Early Career
Vance began her career by teaching drama and speech at Jefferson Davis High School and San Jacinto High School. She also taught private acting classes on the side and, by 1941, was acting herself with the Houston Little Theatre and the Houston Community Players, a group headed by Margo Jones.
After Jones left Houston, Vance was asked to teach acting classes for the Jewish Community Center, but instead she offered her services as a director of plays. Although she was raised Presbyterian, she stipulated that the participants in her Players Guild could be of any religious denomination.
Vance directed over a dozen productions for the Players Guild between 1945 and 1947, and following the innovative lead of Margo Jones, her troupe performed in the round in places like the Rice and Lamar hotels. When the Players Guild disbanded, she and her group of theater enthusiasts were without a home.
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