Tori Lee Averett, adjunct professor for the Department of English and RHETORIC, is truly a modern day Renaissance woman. She is a mother, playwright, songwriter, teacher, director, friend and inspiration to everyone she meets.
She started out at Troy University with a degree in Music and Theatre, but then relocated to Sandersville Georgia in order to teach, first music, but then a theatre and dance class for younger children. She first got interested in Georgia College for its MFA Creative Writing program: “I knew I wanted to do Playwriting and not film but I liked that they left it open both of those things. I like that there was a strong connection between the Theatre program. I thought that maybe I could get the benefit of both the more studious English side and the study of literature but also get the benefit of working in the theatre program. That’s really unique that doesn’t happen very often, most Playwriting programs are strictly writing.
Averett takes a very malleable stance when it comes to her writing process, she describes this “dreamy” time that comes before the exploration of an idea: “usually that forces me to go write something down or somehow capture it, usually in a notebook or a word document. Or it’s j this brainstorming word vomit that happens.” There are some ideas that are some ideas that too persistent to get out in either of those ways, Averett describes them as “plaguing” and she has to “keep tapping with tools at it and see just what comes.” Some ideas flourish and become larger works, such as A Thousand Cowboys. But there are others that Averett says she needs to take a break from: “A lot of times it just gets put away so that then when I get back to explore those notebooks, or the voice recorder or computer or whatever, then I’ll get excited by something again and then it’ll turn into something. So after all that brainstorming, and getting it out, then I look at it and decide what it’s going to be.” Once she decides what category her particular idea fits into, she usually has an easier time figuring out what needs to be done with it.
Tori Lee’s MFA thesis A Thousand Cowboys recently made its world premiere right here in Milledgeville at the Max Noah recital in two jam packed performances. She states that this beautiful musical began “a song that wouldn’t stay a song until it had to turn into a musical. And I was trying to making it just a song and it would not work.” The world is much better for that. Recently Averett had a school approach her for the rights to perform the musical as part of their season.
Aside from writing, she frequently makes an appearance performing with her jazz/rock/bluegrass/country/all around incredible band Mayview Road. Interestingly enough, up until she moved to Georgia, Averett had never played any of those genres. Her musical experimentation began when her friend, now husband Ed invited her to come play with him and some his friends. “There was a handful of us that just stumbled together because we’d been wanting to play jazz and no one really around here plays jazz but it’s such a great experimental thing to do, it’s fun and it’s all about community”—much like Averett herself— “so we would gather at his house and just play and create things out of that I learned to play guitar. I’d already played piano,” She’d only done musical theatre and classical piano up until then. “We just kept going I really found that I really really enjoyed song writing and I could do it and be really fulfilled just for myself.”
In spite of this content feeling she got from songwriting, she was apprehensive about sharing these songs with the other band members. Tori Lee describes it today as one of the most terrifying/rewarding experiences in her life: “They were not perfect, they needed work and they needed other musicians working on them.” However, as soon as she did, the songs became more of a group effort towards something that belonged to all of them.
Some really exciting things are still to come from this inspirational woman, she is currently working on a children’s album that would include all original children’s songs possibly influenced by her beautiful son Ellis. Alternatively she is working on a project that embraces some of the collective feeling of apprehension about relationships: “I’m also working on a play about a young woman going through a divorce, which is a terrifying concept for me.” As for advice she would bring to the table for students today: “Even though it’s exhausting, do everything that you can do. Devour everything that you have access to, even if it’s not always fun or cool. Be here, be hungry, try everything. It’s not an expectation of conquering everything, it’s just to try it because you just don’t know what you’re going to be able to do.”
Mayview Road’s songs are available for download on Amazon and Itunes.