This is my last entry as company manager for the CWV Tour to Charleston - sad, right?! We had a wonderful time and we are back to our Abingdon commitments - rehearsals for the summer rep - Saving Old Smokey, Beauty and the Beast, and Elvis Has Left the Building; final performances of Treasure Island, Age of Arousal, and, of course, Civil War Voices.
Bookmark this blog and come back in September for posts about the National Tour of Barter Theatre’s production of Civil War Voices!!
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The CWV Tour Company’s Favorite Things in Charleston
PART ONE: FOOD
Q: What was your favorite part of our trip to Charleston?
Wendy: The weather. The beauty. The smell. The food. And Arthur W. Marks.
Karen: I’m thinking food.
Jason: My God, the food.
Jacki: The food, eating. And Chef Doug [the executive chef at Social].
Jason: Yes. And Chef Doug.
Pictured: Chef Doug.
Chavez: Social was A–mazing. Jacki was responsible for finding Social. She’s an avid foodie.
Tony: The best food was at Social. I almost cried eating the Kobe beef slider with a quail egg. I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it. It was so delicious.
Dan: I probably have mercury poisoning from all the scallops I’ve eaten. I tried them six different ways.
KB: What were the best scallops?
Dan: Coast’s were really really REALLY good. The scallops were different and not something I would typically order. They were bacon-wrapped scallops, but the bacon was jalapeno infused. They had a little kick. And they were glazed in a barbeque pomegranate sauce, which you wouldn’t think would go with seafood.
**Dan then expressed his love for the scallops in a way that is inappropriate to print here. Again – Dan Folino is always surprising.**
Tony: At Coast, I had a dish with saffron rice, mussels, scallions, shrimps, chorizo, and clams. It came in a cast iron pot. I had the leftovers boxed up and when I lifted the box, I said, “Oh, crap.” It was 20 pounds!
Chavez : I was on a shrimp and grits and she-crab tour of Charleston. At Poogan’s Porch, the shrimp and grits were awesome. Sauteed yellow, red and green peppers and onions with andouille sausage with shrimp. And Fleet Landing – theirs was delicious as well – topped with gravy, big chunks of sausage and shrimp. There was a garnish of alfalfa sprouts – the only healthy thing on top of that plate. I decided, I’m going to eat that garnish because that’s my vegetable!
Dan: At Fleet Landing, the scallops were done with lemon dill shallot butter.
Nathan: They were perfectly done.
Dan: Yeah, you touched ‘em and they bounced right back. Claire [the 15-year-old violinist] had her first scallop and said, “Where have these been all my life?” I loved the deep-fried pizza from Sabatino’s Pizza in Mount Pleasant. Another favorite part of the trip: Arthur W. Marks.
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PART TWO: THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST SHOT
Q: What was your favorite part of our trip to Charleston?
Lee: I loved Fort Sumter.
Claire: The firing on Fort Sumter – that was something. We continued hearing the shots when we returned to the hotel.
Pictured: The reenactment of the First Shot at Patriot’s Point, 4/12/2011. Photo by Rick McVey
Holly: My favorite part was going to the reenactment [early Tuesday morning] and then doing the show that day. Seeing the reenactment on the anniversary of the first shot and everybody dressed up and all of the spectators who were shouting, “Down with the Yankees,” and seeing the tents that looked like all the photos I had seen in history books - I started crying. And then doing the show. The reenactment was from a Southern perspective. Doing the show – it was as if we were saying, “Look how far we’ve come.”
Rick: The most memorable part of this experience would be last night’s show. I thought, we are in this city doing this play and to feel like you are a part of that.
Wendy: Sharing this show with enthusiastic, passionate audiences on this anniversary was very powerful. A once in a lifetime opportunity.
Arthur: Technically, we made history.
Wendy: When we were singing, when our voices were sailing through the room, our voices were ringing through the city just as their voices did.
Eugene: Those connections live and breathe. And are like a prayer.
Tricia: Each moment last night - listening to Theo’s story, listening to Chamberlain’s story - felt different. There is a part of the show where the North soldiers come to sign up. They each give me a name. Nathan and Arthur gave me names – they always give me the same names. Rick gives me different names. And last night, he said, “Sawhill. Alex Sawhill.” And I about fell over. Alex Sawhill is the kid in the picture frame which inspired Jim [the playwright] and the whole piece. At that moment, it hit me: he’s gonna die two years later. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn’t expect that.
Arthur: And to look back at you [Tricia] in that moment. I heard Rick say it. And I saw your expression – it washed over you.
Rick: I hadn’t thought about it until I thought about Eugene’s speech at the beginning of the show. That boy is the reason we are here.
Tricia: I saw that kid. I just – I choked up. I could have fallen apart. I had to walk away.
Arthur: You did fall apart. That’s what was so beautiful about it. It could not have been scripted that way.
Tricia: And my vortex character [for more about vortex characters, click here], Grandma, zapped into me. Grandma has the picture frame at the beginning of the play. Her quest through the entire play is to find out what happened to him. She needs to know what happened to Alex. It’s always news to hear that he was only 18 [when he died].
Rick: Alex Sawhill is one more voice that we don’t really hear.
Claire: When I was at the concert on Monday night, the wind started blowing so hard. It was as if the music was calling all these spirits, these people who died, and it felt like they were there. And as one of the musicians, that’s what I’m supposed to do during the show. Maybe we are getting these people. Maybe we really are.
Arthur: Watching the wind whip through the flags – that was a beautiful moment.
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PART THREE: THE COMMUNITY OF CHARLESTON
Q: What was your favorite part of our trip to Charleston?
Eugene: The People. There was such willingness to give. They are clearly proud of the place where they live. And that makes you like the place, too.
Nathan: Charleston feels like six different towns, all at the same time. I felt like I was on Sunset Strip, in Manhattan, in Louisiana on the bayou, in some small Southern town at the turn of the century. It was endlessly rewarding.
Rick: I wanted to lay down and roll around it.
Pictured: King Street, Charleston.
Nathan: And I liked being somewhere where the Civil War was present all the time. Where the history was so present. Charleston is where the show needs to be. They need this story.
Tricia: The north and south still have the fights we have in the show. It’s perfect to be in Charleston.
Claire: The audience needs to hear it.
Rick: This has been a reminder - sometimes what we do is really important. It’s not just culture or entertainment. It’s something the soul is desperately hungry for.
