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.
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