NASHUA, NH – For 47 mainstage seasons Peacock Players has served the community as a nonprofit youth theater organization that aims to “entertain, educate and inspire” the community.
When the executive director position opened up in 2022, it proved to be just the opportunity Elle Millar was looking for.
“During Covid we all did a lot of self-searching, and we all did a lot of thinking, and I was thinking ‘I really love my job,’ I would have been happy to finish out my career and retire as an English teacher,” Millar said. “I love helping people and I love working with people but I felt like I’m only doing that in half of the way that I could be. I felt like there is something else I could be doing.”
As an undergraduate, Millar studied vocal performance with a specialization in opera with the plan of being an opera singer. During a young artist program in Austria the summer before her senior year of college, she realized that wasn’t the path for her.
“I sort of looked around and [thought], do I actually want that life, or did everyone tell me I could have that life and that’s what you’re supposed to want?” Millar said. “I was crying in the studentenheim, which is the dormitory in Austria, [thinking] on no, this isn’t what I want to do.”
Millar knew she had to make a plan. She thought of her other interest in creative writing and decided to pursue a career as an English teacher. She did this for 10 years – eight of them spent at Pennichuck Middle School where she also led the drama club – before being hired at Peacock Players in 2022 to facilitate the summer camp. She would eventually be hired as executive director.
“People always ask me, ‘do you miss teaching?’ and I have to say no, because all the things I loved about teaching I’m still doing, my classroom is just very different,” Millar said. “This job makes all my prior experiences make sense.”
Millar came to Peacock with a vision to create an environment of comfort and acceptance, with singing ability, acting ability and collaborative ability as the core tenants of casting.
“I am a six-foot-three plus size lady,” Millar said. “I learned very early that I was incredibly limited in what I could do. … I tend not to play human women, I tend to play creatures, witches, and selfishly I don’t like that because I know I’m more than that. I could do more than that.”
She added, “It drives me wild to think that there are people out there who are casting children based on things like height or weight. And the word that is always put next to that choice is believability. We are then telling kids it is not believable that people would be interested in you. It is not believable that other people in this script would call your character beautiful.”
According to Millar, Peacock is uniquely beneficial to Nashua due to its location downtown and relatively low cost compared to other local theater programs, as well as scholarships and payment plan options.
A dream of hers is to reach more kids through work with local schools and starting an after school program through Peacock. While she has full faith that it can happen someday, many things would need to happen before it would be possible.
“We need to do many things, but it is a clear vision and we are moving in the direction to make it a possibility,” she said.
On the nearer horizon, Peacock will be putting on a production of Alice in Wonderland Jr. from Oct. 18 through 27, and Mean Girls: High School Version from Nov. 15 through 24.
“My vision has always been kindness, empathy, and opportunity. If you’ve got the chops, you’re a contender for the role,” Millar said. “I really want Peacock Players to be the place where people come to feel comfortable and to feel accepted.”
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