Turn the Washpot Down

Our venue, the Kellet Theater. This is a converted cotton warehouse.

In the Spring and Summer of 2002 I was pleased to participate in what has to have been the largest, most complex, (and frankly, historic) effort I'd ever seen in community theatre, Turn the Washpot Down. Art Sutton, owner of local radio station WBCU, had heard about an effort called "Swamp Gravy" in Colquitt, Georgia, and thought that such a thing might be just the thing for the little town of Union, South Carolina.

Just a few short years before, the case of Susan Smith drowning her two young boys had dominated the national headlines, and Art was looking for something that would show Union in a positive light and dull the perceptions of that tragic incident in the minds of the public.

To achieve his goal he created the Boogaloo Broadcasting Company and contacted Richard Geer, of Community Performance, Inc. Richard developed a thesis in college that communities could be brought together and improved through the vehicle of community theatre; and has spent the bulk of his time since bringing his ideas to life. CPI provided us with a plan of action for the community effort, and with assistance with this, our first production.

One Saturday in late March of 2002 I got a call from my brother Everett to come audition for a part in a play (this was the first I'd heard of it). Ev knew of my interest in drama, and he shares it, having been in a number of productions himself. I auditioned, and was awarded the part of "Young Robert", about whom you'll read more shortly.

As I said, at the time of the rehearsal, I knew absolutely nothing about the production. It had, however, been in the planning stages for quite some time. Jules Corriere, the excellent playwright, had visited Union to collect stories which were used as the basis of the narrative. I'd better stop a moment and explain that this is a very complex production, and not at all easy to describe. Basically, Jules collected a number of true stories and folk tales, then wove them into several intertwining stories bound by a common thread. In this case, the thread was the Washpot.

The above story is told by the narrator of the story..."the Arbor Woman." Turn the Washpot Down revolves around a number of characters who are spiritually trapped in an Arbor. You hear of their troubled past and see how it affects their present lives. Their spirits are freed, each in turn, when they allow the washpot to be turned up so their stories can escape and be told.

An early rehearsal. Though the set's not yet dressed, you can see we had a lot of interesting space to work with.

There are a number of such stories: the talented bus driver who had to come to terms with his vanished dreams of Nashville stardom; the young girl who reminisces about her father's death and her mother's strength; the war hero who was declared to be a deserter through an administrative mix-up; the first black man to hold a management position in a textile mill. I played "Young Robert", who's father died early, leaving him with an uncaring mother who was only too glad to see him shipped off to fight in World War II... at the age of fifteen. While Young Robert broods in the Arbor, his older self is captured by the notion of finding lost Confederate gold. The play leaves us with the message that the most precious treasures we have aren't mined; they're nurtured.

Creating a production of this complexity takes a lot out of you. This is Tara Malpass, our stage manager, at the end of a long day.

This was a great production to work on, and the CPI team were great people to work with. For our production we needed to create a faux forest on the stage, so Richard, Jules, Joe Varga and I took a little field trip into the woods with a saw and axe. We spent the better part of an afternoon selecting aesthetically pleasing saplings, then stripping them of leaves (if we'd left them on they'd have wilted. So they were stripped and replaced by thousands of silk leaves). Then came the wonderful part of screwing the trees to the stage and rafters. One nice thing about this crew is that when it was time to get down to the dirty work they were the first to roll up their sleeves.

By the way, I'll stop for just a moment to lavish a bit of praise on Joe Varga, one of the nicest and most creative gents you might meet. It was Joe who conceived of our unique multi-level stage with arbor and whose talents transformed board, stick, sapling, and silk into a place of wonder. When we needed a safe way to simulate a rock fight by the river, it was Joe who sat with the local kids teaching them how to make "stones" from paper bags, glue, and a bit of granite paint; and it was Joe who made a plastic pot from Wal-Mart look the part of a hundred year old cast iron washpot. I provided some special effects.

CPI introduced me to a technique I'd never seen used before, but which I'm quite eager to use again; a dual cast. Many of the parts were cast with two actors, who played on alternate nights. Not only does this ease scheduling, but it enabled us to recover in the event that one cast member could not go on. This is really superior to using understudies in that the alternates actually do get stage time and are thus better prepared in the event of an emergency. I only wish that more parts (namely mine) could have been double-cast, since I'd have liked to see the production myself as an audience member. (It would have enabled me to take more pictures to include on this page, for one thing!)

Our local cast was superb. Unfortunately, I'll have to continue their story next time I update this page, as I've run short of time. I will make special mention of one, George Gregory, one of the actors who played the older version of my character. I just learned that George passed away recently (in February, 2002); he will be missed.

2002 Reviews

• Charlotte Observer
• Valerie Denney Communications
• Community arts Network
• The August 19, 2002 issue of People Magazine featured director Richard Geer in the Arts section. The story focused on CPI's mission and prominently featured our production. See the Arts page image, below.

Keep going... the cast and crew credits are coming up!

The August 8th, 2002 issue of People magazine carried a story featuring our production, and more specifically, with Richard Geer's effort, through Community Productions, Inc., to help small communities like Union, South Carolina turn their economies around and promote a sense of fellowship through the use of community theatre. (My twins are the cute little guys in the ball caps center stage.)