Though you may not think it as you see her whizzing around campus on her little red bike, Charlie King is a very busy woman. She acts, directs, produces, translates, bartends, stage-manages and snorts really loudly when she laughs — all of this under the guise of “theatre major.” One might not believe the theatre major to be all that demanding (I know I don’t), but this senior has taken that preconception and torn it to shreds.
King has been involved with theatre since the tender age of seven, when she gave the performance of a lifetime in a Theatre for Young Audiences program, whilst wearing a pink “Happy New Year!” tiara and speaking the heart-rending lines “But Father, I love him!”
From there, it’s only gotten better. This past summer she interned at two theatres in Chicago: A Red Orchid Theatre, a small-ensemble based company where she worked closely with the artistic director and business manager, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre where she was the stage management intern for a production of Amadeus.
She also has a major work of her own coming up — this spring, King will premiere a musical, this year’s LUMP production, which she translated and adapted from French and put together with the help of Nikko Benson. “‘When the War is Done (Quand la guerre sera finie)’ was written by a woman with whom I had an internship in Paris last year,” King said, “I grabbed it thinking that I could use it as a translation exercise, but I really got into the story, because it’s amazing, and decided that we could and should produce it at Lawrence.”
Not a small feat, to say the least. And theatre types take note: Auditions for this work will be starting sometime between sixth and eighth week next term. It’s an awesome chance to participate in a unique production with one of Lawrence’s most talented.
Artist Spotlight : Charlie King
