In less than two months through the efforts of volunteer workers of all ages, the former warehouse was completely remodeled to emerge as an informal playhouse and workshop. Still but four walls and a roof (on which was a debt for damages inflicted by a recent tornado) they visualized its possibilities as a Workshop. At that time in 1941 there were no theaters available for rental so the Footlight Players turned again to their warehouse. In 1938 began a three-year period during which an affiliation was in effect between the Footlight Players and the Carolina Art Association, which terminated in 1941. In November 1937, upon invitation of the City of Charleston, the Footlight Players opened the reconstructed Dock Street Theater with a special gala production of "The Recruiting Officer". Several plays were presented alfresco and the Victory Theater was used from December 1936 to April 1937. It was in the old Academy of Music that most of these early plays were presented until 1936 when a Footlight production closed the history of this famous Charleston landmark, the building then being razed after 70 years of theatrical activity. Yet until 1938, all productions were given in rented theaters, and the warehouse was used for storage and scenery construction. In 1934, the Footlight Players purchased an old cotton warehouse at 20 Queen Street with the idea of eventually converting it into a finished playhouse. Reflecting this spirit, in March 1931, a small group presented a program of one-act plays, and so started the history of this company, formally organized as "The Footlight Players, Inc." in the fall of 1932. Heirs to a tradition dating back to the early 19th century, a nucleus of Charlestonians wanted a truly community theater for their city. Tickets and info: footlightplayers.Charleston's oldest community theater group, the Footlight Players had their beginnings sixty years ago. Show dates and info are listed below:Įach performance will be held at the Queen Street Playhouse, home of the Footlight Players. Audiences will find themselves singing along to familiar tunes from some of Sondheim’s greatest accomplishments from Into the Woods, Company, Dick Tracy, Sweeney Todd, and much more while host and Executive Director Brian Porter will fill the audience in on tidbits and facts about Sondheim and his illustrious musical theatre career.įootlight Players will also be announcing their full 90th season lineup the week of May 17th. The series’ other show, Sondheim Nights, offers a more intimate affair of just voices and an accompanying piano celebrating one the greatest composer and lyricists in musical theatre history, Stephen Sondheim. A mixture of over the-top 80’s camp and some more intimate cabaret covers, the show, hosted by frequent Footlight collaborator Kyle Barnette, pays reverent homage to the decade that never slept. The first, Decade of Decadence: An 80’s Cabaret will feature a lineup of some of Charleston’s finest voices backed up by a live band belting out some of the greatest hits of the 80’s from Madonna and Whitney to the Eurythmics and Janet Jackson. The Queen Street Cabaret series will launch with two different shows running in between May 29th and June 11th during the time of the Spoleto Festival. “We’re all starved for live performances both as artists and patrons, and after such a dramatic shift in the world over the past year, we’re all ready for some fun and escape – and that is exactly what we intend to provide,” said Brian Porter, Executive Director of Footlight Players and its home at the Queen Street Playhouse. Fifteen months after their last live stage performance and after skipping the entirety of their 89th season, Footlight Players, Charleston’s oldest theatre company, is getting back to business with a couple of live music cabaret shows to launch their new Queen Street Cabaret series.
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