Lost Article: Tori Pence

This is a "lost article": Something I wrote under the impression that it would be published, but something went wrong. The goal in journalism is to cover your bases with everyone involved but sometimes you can't anticipate everything. Except, of course, if it's the editor causing your article to go unpublished without compensation, ditch that editor ASAP. In this case, the subject of the article, Tori Pence, no longer is a Virginia resident, which makes her ineligible for Virginia Magazine. 

Buena Vista native Tori Pence is defined as much by her restlessness as she is by her accomplishments. In addition to her role as a cast member and writer on the Utah-based sketch show Studio C , Pence sings, does cover art, knows how to remodel a home, and is a skilled enough puppeteer that she was cast on Studio C’s sister show Nine Years to Neptune.

“I like the idea of being a renaissance person, the ability to build skills is half the journey. So once you learn one thing, it’s easier to learn another. A couple of my [siblings] are opera singers. We are an artsy family,” said Pence.

Since its debut in 2012 Studio C  has been a hit both for its parent network, BYU TV, and Youtube where the show has amassed 2.58 million subscribers. In addition, the show has garnered appearances for its cast members on Late Night with Conan O’Brien; a spin-off group earned a semi-final berth on the NBC humor competition “Bring the Funny”; and been able to bring on Saturday Night Live cast members Kenan Thompson and Will Forte as special guest stars.

Tori, 30, was cast in the show’s eighth season upon her graduation in 2016. She was recruited from the BYU’s sketch comedy troupe Divine Comedy which is where the original Studio C cast members met.

“I never wanted it to be my career, I thought it was going to be a thing that I do for fun. We would do four shows a month for a bunch of college kids who were tired and we needed a pick me up,” she said.

Instead, she had aspirations to be a librarian. She worked three jobs to pay her college tuition and she fell in love with one of them: She was a storyteller at the Provo City Library and used puppets in her performances.

Many of the cast members of Studio C’s current cast bought special talents—one of them has a background in stand-up, one is a ukulele player and song writer—and Tori Pence has been able to work puppets into some of her sketches. After temporarily departing the show after the 13^th season in 2021, Tori was asked to audition for the BYU TV show Nine Years to Neptune where she voiced the characters of Sascha and Pauline in a ten-episode run.

“We searched far and wide for talented puppeteers with improv capabilities. The first time we saw Tori’s audition we sensed we had a winner, and we were right. She was endlessly cheerful and had us all cracking up," said Nine Years co-creator Tyler McKellar.

Tori’s parents, Phil and Ellen, are life-long Virginians who jointly write novels under the pseudonym P.E. Pence. Tori is the sixth of eight children that her parents refer to as Pencelings. Tori's older sister, Rebecca, won the Miss Virginia pageant in 2015 as a way of sharing her religious beliefs. The family made part of their income restoring and flipping houses which meant that Tori moved around a lot as a child from Varina to Richmond to the small-town of Buena Vista.

“You don’t understand, I think Virginia is the greatest state. We moved a lot when I was a kid. I don’t have any connection to a house, I have a connection to the state,” said Pence.

Pence also credits her upbringing in the small town of Buena Vista for helping her develop her versatility. Not only did she act in all the school’s plays, she had to direct them by necessity since the school didn’t have a drama department. 

"Tori loves Virginia and if it weren't for her work, she would be living there still. She has said on more than one occasion how it's the most beautiful state in the country," said mother Elaine Pence.  "She has a group of friends still today that grew up together in B(uena) V(ista). They call themselves the Freakets and they get together as much as possible to celebrate milestones, birthdays and run marathons."

Pence’s state pride also includes being proud of being part of the Virginia LDS Church, which boats a population of 95,000 (the 2^nd highest population east of the Mississippi).

“It really just is a culture culture thing. LDS folks from outside of Utah grow up with people outside of the faith, so they’re more comfortable with non-LDS experience,” said Tori Pence.  

As for Tori’s future, she is re-joining the Studio C cast after a two-season hiatus and has plans to open a soda shop in Provo.

“I tend to do whatever pops up [in my head] next. I’m trying to be a little better at directing myself. My original intention was to become a librarian and Studio C tried to derail that,” she said.