From Deseret News archives:
Death of Syd Riggs leaves big void
It didn't matter where the show was going to be staged, she took it seriously.
Thus, her 35-year career in Utah County theatrics was studded with success.
Reviews of shows directed by Riggs were almost always positive, and those in her casts felt fortunate to have worked with her.
"All I can think about her is how passionate she was about her productions and about her cast," said fellow director Mindy Berry Young. "I think each member of each of her casts felt loved. I've worked with several of her students, and her kids know theater. They know theater etiquette and what's important."
Riggs, 60, died unexpectedly Saturday after she left the hospital following surgery on a foot she broke getting to a show in New York, her husband said.
"I'm certain she's having a good time where she is (now)," Dennis Riggs said. "She just was enthusiastic about everything she ever did. She had the ability to light up the room."
Riggs was a staple in theatrical productions, directing dozens of shows at Hale as well as many others at Utah Valley State College, Brigham Young University, the SCERA and the Provo Theatre Company.
She was famous locally as the perfect counterpoint Jewish mother and wife Golde to Neal Barth's Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof."
She taught drama at Orem High School for 15 years.
She was awarded the Ragan Theater Showcase Merit Award in 2000 from the UVSC drama community.
Anne Swenson, one of the owners of the Hale Center Theater in Orem, said the theatrical community and Rigg's many friends will miss her terribly.
"It's a shock. We'd like to dedicate "Beauty and the Beast" to her," Swenson said Monday.
Riggs had been directing for Hale Center over the past decade as well as working with the Provo Theater Company, the SCERA and BYU. She currently has a show she directed on stage at Hale Center — "Brigadoon" — and was slated to direct the Disney show coming up in August.
"Right now, we're working on finding a replacement director," Swenson said, "although you can't replace her."
More than 300 friends of Riggs gathered at the theater Sunday night for a memorial service for the woman who's been a friend, a mentor and a teacher for more than three decades.
"There's such a large acting community that a funeral wouldn't do it for everybody," Swenson said. "Her effects on the artistic community are just so far-reaching. If you count the amount of lives she's touched and the audiences who have seen her work, it's millions of people."
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com
