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Monthly Archives: January 2021

Paula Martinac’s Testimony

January 25, 2021 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

For much of her life, novelist Paula Martinac lived in either Pittsburgh or New York City, but she and her wife moved to Charlotte in 2014.  Since then, Paula has published three historical novels about lesbian characters who have Southern connections.  The first of these novels, The Ada Decades, came out in 2017.  Set in Charlotte between 1947 and 2015, this novel traces the evolving relationship between Ada Shook, a school librarian, and Cam Lively, a teacher in the Charlotte public schools.  In 2019, Paula published Clio Rising, a novel about a young woman named Livvie Bliss who leaves her home in North Carolina and relocates to New York in 1983 so that she can pursue a career in publishing and because she feels that she can live openly as a lesbian in New York.  Paula’s most recent novel, Testimony, came out this month from Bywater Books.  It tells the story of Gen Rider, a professor who teaches at a private college for women in rural Virginia in the early 1960s.   Gen’s career is threatened when a neighbor reports to the local police that she has seen Gen kissing a woman.  Testimony is a powerful story that underscores the destructive nature of LGBTQ discrimination that was commonplace in the South and elsewhere in America during the 1950s and ‘60s. 

Although Testimony is a historical novel, I think that it also speaks to contemporary issues and concerns.  I recently contacted Paula and asked her for more information about how this novel relates to our current situation.  Here is what she sent to me:

A couple of years back, I’d finished writing my novel Clio Rising, and I was toying with ideas for what my next book might be. In my research, I stumbled on an article about Martha Deane, a tenured professor at UCLA in the 1950s who was fired because a neighbor reported her “moral turpitude”—she’d been seen kissing another woman through the window of her own home.

As I looked more closely at the period, I discovered many stories about repression at universities. The infamous Johns Committee in Florida systematically rooted out queer teachers and students through the mid-1960s. The esteemed literature professor and scholar, Newton Arvin, a gay man, lost his position at Smith in 1960 for keeping a private collection of nude photos of men.

My novel Testimony took its inspiration from stories like Deane’s and Arvin’s. Their experiences highlighted the issue of who gets to enjoy privacy, and, at the same time, who gets to be public about their relationships.

It’s no coincidence that I started writing Testimony during a new wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment and activism. According to a report from Lambda Legal Defense, the Trump administration “ushered in a judicial landscape that is significantly more hostile toward LGBTQ people.” On the positive side, Deane’s story in particular spoke to the power of the support networks queer people and women create. I hope Testimony leaves readers with a sense of the LGBTQ community’s amazing resilience and also the importance of straight allies who speak up.

For readers who would like to learn more about Paula and her publications, please click on the following link:  http://paulamartinac.com/  For readers who are interested in taking Paula’s upcoming Charlotte Lit workshop called “Start to Finish: The 10-Minute Play,” please click on the following link: www.charlottelit.org

Like her character Gen, Paula teaches on the college level.  She regularly teaches creative writing courses as a part-time faculty member in UNC Charlotte’s English Department. When the publication of Testimony was announced to the members of the English Department last week, Paula was inundated with congratulatory email messages.  As a member of the English Department, I share my colleagues’ pride in Paula’s latest publication.  In fact, I think everyone associated with Storied Charlotte can take pride in the fact that Paula has established herself as one of Charlotte’s leading novelists. 

Tags: anti-LGBTQlesbian charactersnovels

The Story of Theatre Charlotte Is Not Over

January 19, 2021 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte
Photo by Gavin West

Drama plays an integral role in our literary tradition just as theatre plays an integral role in the history of Storied Charlotte.  For over ninety years, Theatre Charlotte has figured prominently in this history.  Since its founding in 1927, Theatre Charlotte has survived some difficult years, including the Great Depression years and the World War Two years, but 2020 stands out as an especially trying year for Theatre Charlotte.  First the pandemic caused the cancellation of most of its performances, and then a fire broke out on December 28 causing major damage to Theatre Charlotte’s 216-seat auditorium located at 501 Queens Road.  Theatre Charlotte’s staff, volunteers, and community supporters are determined to overcome this latest setback.   

Photo by Theatre Charlotte
Photo by Theatre Charlotte

Theatre Charlotte has started a “Relief Fund” to rebuild their auditorium.  As is stated on their website, “Theatre Charlotte’s auditorium was severely damaged in an electrical fire on December 28, 2020. We’ve been hit pretty hard by 2020, but physical damage to our physical home is something we simply could not have expected. We’re still taking inventory of what we lost. But we do know one thing: to find ourselves again, we need your support. Every dollar raised will help Theatre Charlotte survive this crisis.”  

I contacted a number of people associated with Theatre Charlotte, and I asked them to send me a statement about what Theatre Charlotte means to them and why they are supporting the efforts to rebuild the fire-damaged auditorium.  Their responses are listed below.

Pat Heiss has been a part of the Charlotte theater scene for many years.  She has performed in numerous Theatre Charlotte productions and has served as the President of the Board for Theater Charlotte.  She wrote:

In 1961, I was new to Charlotte and interested in theater. A friend introduced me to the Little Theatre of Charlotte, and there I found a true community theater that welcomed everyone interested in theater, regardless of talent or status. I felt at home. I was a novice, but I learned that to put a production together required hard work and community volunteerism. There was always something to do, and I volunteered for any task that required a body. I had a great time learning the ins-and-outs of the “business” by hands-on experience working on show props, sound, lighting, make-up, and even worked in some stage managing.  I had my first stage roll in 1963, and I was “hooked” on theater for good. I love the feel, smell and atmosphere of theater, and the joy and excitement of providing an entertaining show that, for a few hours, takes an audience to new places and experiences. Decades have passed since I started my theatrical adventure, and I have performed at numerous other venues, but I will always consider where I started, Theatre Charlotte, as my “home.” The Theater recently experienced an electrical fire that has shut down all performances, and of course, Covid-19 had put its boot on the entertainment neck of the nation. This hurdle must be overcome before the Theater can reopen its doors, but with the community’s support I’m confident that it will, and when that day comes, as it always has, Theatre Charlotte will lay out the mat that says, “Welcome, please come in!”

Photo by Theatre Charlotte

Rick Moll is a senior lecturer and the Master Electrician for UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture. He is also a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.  He wrote:

I was 23 and one year out of college when I did my first show at Theatre Charlotte.  Professionally, it gave me production credits very early in my career when my resume (frankly) was pretty threadbare.  I did five shows in various capacities over the next year.  It allowed me to ply my craft and build a name for myself in the overall community. I met a circle of friends doing that show that was my tribe for the next five years.  My 20s, personally and professionally, were rooted in the community I found there.  I learned early on it’s not just the work, it’s the people.  In 2010, I found my way back and have worked on a dozen productions over the last ten years.  As a Lecturer at UNC Charlotte, I have sent students to 501 Queens to build experiences on their resumes (as performers and technicians), hoping they can find in their journey the same things I found along mine.  Legacy — that’s the gift Theatre Charlotte gives this community.  It was here before us and it will be here after we are gone.  ACE, Charlotte Rep, Bare Bones, Charlotte Shakespeare, innovative theatre, Off Tryon, Queen City Theatre, Stage One– these were all fantastic groups from Charlotte’s arts past.  CPCC, Actor’s Theatre, Children’s Theatre  and Three Bone are the current torchbearers in this town.  Through all these groups, there has been Theatre Charlotte-  providing rehearsal space, performance space, props, costumes along the way- carrying itself while carrying others. I want to see the Theatre Charlotte Centennial in 2027.

Photo by Theatre Charlotte

Victoria Perras is the Head of Wardrobe for the Blumenthal Performing Arts/Belk Theater.  She is also a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.  She wrote:

I have spent a lot of hours in the last couple of days thinking about all my years at Theatre Charlotte and what they meant to me.  I first became involved with the theater in the early 1980s when I was invited to join the Ladies Auxiliary.  In those days the auxiliary actually worked in the box office, answering the phones, making reservations and pulling the tickets for the show.  After a couple of years, Keith Martin, the Executive Director of the theater asked me if I would be interested in working backstage.  I explained that I had two kids, about 11 and 12, too young not to have a babysitter but too old to think they needed one.  In the true sense of community theater, Keith said “bring them in and we’ll put them to work.”. We had a great time working on the show, building sets, painting, learning everything there was to putting on a show.  We all ended up on the show crew.  My daughter, Elizabeth was the Asst. Asst. Stage Manager on stage right and Donald on stage left.  The show, “Something’s Afoot” had a lot of sight gags and we all had some of them to do.  It was a great experience!  However, watching my son load smoke pots with black powder and steel wool took a few years off me, I also watched the Technical Director at that time, Vernon Carroll, teach him how to do it with all proper safety guidelines and realized how valuable a community organization like Theatre Charlotte can be and how much they can enrich lives.  My kids and I did several shows together over the next couple of years.  They went on to “teenagedom”  and other interests but I found a life time love for live theater that has never dimmed.  We need to anything we can to help this Grand Old Lady.

Gordon Olson is currently a Lecturer in Lighting Design at UNC Charlotte.  He has been involved with the lighting of over ninety productions, including many at Theatre Charlotte.  He wrote:

Having been a part of numerous productions at Theatre Charlotte, I was horrified and saddened to hear of the recent fire the theatre experienced. I have a deep admiration for the space, and more importantly the extraordinary passion and talent of those who inhabit it. At the very heart of the organization, people like Ron Law, and Chris and Jackie Timmons care so deeply about the idea of providing high quality, accessible theatre to the greater Charlotte community that it’s heartbreaking to consider the idea of the organization having to turn off it’s ghost light forever. I’ve been fortunate enough to work as both a scenic and lighting designer for many productions these last ten years of my life in Charlotte and each production has been a wonderful, soul-nourishing experience of collaborative effort, artistic output, and high-level performative talent on display. Seeing the ongoing commitment of the volunteers that Theatre Charlotte has in its ranks, to keep the theatre functioning, producing, and striving for more never ceases to inspire me when I walk through the doors for a long day of rehearsal, or diving into the chaos that is “tech week” prior to opening night. The staff and talent at TC never shy away from doing challenging work and approach each production with unwavering enthusiasm with the goal of putting up the best possible show. I sincerely hope that Theatre Charlotte is able to weather this storm and come out on the other side better than ever. I look forward to helping in any manner I can to keep the doors open and keeping the stage lights on.

Louanne Delaney has been part of the Theatre Charlotte family for many years from backstage to front of house. She works at a local law firm by day and Theatre Charlotte on nights and weekends.  She wrote:

I can’t believe it’s been 22 years since I first walked in the door to Theatre Charlotte.  From backstage crew to stage manager to house manager – and so much in between.  I’ve gotten to know many actors, crew, volunteers and patrons over the years, many on a personal level, and many I see on a regular basis.  And I know it’s the same for others. When I heard the news about the fire I was heartbroken! I can’t image it not being there. So many memories, so many friends!  There are many things that will need to be done, but there are also many people who want to see it happen. Theatre Charlotte means so much to so many people. Theatre Charlotte means so much to me in so many ways.  It’s the best thing that has happened to me.  It’s my heart’s home.

As the above statements reflect, Theatre Charlotte has contributed a great deal to the culture of Charlotte since it performed its first production in 1928.  However, in order for it to continue to be a player in the grand drama that is Storied Charlotte, it needs the support of the community.  For those who are interested in helping Theatre Charlotte rebuild its fire-damaged auditorium, please click on the following link:  https://theatrecharlotte.salsalabs.org/2020/index.html

Tags: Theatre Charlotte

Providing Charlotte’s Children with Books of Their Own

January 11, 2021 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

My parents owned thousands of books.  The tallest wall in our living room soared sixteen feet high, and the entire wall was covered with packed bookshelves.   My father had to stand on the very top rung of a stepladder and then reach as high as he could to take a book off of the top shelf.  My parents are no longer with us, but that wall of books still exists. Throughout the rest of the house there were other packed bookshelves.  I had access to these books, but I knew that they belonged to my parents. 

The books that meant the most to me during my childhood were my own books.  I had the opportunity to select and buy books at school book fairs and occasional trips to bookstores, and I treasured these books.  In fact, I still own some of them, such as E. B. White’s Stuart Little and A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh.  I now know that I was a lucky boy.  Many children, including thousands of children who live in Charlotte, grow up in homes bereft of books.  These children do not have books to call their own.  Promising Pages, a nonprofit organization located in Charlotte, is doing something to address this problem.

Founded by Kristina Cruise in 2011, Promising Pages collects new and donated books shares them with children living in Charlotte homes where there are few if any books.  Kristina stepped away from Promising Pages at the end of 2018, leaving the organization in the capable hands of experienced nonprofit professionals Eric Law (Executive Director) and Kelly Cates (Deputy Director).  I recently contacted Eric and asked him why he took on the role of leading this organization.  Here is what he sent to me:

I was born into a multigenerational family of educators and raised in Charlotte.  Growing up as the sons of a college professor and a bookstore manager, my brother and I took it for granted that we always had books at home and were introduced to reading early. As I got older, I realized that many of our peers did not have that privilege. I want to ensure that every child in my hometown gets the same advantage that I did.  I am driven by the positive impact that book ownership can have on children.

Our mission is to provide ownership of books to underserved children and cultivate a lifelong love of reading through innovative literacy programs and partnerships. We envision a world where all children have adequate reading materials at home, can see themselves reflected in the books they read, and have made reading a joyful habit for a lifetime.

Promising Pages is still a relatively young organization. We are working diligently to strengthen our infrastructure and to increase the impact of our programs and services for the long term. Our overarching priority is to fulfill our mission by sharing even more books with underserved students in our community. Promising Pages has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, sharing more than 190,000 books in each of the last two July-June time periods. Many child-serving and literacy- focused organizations have come to rely on us as their main source for books, but we know the need is much greater.

While we expect that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will continue to be our primary avenue for sharing books with students, we are strategically partnering with organizations focused on housing, food insecurity, and with other area schools and school districts. Through these efforts we will be able to serve more students, help non-literacy focused organizations support the families they serve, and help us broaden our base of community support. As we continue to grow, we expect that Promising Pages will be widely known as the primary go-to source for children’s books in our area, and as an organization that plays a leading role in sustaining and enhancing the attention paid to the issue of children’s literacy.

We are also working intentionally to acquire more diverse and representative books to share with the students we serve, 90% of whom are children of color. Children should not only get to choose the books they read, but should also see themselves mirrored in those books. Representation matters.

As Promising Pages approaches its tenth anniversary in September 2021, we are focused on becoming a more mature, capable, and sustainable organization that will have a steadily growing positive impact on our community for decades to come.

For more information about Promising Pages, please click on the following link:  https://promising-pages.org

I commend Eric and the other staff members and volunteers associated with Promising Pages for providing so many Charlotte children with their own books.  In so doing, Promising Pages is making an important contribution countless children’s lives and to the continued vitality of Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: Promising Pages

Kevin Winchester and His Southern Gothic Novel

January 04, 2021 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

I first became interested in Southern Gothic literature years before I moved to the South.  I discovered Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road (1932)and God’s Little Acre (1933) during my undergraduate studies at the now-defunct Franconia College, which was located in northern New Hampshire.  Although I was living in the middle of Yankee country, I enjoyed reading Caldwell’s novels about life in the rural South.  In many ways, these novels are all about the characters’ emotional connections to the land.  Caldwell’s eccentric and flawed characters intrigued me.  Since these characters live on the fringes of society, their experiences reveal sides of Southern culture that are often kept out of view.  When I originally read these books, I hadn’t yet heard of the term Southern Gothic.  However, I later learned that this term has come to be associated with Caldwell’s novels and other stories about eccentric (sometimes grotesque) characters who live in the South and who wrestle with the complexities of Southern culture and traditions.  

I thought about Caldwell’s novels and the Southern Gothic tradition when I discovered Kevin Winchester recent debut novel, Sunflower Dog:  Dancing the Flathead Shuffle.  I see Kevin’s novel as belonging to this same tradition, but I wondered if Kevin would agree with me, so I sent him an email and asked him.  In his response, he said, “Absolutely, I think Sunflower Dog is definitely Southern Gothic.”

Like the characters in Caldwell’s novels, the central characters in Sunflower Dog have deep ties to the land.  Also, like Caldwell’s characters, Kevin’s eccentric characters exist on the fringes of society.  In the case of Sunflower Dog, these characters live on the fringes of Charlotte.  Kevin currently lives near Charlotte in the community of Waxhaw, and he earned his MFA in creative writing from Queens University in Charlotte. For more information about Kevin and his publications, please click on the following link:  https://www.kevinwinchesterwriter.com

Kevin draws on his familiarity with the Charlotte region in creating his cast of quirky characters.  These characters include a small-town entrepreneur, an aspiring reality TV star and her doting but tough-as-nails grandmother, a young couple who are expecting a child, a pair of inept weed growers, a college professor whose career is not going well, and, of course, a dog. These characters all get caught up in a messy real-estate deal that is both funny and poignant.  I recently contacted Kevin and asked him for more information about these characters.  Here is what he sent to me:

Sunflower Dog was released in April of 2020, but it is set in 2008/9 against the national backdrop of Obama’s election and the Great Recession, and the Charlotte region’s real estate boom and its ensuing population explosion.  The characters in Sunflower Dog—all local “natives”—are trying to figure out how to navigate all the changes happening around them.

To anyone from the area, it quickly becomes obvious the book’s fictional Mason County represents Union County. I was born in the county but headed for bigger and brighter as soon as possible. When I first began thinking of moving back to Union County, I told my wife we should drive out to an area I always liked to see if any land or houses might be for sale. A couple of turns later I thought I was lost. The dirt road I wanted, the one I remembered from high school that featured Ghost Bridge, the site of bonfires and beers every Friday and Saturday night, was paved. Housing developments sprouted from pastureland, and when I threw my hand up at passing traffic—a Southern and especially Union County tradition—no one waved back. Charlotte, and all things Charlotte, had spilled across the County line. I didn’t know how I felt about that.

Neither do the characters in Sunflower Dog. Most of the characters are long-time residents. A few are multi-generational—as the saying goes: their tap root ran deep, especially the main character, Salvador Hinson, and one of his cohorts, Ethel, the crusty grandmother of the story. All are trying to redefine who they are and how they are to exist as their familiar world, a world filled with traditions and customs good and bad, connections to the land, a sense of the past—theirs and the regions, careens toward the future. They’re on the fringe, stuck between urban and rural, big city and red-dirt country.

Union County, like most counties surrounding Mecklenburg, or probably any urban area that is experiencing growth, is divided geographically in a way that reflects all of this. For instance, in Union County (and the book’s Mason County), Highway 601 north of Monroe and Highway 200 south of Monroe act as a demographic line of demarcation. West of those two highways, the Mecklenburg county side, is more affluent, crowded with two-story housing developments and traffic, abundant shopping and dining options. East of those two highways, the landscape is open farmland, trailers, mom and pop businesses, and a slower pace in general. What moves toward the center pushes something to the fringes.

There is a natural conflict in those fringes: the ancestral locals pitted against the newcomers. There are plenty of Southern Lit books that feature those conflicts. Sunflower Dog is more interested in the internal conflict this newness creates in those being pushed toward the fringes. Those folks have a choice, or choices, to make. What traditions do they hang on to? Which ones should they discard? Is there really a connection to The Land; a standard trope in Southern fiction? And as the area inevitably becomes more urban…and more urbane…what happens to the traditional, Southern Gothic characters? Not “characters” in the sense of fiction, but characters as people; those quirky, hard-headed, determined, proud, uniquely intelligent, often peculiar folks we Southerners have always celebrated. In short, those fringe characters have long enriched all that is the “Southern experience,” and they are an integral part of all generational Southerners. Those not from the South viewed, still view, those characters as humorous, as jokes even, and not without reason. In Sunflower Dog, I wanted that comical aspect to shine through, but I also believe there is something beautiful and necessary in those fringe characters. If…when…those characters disappear, the collective We will have lost something more than just our Southern-ness. I hoped to preserve some of that in Sunflower Dog.

As the publication of Kevin’s Sunflower Dog demonstrates, the Southern Gothic tradition is alive and well.  Contemporary Charlotte, with its gleaming skyscrapers and international airport, might not seem like a conducive setting for a Southern Gothic novel.  However, Kevin shows us that you don’t have to travel very far beyond Charlotte’s city limits to find a world that’s perfectly suited for a Southern Gothic story.  As I see it, Sunflower Dog is set on the fringes of the city, but it is still part of Storied Charlotte. 

Tags: Southern Gothic literature
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