know Tegan to be an
exceptional actress and to have a perfec-
tionist’s temperament, I had no idea of
her many accomplishments outside of
the theater. Her humble nature would
never allow her to boast—so her mother,
Liana, shared her accomplishments with
me. An Oakwood Honor Roll student
with a 4.0 GPA, a recipient of Mor-
gan Hill Rotary’s Outstanding Student
Achievement Award, and Certificates
of Excellence in Ceramics and Earth
Science. Tegan has served on Oakwood’s
Student Council as the Middle School
Vice President. I have seen her time and
time again accept recognition from her
SVCT acting peers, receiving four “Best
Actress - Youth” awards in recent years as
well as a “Best Supporting Actres-Youth”
award. All this and she plays basketball
and studies ukulele and piano.
This fall, Tegan will be attending
the Orange County School of the Arts
(OCSA), a public charter school located in
Santa Ana, California that offers students
the opportunity to develop their talents
and skills in a broad spectrum of the arts,
including visual arts, creative writing,
musical theatre, acting, production and
design, graphic arts, screenwriting, digital
photography and drama therapy.
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