American Fork's Edyn Armitage played the lead in a professional opera festival this summer, capping 11 years of local theater training that started at age 7.

Armitage, a recent Skyridge High School graduate, portrayed the title role of Amélie Poulin in the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre production of Amélie the Musical (Teen Edition) at the Utah Theatre in Logan. The show ran through Aug. 7 and featured a cast drawn from students in the statewide Utah High School Musical Theatre Awards program.

"One of the biggest things I have taken away from this story is how important connection is and how much we need the people around us," Armitage told the Lehi Free Press. "Amélie reminds us that small acts of kindness have a rippling effect, to reach out to others, and learn to forgive ourselves for the things we carry."

Armitage's path to the UFOMT stage traces back to American Fork Youth Theater, now part of the Timpanogos Arts Foundation, a nonprofit based at 53 W. Main St. in American Fork. She joined the program at 7 and went on to perform in productions at both American Fork High School and Skyridge. Her high school credits include Sour Kangaroo in Seussical, Paula in Catch Me If You Can, and an ensemble role in Hadestown at AFHS. During her senior year at Skyridge, she played Sheridan in Mamma Mia.

Skyridge's theater program won the UHSMTA Best Musical award in 2023 for Matilda the Musical, part of the same statewide competition that feeds UFOMT's summer casting.

Vanessa Ballam directed the Amélie production, according to the Lehi Free Press. Ballam serves as UFOMT's associate artistic director and education director and founded the UHSMTA program. Her father, Michael Ballam, created UFOMT in 1992; the company has since staged more than 1,200 productions and concerts from its home in Logan.

Armitage's mother, Jessica Armitage, said the experience helped her daughter grow both onstage and off. She described watching Edyn portray Amélie's loneliness and awkwardness as "an incredible experience."

The musical follows a shy Parisian waitress who builds a secret world of kindness for her neighbors before learning to take a risk on love herself. The cast was selected through the UHSMTA program, which each year recognizes excellence in high school musical theater across Utah.

Timpanogos Arts Foundation, the successor to American Fork Youth Theater where Armitage got her start, offers youth theater, orchestras, choirs and visual arts programs at its American Fork venues year-round.