Age: 59
Occupation: Co-creator and performer, Miss Trudy’s Traveling Trunk Show and Louisiana Art & Science Museum Interpreter for Science
Hometown: New Orleans
At 11 a.m. on any given Saturday, Miss Trudy entertains a crowd of children in the Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s front auditorium.
Dressed in a knee-length lab coat decorated in brightly colored puzzle pieces and toting a red trunk filled with props, she delivers a 45-minute interactive show.
The woman behind the Miss Trudy costume is Nita Mitchell. Well, sometimes.
In 2010, Mitchell co-created the character with Kristy Coast, a fellow educator who now teaches pre-K at The Dunham School. Their idea was to use Miss Trudy as a way to expose younger children to the arts and introduce them to a museum.
Today, Mitchell moonlights as the weekend Miss Trudy. Another LASM employee plays Miss Trudy during the week for school groups. The show is free with LASM admission.
Mitchell is a natural performer and teacher. The LSU grad was a schoolteacher for 16 years before joining the staff at LASM 10 years ago, where she coordinates the science educational theater for groups of children. As Miss Trudy, she uses dancing and singing to engage young children in what she calls an “edu-tainment” show.
“Kids hardly know they’re learning because you make it fun,” she says.
In the winter, she sings “Snowky Pokey” to the tune of “The Hokey Pokey.” All year, she sings “Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter” to the tune of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” swapping the order of the seasons based on the current month and season.
She is a one-woman show—like a G-rated version of Carrot Top—who incorporates props and two puppets, Sheldon the Sheepdog and Frederick the Mouse, to help “talk” to her audience.
While the show is tailored for pre-school age children, Miss Trudy is brilliant at including babies, toddlers, older siblings and even grown-ups in her production.
“Parents love to see their kids actively involved,” Mitchell says. “A lot of entertainment these days is passive, in front of a screen. This [show] involves a lot of interaction and movement, and creative movement is part of learning too.”
Through the years, Miss Trudy has been played by several young women, including many talented LSU Theatre students and graduates. Two of these actresses are now playing Disney princesses in Disney World, and Baton Rouge native Shelley Regner has made it to the silver screen. Regner played Ashley, one of the Barden Bellas in Baton Rouge-filmed Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2, and is now working as an actor in Hollywood.
“What happens is that our Trudy gets discovered,” Mitchell jokes.
She is always looking for new Miss Trudys, but she is picky in her quest.
“I’m doing it right now until I find the right person,” she says. “And, of course, that person has to like being silly and singing and dancing, but it also has to be a person who can exemplify a positive, flexible and welcoming environment for all children.”
