Author: Charleston Stage

In an exclusive interview, we caught up with Sam Henderson, the mastermind behind the direction at Dock Street Theatre for our latest rendition of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Explore the intricacies of his artistic approach as he guided the magic of this timeless holiday classic!

In an exclusive interview, we caught up with Sam Henderson, the mastermind behind the direction at Dock Street Theatre for our latest rendition of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Explore the intricacies of his artistic approach as he guided the magic of this timeless holiday classic!

What initially drew you to direct A Christmas Carol for Charleston Stage?

I’ve worked closely with Julian on the previous 3 productions of A Christmas Carol and he and I wrote the new version together, so it was a natural transition to take over directing it when he retired. Plus, its a fun show to direct!

How do you plan to continue bringing a fresh perspective to this classic story, while staying true to its traditional themes?

This is handled mostly in the re-write we did for 2022. The music, choreography, costumes and sets were all recreated with a more modern and whimsical feel. 

What do you hope audiences take away from this production?

I hope audiences continue to grasp on to the timeless themes and lessons presented in Dickens’ original text while embracing the joyful nature in which it is presented by our spectacular cast and production team.

What unique elements and new interpretations are you excited to incorporate into the performance?

This year, we have several new surprises up our sleeves that will delight even the most die-hard Charleston Stage A Christmas Carol devotees…but I’m not spoiling those here.

How do you approach casting for such iconic characters?

We approach casting in this piece the same way we do for all of our productions…we work to find the best fit for each role while utilizing our Resident Acting Company members combined with our fabulous local talent, creating a superb cast that reflects the community in which we all live.

Can you share a bit about your process for working with the cast to bring the characters to life?

This cast in particular has been a joy to work with. They all came with ideas of who their character(s) are and were open to playing and experimenting with my ideas to bring them to life in unexpected ways. I blocked the show according to technical requirements that must be set a certain way and then we’ve had a great time letting the actors explore and create within that framework to give you the piece we’ll be presenting this season.

A Christmas Carol has a strong message of compassion and transformation. How do you emphasize these themes in your direction?

My favorite way to highlight many of the themes in the story is through humor. Scrooge is really the only one who takes himself seriously, and we let all the characters around him exist with humor and joy (often at his expense) to help convey these lessons and ignite his transformation.

What are some of the challenges of staging a production with such well-known scenes and characters?

I’d probably say creating the magic.  But that’s all I can say about that! Second to that is probably keeping the scenes and characters fresh. With such a well known story, surprising the audience is a challenge, but I think we’ve met that challenge year after year.

How do you think A Christmas Carol resonates with audiences today, especially during the holiday season?

Based solely on it’s popularity year after year, I thinks it’s clear that it resonates with audiences more than ever. My favorite feedback is always the people who have seen our A Christmas Carol numerous times over the past 47 years and continue to look forward to the holiday tradition for their families.

What part of the production process are you most excited about, and what can loyal Charleston Stage patrons look forward to?

I’ve been most excited this year about the magic, of course, but also our expanded partnership with our friends at Dance Lab Charleston. Jenny Broe Quinn and Naquan Villega have revitalized and polished the existing choreography and added new choreography that is so much fun. I’ve had a blast working with both of them and watching them bring their gifts to share with us at Charleston Stage.

SAM HENDERSON (Resident Music Supervisor and Artistic Associate)

Sam (he/him/his) is Charleston Stage’s Resident Music Supervisor and Artistic Associate and holds a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in Instrumental Music/Trumpet Performance from Baylor University in Waco, TX, as well as a Masters Degree in Musical Theatre/Opera Music Direction from Arizona State University. He has over 25 years experience teaching music professionally, and has been working as a theatre music director and conductor for the past 20 years. Professionally, Sam has worked for Phoenix Theatre, Childsplay, The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theatre, Lyric Opera Theatre and Copperstar Repertory Company prior to coming to Charleston Stage. At Charleston Stage, Sam oversees all musical aspects of our programming and works with Artistic Director, Marybeth Clark on season planning, artistic oversight and general artistic operations of the company. He is also the Facility Manager for our wonderful West Ashley Theatre Center.

How did you approach designing the lighting for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” to enhance the storytelling and evoke the mood of the production?

One of the bigger challenges of this show is that it’s based on real people in a very specific time period. You can go out and google “Carole King’s 1650 Office” and find tons of images about Carole King’s life. I needed to find a way to honor the history of Carole King and still be a creative collaborator within the production. We’re working with real places and real people, but it’s still theatre. We’ve still got to be creative and flexible. 

Beautiful has a big challenge of shifting from Carole and Gerry writing songs in their office to the full-blown performance by groups such as The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Righteous Brothers, or Little Eva. I tried to separate these locations with color palettes and lighting angles: I keep Carole and Gerry’s office lit with vintage feeling ambers and oranges with most light coming from 45 degree angles from the front. I think it’s evocative of the lighting in the historic photos that you can find online. Below you’ll see a picture of Carole and Gerry in their office alongside a photo from the show set in the same location. 

The way the bodies are lit in the office is very similar to the way I tried to light the bodies in the production. Notice that the color palette is rich oranges and amber tints to help create a vintage feeling and compliment the warm tones of the furniture. 

In order to separate the office from the performances, I chose to use more isolation of singers and sculptural lighting. There’s a lot more light from the sides and back of the performer, making the look more stylized and concert-like. I tried to use period-specific lighting techniques that you could see in concerts from that time period, and I had to imagine how lighting designers at that time might design if they had access to today’s technology too. I wanted to be faithful to the time period, but with a few modern conveniences! A lot of the colors that I pulled for the performances came directly from the album covers of the songs when they were first released. For example, the 1961 album cover for The Drifters’ Some Kind Of Wonderful had lots of oranges and blues that I pulled directly into the lighting design: 

It’s a balancing act of office Vs performance, and there are even times in the show when the main performance is in the office. The music will tell you how far you need to go with the lighting, and it’s my job to make sure I’m listening and respecting it. 

Can you discuss any specific collaborations or inspirations that influenced your approach to designing the lighting for “Beautiful”?

There was a lot of collaboration between all of the designers in Beautiful. We started meeting about the design several months ago to make sure we’re all coming up with a cohesive final product that all works together. I’ve worked with scenic designer Seth Howard, props designer Aline Toloto, sound designer Luke Walchuk, and costume designer Hayley O’Brien before, and we’ve developed a great rapport. We’ve gotten good at building off each other, and I really enjoy working with them. 

This show has a LOT of lighted scenery. Seth and I wanted to make sure that we had some lighting integrated into the set so we could have something transformative to get us from the offices to the performances. One of our solutions was the large columns in the set. We chose to turn them into light boxes willed with color-changing LED tape to help shift the color palette and give the audience some eye candy. Beautiful has 16 separately controlled light boxes and over 300 feet of LED tape in the production. 

Another fun collaboration with scenery was the large “1650” wall at the back of the set. We thought it would be cool to turn it into a vintage wall of lights that could flash along with the song. Seth and decided that each of the dark squares in the checkerboard pattern should have a light in it to give us an “audience blinder” look that was everywhere in the concerts of the era (and is still in use today). We worked closely with our scenic painter, Brandon Barker, to make sure the lights were totally hidden when turned off, while keeping the look of the lamp and reflector when they were on. The wall consists of 36 lights spread across six circuits and lots and lots of cable. 

I am always making sure that the colors that I choose are complimentary of the scenery, but especially the costumes. I regularly go to the costume shop to feel the fabrics, look at the colors, and check them under lights. I do my best to make sure the light on the characters costumes and skin tones are flattering in several ways. I can make things more vibrant by highlighting costumes and skin with certain colors, I can help them pop out of darker backgrounds with the angle of light, and I can use textures to help give the costumes a little more depth – especially if they have sequins! One of my favorite costume moments is towards the end of the first act when The Righteous Brothers sing You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling. They’re in dark suits against darkly lit scenery, so I used a string back light to highlight and separate them from the background. I also really love the blue-green color palette that goes with their deeper voices. It’s a great costume and lighting moment. 

Lighting design often helps to establish the passage of time and transitions between scenes. How did you approach creating seamless transitions through the lighting?

Scene changes can absolutely kill a production if you’re not careful. You’ve lost half of the audience the minute a scene change goes over 10 seconds. The production staff works very hard to make sure that the elements can get on and offstage as fast and elegantly as possible. Director Marybeth Clark and I are really big fans of always giving the audience something interesting to look at while scenery is changing. Sometimes it’s a pulldown to one or two actors having a moment while the world shifts around them, or sometimes it’s turning out all of the lights except the columns and sky upstage. We always want it to be visually interesting, speedy, and emotionally linked to the upcoming scene. 

How did you work with the director and creative team to determine the timing and placement of lighting transitions to highlight key moments and enhance dramatic tension cues?

With musicals, I stary by listening to the music over and over. It’s playing when I’m at home cooking, in the car driving around town, it’s playing in my earbuds when I’m at the gym – it’s always playing. I try to get as familiar with the music as much as I can because it will tell you when the changes in the lights need to come. Sometimes it’s obvious, like at key changes or orchestra hits, but other times it’s much less obvious, like with character intention changes or moments of reflection. After I spend time with the music, I go straight to the script. The playwright’s intentions are typically spelled out for you: things like blackouts, lightning flashes, and scene changes are right there. I then start to listen to the script in rehearsals. The spoken word has a rhythm like music. There are always themes, mood changes, repetitions, dynamics, and rhythms. The way they play to the text can determine the speed of the lighting cues, moments to highlight, and help to establish the tone of the lighting. 

The creative team and I always make discoveries in rehearsals where we see character placements, gestures in movement and dance, new stuff in the orchestrations, and more. The designers, director, and stage manager all sit down to have what is called a “paper tech.” This is when we all sit to discuss the design aspects of the show and how they are sequenced in the script. It helps us to make sure that all of our individual needs for the design are being met before we get into tech rehearsals. There is always time to add things as we see fit along the way. Sometimes we just need a light shift or a special light on a piece of scenery that we didn’t see until we run the show in the theatre with all of the tech elements in place. 

Carole King’s music is known for its emotional depth and intimacy. How did you use lighting to create a sense of intimacy during quieter moments and musical performances?

There are lots of intimate moments in the show, and I always want to make sure that the audience feels like it’s just them and the characters onstage. For example, there’s a beautiful ballad in the second act that Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann sing. As the music changes, I pull more and more light out of the world around them. By the end of the song, we should be totally focused on the couple as they sing “Walking in the rain, and wishing on the stars up above, and being so in love.” We go from the entire office being lit to Barry and Cynthia in spotlights at the piano through the course of the song – it’s almost like a camera zooming in. 

Featured: Charleston Stage Resident Actors Kyra McKillip as Cynthia Weil and Brendan Considine as Barry Mann perform Walking in the Rain in Charleston Stage’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Reese Moore Photography.

What do you hope audiences will take away with them after seeing Charleston Stage’s production of “Beautiful” and experiencing your wonderful designs on stage?

I really hope that audiences will see the through-line of Carole’s experiences and how they directly translate to her writing. I tried to make sure that the lighting was supportive of her emotions and intentions, and hopefully they’ll help the audience feel the deep sentiments and passions as Carole. It’s a really remarkable story with music that we all know and love, so it’s really great to see the stories behind each song.

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is running at the Historic Dock Street Theatre from April 10-28, 2024. Click HERE to book your seats.

CALEB S. GARNER (Lighting Designer)
Caleb is a lighting and sound designer based in Charleston, SC. A North Carolina native, Caleb received his B.A. and B.F.A. from Catawba College in Salisbury NC, and his M.F.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi. Garner’s designs, ranging from concerts to ballets to musicals to plays have earned him eight regional and national design awards. Caleb has been a featured designer from New York to Mississippi, designing in the Northeast, Midwest, East Coast and Deep South. Caleb enjoys turning large pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood (sometimes mistakenly called furniture), screaming with students (often recognized as teaching), and playing with things that spark and smoke. Caleb currently serves as the Resident Lighting Designer at the Charleston Stage Company and serves as an adjunct lecturer at the College of Charleston.

What initially drew you to the role of Carole King in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”?

From an actor perspective, Carole King is a great role to play because she gets to sing some of the most iconic songs and her scenes build well so you get to see her grow and change throughout the show. Also, I was drawn to playing someone so influential in American music history!

How do you prepare yourself to portray such an iconic figure like Carole King on stage?

What’s so great about playing a famous person is that there are a plethora of resources to draw from! I started by listening to Carole King’s discography and getting a sense for her style and sound. I also watched recorded concerts of hers to see how she transformed those songs to the stage and pick up her performing habits. Then, I watched TV interviews of her to see how she she spoke and interacted with people. Lastly, I read her autobiography “A Natural Woman” to understand her POV on how her life events shaped her. Many of the events in the book correlate with the events in the show so that gave me an accurate perspective on how to play those moments.

What aspects of Carole King’s personality do you find most intriguing or challenging to embody?

Carole King accomplished so much while she was so young. By the time she was 18 she’d already attended college, wrote a #1 Billboard hit, was married, and had her first child. I’m 24 and have ONLY graduated college. Me and Carole’s young adult experience may be different, but I think that’s the most amazing and challenging thing about playing her.

“Beautiful” covers a significant portion of Carole King’s life and career. How do you navigate portraying her evolution as an artist and as a person throughout the show?

Carole finding her voice as an artist and as a person is what this show is really about. For that reason, one of the ways I show her evolution is by changing her voice. In the beginning, I use a higher pitched speaking voice to reflect her youth and naïveté. Also, at the start she hasn’t really developed performing skills yet, so her emotions get in the way of the singing. For example, she gets shy performing in front of a lot of people and that is reflected in my voice with a quiver. Then as life happens and hurt happens, I deepen her voice. It becomes more natural and womanly. She also grows as a performer and that is reflected in singing more confidently. 

Carole King’s music is beloved by many. How do you ensure you do justice to her iconic songs while still bringing your own interpretation to them?

Carole’s music is so iconic and beloved because her writing is excellent and it connects with people. As a performer, it’s a gift when you get to sing well written material because the songs do a lot the work for you! For that reason, I’m keeping things simple so that her melody and lyrics are at the forefront and I’m hoping that will allow the songs (and hopefully me) to shine. 

Carole King’s story is one of resilience and triumph. How do you convey her strength and determination through your performance?

One of the things I find so interesting about Carole King is that her strength is sort of quiet. She goes through so much, but comes out of it with grace. I think I best convey this in the final scene of the show when Gerry (Carole’s ex-husband) apologies for his bad behavior and I respond, “You know Ger, you made a lot of mistakes. But, we made two beautiful children and our songs and that’s something to be proud of.”  What I think is so beautiful about this is that she doesn’t excuse his behavior so she’s standing up for herself, but also she’s willing to look past the hardship to focus on the good. I think that’s a really hard thing to do and that’s what makes her strong. 

What do you hope audiences take away from your portrayal of Carole King in “Beautiful”?

I hope that audiences see through Carole’s story that even though life may not always go as planned it can still turn out beautiful! 

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is running at the Historic Dock Street Theatre from April 10-28, 2024. Click HERE to book your seats.

ELIZA KNODE (Carole King)
Eliza is excited to return to Charleston Stage as a Resident Actor for their 46th Season! Some of her previous CS credits include: The Addams Family (Morticia), JFK and Inga Binga (Inga Arvad), and The Lightning Thief (Sally Jackson). Eliza is the daughter of a diplomat and had a unique upbringing. She grew up in Malaysia, Japan, Hungary, Long Island, and Brazil. She went on to earn her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from the University of Miami. Eliza would like to extend love and gratitude to her family, friends, and teachers around the globe who support her. Website: www.elizaknode.com Instagram: @eliza.knode

How did you approach designing costumes for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” to reflect the fashion trends and styles of Carole King’s era?

I did a lot of primary research, especially since a majority of the characters are real people in music history! I mainly approached it by researching these specific people while also looking at how fashion was evolving from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. I looked at certain trends and fashion movements that were happening at the time. Styles, makeup, and hair were changing more rapidly at this time so magazines, advertisements, TV shows, and music performances were very important in shaping my
concept for the costumes!

Can you discuss any specific research you conducted to gain insight into the fashion of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, which are pivotal periods in Carole King’s life?

A lot of my research consists of photographs I can find from each decade along with fashion magazines, advertisements and clothing patterns with fashion plates. Even looking at old family photos can be helpful to get a sense of what people wore! Luckily, there are a lot of photographs of Carole King with Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil, and Barry Mann during the time periods the musical takes place. This was extremely helpful in shaping the silhouettes and styles of each character along with their hair and makeup.

Carole King’s personal style evolves throughout the musical. How did you reflect this evolution through her costumes?

During my research process, I realized that most people have a certain image of Carole King when they first think of her. We all generally think of her in the 1970s with her wild, curly hair and relaxed bohemian style. However, a majority of the musical takes place before 1970. When you look back at when she first started writing and producing music she dressed very of the times of the 1950s and 1960s. From what I
gathered, Carole typically dressed fairly subtle and simplistic, feminine but never very flashy or overly trendy. The musical starts off with at 16-year-old and ends with her at the age of 29, so we definitely see her mature throughout the show. So at the beginning we see her dressed very youthful and almost school girlish since she is so young even though she’s in college. She then gets married, has children, and a career at a very young age so I wanted to dress her as someone that has to mature into an adult quickly. I referenced a lot of photos of the time when she was wearing simple day dresses and as time goes on and her music progresses we see her move from dresses to pants and then when she fully discovers her confidence as a musician and comes into her own we see more of the iconic 1970s look she is well remembered by.

The musical features various iconic figures from the music industry. How did you approach designing costumes for characters such as Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil, and Barry Mann to capture their personalities and styles?

I first looked at photos of them taken in the 1960s. From these photos, rather than trying to recreate certain outfits I took them as inspiration for each of their personalities and styles. For the stage, I also heightened the contrast between each of them. For example, Carole dressed a little more simplistically and Cynthia was a little more trendy. Even in the script, they always reference how nicely dressed and chic Cynthia was. So I wanted to create a visual contrast with Cynthia being dressed in sharper more form fitting silhouettes, bright colors, and different textures. As the show goes on, I also wanted to embrace Cynthia’s mod 1960s styles with Carole’s more 1970s bohemian style. Gerry Goffin was very serious about writing music but also went through some tumultuous struggles and overthinking things in head throughout the show. So we see him dressed a little more straight laced but also see him in complex patterns and very cool tones. Barry Mann is the more light-hearted, charismatic character of the group so I had him dress in more playful silhouettes and patterns that were fun fashion moments for men in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Can you discuss any specific details or embellishments in the costumes that hold particular significance or symbolism in the context of the musical?

There is symbolism in the colors of certain costumes that I’m not sure the audience will pick up on but if they do I think it would make certain scenes carry an extra meaning. Throughout the show, Gerry wears purple and blue tones. There is a scene in Act 2 when Carole is recording “Natural Woman” and has difficulty recording it because it reminds her of Gerry. She performs the song beautifully while wearing a
purple blouse, to signify her love for Gerry and even though she is not with him any more, he is still a pivotal part of her history. In the finale, she wears her iconic blue dress right after talking to Gerry and he tells her she’s “going all the way” with her music as she becomes her own solo act and shines on her own.

The musical includes performances of Carole King’s iconic outfits – how did you recreate these looks while also infusing them with a theatrical flair?

In the musical, we really only see Carole King perform at Carnegie Hall. For people who have already seen “Beautiful” or know of “Beautiful”, they typically remember the blue dress she wears in the finale. I wanted to keep this iconic color but put it in a different textile to give it a different visual interest. I also wanted to reference a dress she wore in a BBC filmed performance in 1971 to fully embody her. However, there are a lot of performances by musical groups that perform the songs she wrote. For The Drifters and The Shirelles, we recreated their iconic looks of the 1960s. We actually built the dresses for the Shirelles and based the silhouette on a real performance photo of them. To make them theatrical we added certain design elements such as sequins and a romantic shade of pink fabrics to make them more dynamic and pop against the set!

Hair and makeup play integral roles in transforming actors into characters. How did you collaborate with the wig designer and team to ensure that the overall look for each character in “Beautiful” was cohesive and authentic to the time period?

Hair plays a major role in “Beautiful”! Since the show moves through almost three different decades, the wigs help show the progression of time and fashion. This show has the most amount of wigs we have ever done in a show at Charleston Stage. The wig designer, Abbie Jones, and I looked at a lot of research images for all the characters that are based on real people. We discussed how to interpret certain hairstyles and adapt them for the stage and for the characters. For the ensemble, Abbie Jones did some more research of the time period and found creative ways to style everyone slightly differently and accurately for the time periods!

What do you hope audiences will take away with them after seeing Charleston Stage’s production of “Beautiful” and experiencing your wonderful designs on stage?

I really hope people feel like they have been transported back in time, especially to a time when music and design was really evolving. I had so much fun designing this show and being inspired by the 1960s (one of my favorite decades of fashion), especially since it is a decade I have gotten to design in! The show is so vibrant and fun while also evoking the joys and heartbreaks we all experience while growing up and becoming the people we want to be. And of course, I hope people leave wanting to listen to more Carole King’s music and experience the beauty of it!

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is running at the Historic Dock Street Theatre from April 10-28, 2024. Click HERE to book your seats.

HAYLEY O’BRIEN (Costume Designer)
Originally from South Florida, Hayley graduated from Florida State University with a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. Her recent credits at Charleston Stage include The Trip to Bountiful, Clue and The Addams Family- A New Musical. Other credits include Kinky Boots, JFK and Inga Binga, Native Gardens and Blithe Spirit. She looks forward to future productions ahead at Charleston Stage and is thankful to be involved in the TheatreWings program. Hayley would like to thank her family and friends for all their love and support!

How did you balance honoring her original compositions while also infusing them with a fresh theatrical energy?

In some ways it is challenging to produce a piece based on real people, but it also gives you so much material to draw from. Even though the songs may be familiar to many, seeing them in historical order and realizing how many popular songs and musical groups were influenced by Carole King as a composer is surprising and then aligning it with what she was experiencing as a woman in that time period gives the audience lots to consider and enjoy.

Can you discuss the creative process behind translating her story into a visual spectacle?

One of the biggest challenges to what is basically a Jukebox Musical (A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music.) is that in many ways it is more a series of concerts. The Broadway set had a very specific look and many regional productions did something similar. I know this is a show that many of our patrons may have seen on Broadway or on a national tour so I wanted our production to look different from the moment the curtain rises. Our Guest Scenic Designer Seth Howard (sethhowarddesigns.com) had designed the show for another company earlier in the year and was excited to take a new approach. We played with multiple looks but settled on “Mad Men” inspired office building as the main image. The show flips from writer rooms at 1650 Broadway to full TV performances or live concerts with no time between. Our Resident Lighting Designer Caleb S. Garner  (calebsgarner.com) was quick to help find many ways for lighting design to take us in and out of the book scenes to musical performances.

What do you think it is about Carole King’s story that transcends generations and cultures?

I think familiarity is a theme that audiences always relate to. If you have never heard a single song Carole King sang or wrote, I would be very surprised BUT who can’t relate to a young person trying to follow their dream or someone struggling in love, marriage or parenthood. Her story includes strong friendships, family and career. We are reminded of various parts of our own life.

What qualities were you looking for in the actor portraying Carole King to ensure that she could capture the essence of her real-life counterpart?

Like any musical you need a well trained actor and with a beautiful voice. Portraying a real person is not about doing an impersonation but about looking for your shared truths with the character. Eliza Knode has been with Charleston Stage for two years as a Resident Actor.  I knew her first year with us she would be a great Carole and she is one of the reasons we added the show for her second season. She has read plenty about Carole King and watched interviews and performances, but ultimately she created a character that is a joy to watch and hear.

What aspects of the show resonated with you personally or artistically?

I love a moment in the opening scene when Carole is talking to the audience at Carnegie Hall about her career:

“And you know what’s so funny about life? Sometimes it goes the way you want and sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes when it doesn’t, you find something beautiful”

I find that to be true of life and being an Artistic Director.

How did you work with the cast and creative team to ensure that the musical performances captured the essence of her music?

Charleston Stage has committed to giving many artists full-time salaried positions with us. This includes Music Director Sam Henderson. Sam has built wonderful relationships with many of Charleston’s best musicians and so our live orchestra is something many theaters do not have. He also works tirelessly with the cast to not just teach the music but the styles and finesse that make each group stand out.

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is running at the Historic Dock Street Theatre from April 10-28, 2024. Click HERE to book your seats.

MARYBETH CLARK (Artistic Director and Director of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical)

Marybeth is in her twenty-fifth season with Charleston Stage. She was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and grew up in Tolland, CT. Marybeth has a degree in theatre/performance from the University of South Florida and was cast in her first show at an Equity theatre at 18 years of age in Tampa. She worked as an actor in professional theatres throughout the Southeast for ten years before settling in Charleston in 1994 with her husband, actor Victor Clark. She was a member of the theatre faculty at Charleston County’s School of the Arts for middle and high school students. Though she moved to Charleston planning on ‘retiring’ from theatre and starting a family, she taught and directed for Charleston Stage part-time beginning in 1997, before joining the company full-time the following year.

She and Vic are the proud parents of 2 daughters, Lila and Prentice. Lila recently graduated from Drew University and is preparing for the Doctorate program at MUSC and Prentice teaches special needs students at the Washington Center in Greenville, SC. Marybeth and Vic do not have an empty nest but share their home with Marybeth’s mother and many adopted dogs and cats.

In her time at Charleston Stage she has directed over 70 shows, favorites include: Kinky Boots, Of Mice and Men, Mamma Mia! and Elf The Musical. She began the Resident Professional Acting program her second year with the company and continues to hire, train, and supervise our young professional actors.

As an actor for Charleston Stage, Marybeth has appeared in Shakespeare in Love, Helium, You Can’t Take It With You, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Steel Magnolias, A Christmas Carol and most recently as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit.

How did you approach designing the set for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” to capture the essence of Carole King’s era and life?

This is my second time designing this show in the past year so I am very familiar with the material. For this version, I really wanted to focus on creating an overall environment that Carole and the other characters would have felt comfortable in. The stage at The Dock Street Theatre is small, with little wing space. So creating an environment that can quickly transform really drove the design more than anything else.

What research did you conduct to ensure the set design accurately reflects the time period and locations depicted in the musical?

I started with tons of visual research. Looking through design books to nail down the period and then moving to online research. I pulled imagery that sort of supported the visuals I saw in my head and started to build out the world from there. Luckily, the mid century modern period is an easy one to research, as it is still a common style used today. 

Carole King’s story involves various iconic locations, from recording studios to concert halls. How did you recreate these spaces on stage while maintaining a cohesive visual style?

This is a big show for this venue! We go to many locations throughout and in rapid succession. So my job as a designer is always to make sure it all flows seamlessly from one scene to another. After I knew all the locations, I started to think and plan through all the scenic elements that are needed for each scene. I then took all of that information and started to play around with how it all works within the scenic framework that I established prior. For this design, lighting plays a very crucial role in helping us establish shifts in locations. There are columns, lined with LED’s that can help us shift the color of the set quickly. Along with a few additional set piece transitions, we could move into different locations with ease. Of course it all has to be “choreographed” in a way. And that is the stuff that we worked out during tech! This design also features a lot of flying scenery and signs that help us denote location.

Can you discuss any specific challenges you faced in designing the set for “Beautiful” and how you overcame them?

Yes, this is a big show for the Dock Street stage. And we don’t have the luxuries of stage automation, which is something the Broadway design relied on and used heavily. The biggest challenge was how to make everything fit, while maintaining enough space backstage for all the set pieces to live. It was basically a very large puzzle. I spent many hours sitting and working with the ground plan, just moving and resizing items until everything we needed fit. It was a challenge, but we made it all work!

Carole King’s music has a deeply personal quality. How did you incorporate elements of her personality and journey into the set design?

The set focuses on the place where Carole got her start in the industry, 1650 Broadway. My hope is that we could further amplify her mood and love for music through the use of color. There are moments where her songs are full of joy, and the lighting is bright and fun. On the other hand, there are moments where her songs are more heartfelt and we can pull back the saturation and intensity of the lighting to match.

The set often serves as a backdrop for the musical performances. How did you ensure that the set design complemented and enhanced the musical numbers?

For these moments, there are additional set pieces that fly in to help us create those visuals. Certain parts of the set are always in use but they have little tricks and things hidden within that allow us to transform those pieces and add a little razzle dazzle for the scenes that call for it. 

What do you hope audiences will take away with them after seeing Charleston Stage’s production of “Beautiful” and experiencing your wonderful designs on stage?

I hope that audiences walk away feeling all the joy, love, and passion that Carole had for music and storytelling through song!  As with any design, my main objective was simply to support the story. If the audiences walk away with a smile and humming their favorite tune, then I consider that a job well done!

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL is running at the Historic Dock Street Theatre from April 10-28, 2024. Click HERE to book your seats.

SETH HOWARD (Guest Scenic Designer)
Seth is a freelance scenic designer based out of St. Louis, MO. He has designed many regional productions and themed experiences across the country. Some of his design credits include School of Rock and Ragtime (Columbus Children’s Theatre); The Mountaintop and Deathtrap (Constellation Stage & Screen); Jersey Boys and Come From Away (Theatre Aspen); Once on This Island (Charleston Stage); Cinderella and The Wiz Jr. (The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati); Topdog/Underdog (Palm Beach Dramaworks); The Addams Family and Beautiful:The Carole King Musical (Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre). Check out @sethhowarddesigns on social media. www.sethhowarddesigns.com

A Childhood Memory Hidden on the Set of The Trip to Bountiful
By Julian Wiles, Director and Co-scenic Designer

Directing The Trip to Bountiful brought back many memories for me. Like the 87-year-old Mrs. Watts, the central character in the play, I come from a long line of farmers myself. My grandparents were farmers, and like Mrs. Watt’s childhood home, their home fell into disrepair and eventually into ruin when Grandma and Granddaddy moved into a brand-new house my parents built for them when they were in their 80’s. It was just down the road from the two-bedroom wooden house where they had raised five children including my Mom. They did so in the midst of the great depression and though they lived in humble circumstances, my mother said they never were in want. As farmers they had fresh milk from their cows, vegetables from their massive garden and the warmth and love of each other to sustain them.
 
My mother and father were farmers too. They bought their farm and 1913 farm house in rural Calhoun County where I grew up on the day they brought me home from the hospital. As a farm boy, one of my first toys was a bright yellow and green cast iron riding John Deere tractor that my father bought for me. I plowed a lot of imaginary acres with this little tractor and remember taking my pet dogs and cats in rides around the barnyards, in the little wagon I pulled behind my tractor.
 
When Adam Jehle and I began working on the sets for The Trip to Bountiful, particularly, Mrs. Watt’s homeplace, I was looking for a way to jar the memory of Mrs. Watt’s son Ludie and to remind him of his long-ago childhood playing outside his grandparent’s old farmhouse. And so, when I visited our family farm some weeks ago, I came across my toy John Deere tractor. I found it dusty and abandoned in an old shed and I thought the memories it brings back to me might well be similar to those Ludie would feel if he came across his own childhood toy. I brought my little tractor back to the Dock Street and placed it on stage in the final scene. While this special token of my own childhood is only one small element of the overall set design, it represents the kind of special magical elements scene designers seek out to help tell a story and to give it special meaning. You can catch sight of my tractor in the final scene of The Trip To Bountiful. Like Mrs. Watts and her son Ludie, my little tractor has found its way home.

Performances of The Trip to Bountiful continue running March 7th – March 17th at the Historic Dock Street Theatre. For tickets, visit CharlestonStage.com.

Playwright, director, designer and educator, Julian Wiles, founded Charleston Stage in 1978 and led the company for 45 seasons until his retirement in 2023.
 
Wiles grew up on a farm in Fort Motte, SC, and studied history and theatre at the College of Charleston (B.A. 1974). He moved to North Carolina to pursue graduate work in theatre design receiving an M.F.A. in Dramatic Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. He returned to Charleston and in 1978 founded Charleston Stage, the resident company of the Historic Dock Street Theatre, America’s first theatre. Under Wiles’s leadership, Charleston Stage has become one of the region’s largest and most respected performing arts institutions, producing over 120 professional performances annually and including an extensive education program reaching over 25,000 young people each year.
 
During his 45 year tenure as Founder and Producing Artistic Director, Wiles designed, directed and produced over 300 plays and musicals for Charleston Stage. He has written 34 original plays, musicals, and stage adaptations, eight of which are published by The Dramatic Publishing Company. Many of his original works, such as The Seat of Justice, Gershwin at Folly, Beneath the Sweetgrass Moon, Denmark Vesey, Insurrectionand JFK & Inga Binga celebrate the Lowcountry’s rich cultural heritage and history. More than 100 productions of Wiles’s published works have been performed across the United States and internationally.
 
Wiles received the National Youth Theatre Director’s Award in 1988, Charleston’s NAACP Special Recognition Award in 2004, The South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2010, and was inducted into the SC Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2021, he was awarded the University of North Carolina’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
 
In April 2024, Wiles will be inducted as a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. The investiture of new members is under the auspices of the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C. Membership in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre is one of the highest honors bestowed on educators and professionals of America’s educational and theatre community.
 
For more information on his original works visit julianwiles.com.

Dear Friends,

I am excited to be back at Charleton Stage as a guest director for The Trip to Bountiful, one of my very favorite plays. While I think everyone knows such well known and moving dramas as To Kill A Mockingbird, The Miracle Worker, and The Sound of Music, the American Theatre is full of hidden gems, amazing plays whose titles are not as well known. The Trip to Bountiful is certainly one of these wonderful hidden gems— despite having won numerous Tony, Emmy and Academy Awards over the years. The Trip to Bountiful is certainly a show not to be missed.

And the feisty lead character of 80 something year old, Mrs. Carrie Watts is one of the great roles in the American Theatre. Award-winning actors such as Geraldine Page and Cecily Tyson won acclaim for this role and here at Charleston Stage we have the wonderful 84-year-old veteran actress, Samille Basler, in this lead role. You will remember Samille from such memorable roles in my plays Helium and Gershwin at Folly, bringing side-splitting laughter to memorable comedies such as You Can’t Take it With You and Blithe Spirit, and moving audiences with her powerful performancesin The Glass Menagerie and To Kill A Mockingbird. Samille’s performance of Mrs. Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful is one not to be missed.

I urge you to get your tickets today to this marvelous play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Horton Foote, best known for his Oscar winning screenplays for To Kill A Mockingbird and Tender Mercies.

It is a joy to return to my director’s chair once more, joining Samille and her terrific casemates as they bring this award-winning hidden gem to the Dock Street Theatre stage for the first time.

Get those tickets today!

Hope to see you at the theatre!

Julian Wiles, Founder and Director Emeritus

By HORTON FOOTE
Direction by JULIAN WILES 

Associate Sponsors:
Hewitt Family Fund of Coastal Community Foundation of SC
Dr. Del and Linda Schutte

Follow 80-year-old Mama Watts as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime, determined to run away from her son’s cramped city apartment and controlling daughter-in-law and return to her home town of Bountiful, TX one last time. But what will she do when she’s stuck at a train station in the middle of the night, finding out the last resident of Bountiful, TX died two days ago? Watch as Mrs. Watts leans on new friends, fond memories and her steadfast faith to sing and dance her way through troubling times. This heartfelt Tony award-winning classic by Horton Foote, author of the award-winning screenplay To Kill a Mockingbird, asks the age-old questions; what is home, and can you ever really go home again?

Performances run February 28th – March 17th. For tickets, visit CharlestonStage.com.

By Heather Rose Artushin • Lowcountry Parent

Walking by the historic Dock Street Theatre downtown Charleston, it’s no secret that the 215-year-old walls hold memories of sold-out performances of years past, many by Charleston Stage’s own resident actors.

But what the theater can’t hold is the community-based educational programming that Charleston Stage prides itself on offering to children in the Lowcountry.

Marybeth Clark, Artistic Director of Charleston Stage, began her work with the organization 25 years ago as the Director of Education. “I came in really to build the education program,” she said. “I think the biggest impact I had is what is now our resident actor program.”

Charleston Stage hires young actors ages 22-28 who have degrees in theater from universities all over the country. The 10 selected residents spend one year living in Charleston and working with Charleston Stage full-time, performing and teaching local youth. Residents undergo teacher training and are provided with structured lesson plans to offer the very best educational opportunities for children in the community.

“Especially during the school year, we are very process-oriented,” said Clark. “We focus more on the skills in the spring, and there’s a day when everybody performs. If you’re taking classes with us, we do have upper-level classes called troupe, and those are the kids we allow to audition for shows when it’s appropriate. They have to function like an adult in a show.”

Not every child is an aspiring actor, and no matter where life takes them, the skills they learn from their experience with Charleston Stage are invaluable

“It’s about children having a safe space where they can learn to share their thoughts, their emotions, and their stories,” shared Clark. “They also learn to receive another person’s thoughts, emotions, and stories, even if they are different from them. And that’s what art is – communicating ideas and feelings, and being able to receive them.”

Interpersonal skills, self-awareness, and organizational skills top the list of life lessons students have learned from Charleston Stage’s educational programs.

Charleston Stage’s summer class registration opens up in February, and is sure to fill up fast. “I have over 200 kids a week in classes here during the regular school year,” Clark explained. “We have a beautiful facility in West Ashley, the same studio where we rehearse our main stage shows, where we hold the classes.”

The students get to spend the last two days of the week-long camp experiencing onstage rehearsal and a final performance at the Pearl, a 130-seat theater in West Ashley.

During the pandemic, Clark and her team took the opportunity to reflect upon their educational programming, and how to reach more kids in the community.

“We’ve always had scholarships so that finances wouldn’t be an obstacle,” she said. “That was somewhat privileged on my part. The obstacle is time, transportation, and family commitment. They might not even have a car, and they can’t leave work to take their child to a 4 o’clock class, even if it is free.”

So, Charleston Stage began placing teachers in some of Charleston County School District’s Title I schools to offer the same classes during after-school programs that already exist. When some of the kids expressed curiosity about the studio in West Ashley, Charleston Stage got together funds to provide a bus to bring kids to weekend classes at the studio and back again to a central location.

Clark said in certain situations, teachers and parents are given tickets to take the bus to the theater to see a production and their children perform on stage.

The local theater group is intentional about making sure they bring on a diverse cast of resident actors to represent all the children in the audience, and the classroom.

“When we cast, I’m very mindful of finding actors that will reflect some of the children they’ll teach,” Clark said. “One of our male teachers went in to a school, and he’s African American, and one boy said, ‘Our hair matches!’ They didn’t know what theater was all about, but they started working together and fell in love with it.”

When you see the Dock Street Theatre on your next stroll through downtown, don’t forget that it is more than a historic building – it houses an organization committed to uplifting Charleston’s children through the arts.

“Our founder, who retired last year, started the company as a theater for youth, about education, and we have never let that mission go,” concluded Clark.

Visit charlestonstage.com to learn more about Charleston Stage’s educational programs.

To view article on Lowcountry Parent, CLICK HERE.

Delighted to reconnect with Aline Toloto, the creative genius behind the enchanting props in our production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Her exceptional skills shine once more at the Dock Street Theatre, offering you an exclusive peek into the artistry behind the props for this timeless Dickens’ classic.

1) What inspired you to work on the props design for A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and how do you personally connect with the themes and atmosphere of this classic story?

The colorful and rich design of the set and costumes was a significant inspiration for the world of props. I love A CHRISTMAS CAROL! My first encounter with the story was through the movie when I was a kid. The reminder that life is too short, and, at the end of the day, what really matters is the people and the relationships you were able to cultivate through life is a message that will never get old.

2)  Props are essential in creating a believable world on stage. How did you approach research and gather inspiration to ensure the props in A CHRISTMAS CAROL were authentic to the time period and setting?

Fortunately, nowadays, research is much more accessible than before, which helps with the occasional time crunch we encounter while producing many productions simultaneously in the shop. My research process involves three steps. Initially, I delve into historical research, typically spanning not just the target year but also decades preceding it. My second step involves examining movie props and props from other productions. I find this valuable as it enables the audience to connect with the story on a different level, drawing on experiences they may have had before. The final step is to employ my design intuition to strike a balance between historical accuracy and what will aesthetically complement the overall production.

Watch A CHRISTMAS CAROL’s show trailer below!

3) Collaboration is key in the production process. Can you share insights into how you collaborated with the director and other members of the creative team to ensure that the props align with the overall vision for the production?

Absolutely, collaboration is the key to a successful theater production. I had a great collaboration with the set designer, for instance, to enhance the connection between Scrooge’s bedroom backdrop and the furniture that would occupy that space—the bed and the armchair. We discussed the color palette, selected fabric samples, and engaged in numerous back-and-forths, incorporating costumes and lighting into the discussion to ensure that every design element would be cohesive.

4) Given that A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a holiday classic, did you incorporate any holiday-themed props to enhance the festive atmosphere of the production? Can you provide examples?

In our approach to the production, we infused holiday magic into various furniture pieces and hand props. While not strictly historical, these details aimed to capture the essence of Christmas that resonates with audiences. We took every opportunity to adorn spaces with festive elements—whether it was adding a touch of red and gold bows or incorporating Christmas lights. Every available corner was utilized to infuse a holiday theme throughout the production.  

5) Attention to detail is crucial in prop design. Were there specific props in A CHRISTMAS CAROL that required extra attention to detail to ensure historical accuracy or thematic significance?

Absolutely! One notable example is the armchair used in Scrooge’s bedroom. The prop demanded extensive dedication from the team, requiring days of adjustments to ensure it functioned seamlessly. While I don’t want to give away too much to preserve the magic, I can assure you that once the audience sees it, they will understand the special significance of this prop. It underscores the belief that dedicating time and attention to even the briefest on-stage moments is always worthwhile.

6) Do you have any favorite prop creations in A CHRISTMAS CAROL that you are particularly proud of or that stand out as memorable?

My favorite prop has to be the dappled horse that accompanies the toy cart. The creation process was quite challenging, and I collaborated closely with the Prop Artisan, 
Hailee Selby. The end result was incredibly rewarding—having a beautiful and timeless dappled horse that truly stands out.

Get your tickets to see A CHRISTMAS CAROL, running December 14th – December 22nd, at CharlestonStage.com.

Originally from Brazil, Aline holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre and Technology with emphasis in Scenic Design from the University of Southern Mississippi. With extensive experience as a Prop Master, Scenic Designer, and Set Decorator, Aline’s career highlights include her role as Properties Supervisor for Charleston Stage’s 45th Season, overseeing eight captivating shows including The Addams Family, A Christmas Carol, and Once On This Island. She is thrilled to continue with the company for the next year.