[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/faulkner-dinner-theaters-30-year-legacy-lives-on-through-graduates\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/faulkner-dinner-theaters-30-year-legacy-lives-on-through-graduates\/","headline":"Faulkner Dinner Theater's 30-year legacy lives on through graduates","name":"Faulkner Dinner Theater's 30-year legacy lives on through graduates","description":"Angie Dickson teaches theatre to students. Angela Dickson stepped into the barn in the back of Faulkner\u2019s campus more than 30 years ago as an undergraduate and began what would become a decades-long affair with the art of theater. Her…","datePublished":"2018-10-29","dateModified":"2019-09-19","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/author\/rburylo\/#Person","name":"Rebecca Burylo","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/author\/rburylo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37a0c97fbd1eda89e38697defcaf0573?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37a0c97fbd1eda89e38697defcaf0573?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Faulkner University","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Horizontal-480x128.png","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/Official-Horizontal-480x128.png","width":480,"height":128}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/angie-dickson-teaching-1-300x169.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/angie-dickson-teaching-1-300x169.jpg","height":"169","width":"300"},"url":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/faulkner-dinner-theaters-30-year-legacy-lives-on-through-graduates\/","about":["Alumni","Current Students","Graduate","News","Online","Undergraduate"],"wordCount":2591,"articleBody":"Angie Dickson teaches theatre to students.Angela Dickson stepped into the barn in the back of Faulkner\u2019s campus more than 30 years ago as an undergraduate and began what would become a decades-long affair with the art of theater.Her journey began at the very infancy of the Dinner Theater program, which spanned 30 years and included 194 shows at Faulkner. It is now a very special part of Faulkner University\u2019s history.\u00a0 It\u2019s a legacy is one that lives on through the lives, careers and memories of the more than 754 students, faculty, staff and community members who through the years donned a costume, sang a song, painted a backdrop, pointed the spotlight and much more on the beloved stage at Faulkner.Dickson is proud to have had a part in that legacyBrittney Johnston and another Faulkner student perform at the Faulkner Dinner Theater.and to impart her knowledge of theatre, empathy, caring and peace with her pupils who have ventured into realms of business, the classroom and the even the battlefield. She is continuing to inspire a new generation through theatre as the theater teacher at Alabama Christian College.The Dinner Theater opened in June 1987 as a barn in the back corner of Faulkner\u2019s then new campus on Atlanta Highway. It housed a stage, seating and area for a catered dinner which was served there for the theater\u2019s first show, \u201cThe Star-Spangled Girl.\u201d The space also served as the student commons, an area bustling with activity.Throughout the years, The Barn took on new looks as the facility was renovated to meet the changing needs of the university. Seating was rearranged, more room was given for the audience and the building was given a whole new look as the new Fine Arts Center housing both theatrical, music and choral departments. In 2011 the Dinner Theater was moved across Atlanta Highway from the campus in a separate, larger venue in the Eastmont Plaza. The theater was styled after popular theaters of the 1950s complete with a marquee and the first showing there was \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera.\u201d The last show there was \u201cJoseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat,\u201d in May 2018.Angie Dickson, left and Brandtley McDonald.The Dinner Theater began as an idea of then Faulkner theatre professor, Phillip Sprayberry. His idea was realized in 1987 with the new barn. Students, faculty, staff and community members flocked to take part in every part of production from lights, cameras, props, backdrops, rehearsals, auditions and on stage performances.Angie will be the first to tell you that those entrenched in the life of theatre instantly create lasting bonds with everyone who is part of the show. It takes everyone\u2019s part and unique skills to make a show successful. Just like a family, those in theatre grow together as friends, brothers and sisters.\u201cWe were all just in the trenches together. We laughed, we picked on each other, but we also encouraged and lifted each other up,\u201d she said.Dickson reflected humorously onScene from the Faulkner Dinner Theater play, The Pirates of Penzance featuring Chris Kelly, center.her time as a student when a fellow actress botched a line in the play, A Westside Story.\u00a0 She came running off stage mortified. Dickson took her by the arms firmly and told her, \u201cYou just got to do cool. Come on! You got this.\u201d Off the girl went to finish the play.Dickson laughed at the memory and said there were scores of others just like that stored away as delightful memories of being a student at Faulkner and embracing the world of theatre.Likewise, Faulkner professor of kinesiology and exercise science, Terry Brown, Ph.D., began acting and singing on stage under the direction of Sprayberry just two years after Brown came to Faulkner to teach. He still remembers the exhilaration of being on stage in the barn.Andrew Wolford plays Leonardo da Vinci in the play, Flight of the Lawnchair Man at the Faulkner Dinner Theater.\u201cThe interaction between what was happening on stage and the audience was very intimate,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIn Carousel, the character I played, killed Billy Bigelow on a pier. So we constructed this pier to extend right into the audience.\u201d\u201cWe were so close to the audience that when our singing and the orchestra stopped, all we could hear was their breathing. \u201c\u201cIt was surreal. We were capturing their emotions. We were pulling them in. When they cried, you knew they were moved by what they saw and heard. It was those little moments that meant so much to me being a part of the theater. It was fun and exciting and I never thought I would get my chance at being on stage.\u201dDickson discovered her passion for theatre when she arrived on Faulkner\u2019s campus, initially coming with a tennis scholarship in the early 1980s, a short time before the first Dinner Theater show. Before that, 20 shows were held in the Rotunda from May 1976 to February 1987.Dickson had her first shot at the stage when Sprayberry put on the schools\u2019 first Dinner Theater shows the summer of 1987.\u201cStar-Spangled Girl, SomeThe Baker’s WifeEnchanted Evening and Oklahoma were some of the first shows that summer,\u201d Dickson said. \u201cThat first summer had quite a number of shows for our first year. Six or more I believe.\u201d\u201cMy friends were involved in some of the shows and I began auditioning and just fell in love with theatre,\u201d Dickson said.\u00a0 \u201cThe relationships that you build through performing were incredible. We would work until the wee hours of the morning all the time. We loved it.\u201dDickson would be a part of many shows before graduating from Faulkner and then starting her work at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery as the theater teacher in 1995.Tony Davison plays in Guys and Dolls at the Faulkner Dinner Theater.She was still in town, so she often helped Sprayberry with the Dinner Theater and worked there for a couple of years before heading to graduate school. She would later work at the theater full time in the 1990s as interim director. \u00a0Between 1990 and 2018, Rebecca Carter, Sam Wallace, Jason South, Dickson and Tony Davison all served as either director or co-director of the theater after Sprayberry left in 1990.Moving from student to mentor, Dickson had the chance to infuse her passion and knowledge into Faulkner students coming through the program years after her. Seeing them graduate and become successful on Broadway, working with the Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office, teaching at Alabama Christian Academy and starting their own Christian entertainment company has been the highlight of her career.Branching out into unconventional roles from a theatre background proves the versatility of theatre Dickson said.\u201cIt\u2019s a little overwhelming to watch. To study theatre is life-changing,\u201d Dickson said. \u201cStudents will tell you it\u2019s the degree in empathy. It opens their eyes and you don\u2019t see the world the same. It\u2019s freeing and enlightening. You want to believe that you\u2019ve done a good job and hope you\u2019ve done some good in these students.\u201dFaulkner graduate, Michael Morrow,Faulkner Dinner Theateris one who took an unconventional route after graduating in 2010 with an undergraduate degree in theatre, something he learned to love as a child. He pursued criminal justice for his master\u2019s degree at Faulkner and is now a K9 handler for the Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office.Scene from the Faulkner Dinner Theater.\u201cI had always wanted to be a deputy and the theater has actually helped me in my field with talking to people, witnesses, victims and suspects alike, handling a scene, managing a crowd and thinking on my feet especially,\u201d Morrow explained.As an actor, and often a lead character in many of the Dinner Theater shows, Morrow was used to things going awry on stage and became a master at improvisation. Like the time he grabbed a door knob and it flew right out of his hand.Aside from on-stage near-catastrophes, what he cherishes most are the relationships and the friendships he gained through theatre and the memories from shows like Guys and Dolls, 1776, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everybody Loves Opal and Man Day, which he wrote and directed with friends Daniel Monplaisir, Chris Kelly and Tony Davidson.\u201cI gained unbelievable friendships from being involved in the Dinner Theater that have stayed with me,\u201d Morrow said. \u201cThe memories, the people, you just couldn\u2019t forget them in a good way. There was never a bad memory.\u201dKari (Gatlin) Kelly and Michael Morrow play two of the leads in Faulkner Dinner Theater’s play, Guys and Dolls.Monplaisir is a 2010 theatre graduate who took a different role right out of college as a soldier and continues to serve in the Army National Guard. He most recently joined his friend, Taylor Griswold in starting a new Christian interactive entertainment production for children under the company name, Epic Entertainment, and continues to act in local theaters across Texas.\u201cIn the military and doing Solider Shows, I can understand people because of theatre,\u201d Monplaisir said. \u201cIt helped me develop into a leader who has authority over his unit, but who can also relate to them and convey my point to them in a way that they understand. As an actor, I\u2019ve had to jump into other people\u2019s lives, which has taught me to understand different people\u2019s perspectives and choices.\u201d\u201cFrom the Dinner Theater, I developed into a presenter, getting in front of people, memorizing a scripts, doing rehearsals, which has helped me now as a full-time entertainer from set design, creating creative comedic content and all the technical aspects of a show,\u201d Monplaisir added. \u201cWe were trained well at Faulkner to be true professionals at our craft.\u201dThat\u2019s what Dickson hoped for all along. For her students to be successful in whatever role in life they chose.\u201cThe shows were just a means to an end,\u201dDaniel Monplaisir plays one of the leads in Faulkner Dinner Theater’s play, Guys and Dolls.Dickson said. \u201cIt allowed the audience to see the growth of the students and for the students to get the whole experience. It was always about doing what we could to make these students succeed.\u201dStaying a bit closer to home, 2010 musical theatre major Kari Kelly lives with her husband, Chris Kelly in Montgomery while she teaches elementary music at Alabama Christian Academy.Theatre was certainly not a major that was in her sights after she finished her Associates degree from a school in Andalusia. She first came to see a show at the Dinner Theater with a friend.\u201cJust like that, I knew that\u2019s where I wanted to be,\u201d she said. \u201cI always loved musicals! I grew up watching a lot of musicals and there weren\u2019t a lot of opportunities for that kind of thing in my hometown. I\u2019ve always loved performing and the Faulkner Dinner Theater stage looked like the perfect venue to stretch my skills and grow.\u201dNot only did she grow as a performer at Faulkner through shows like \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone,\u201d A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d and \u201cPirates of Penzance,\u201d she gained friendships and fell in love with her husband.\u201cThere are so many good memories,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI made some great new friends that are still a part of my life, including one who was my roommate and now lives around the corner from me, and our children are growing up together. Another actor and I had good chemistry together… as captain and henchman on stage. I\u2019m married to that guy now.\u201dKari (Gatlin) Kelly, plays a role at the Faulkner Dinner Theater.\u201cThe Faulkner Dinner Theater changed my life. I wouldn\u2019t be who I am today if I had not had it to help build my confidence and awareness of the people around me. I can\u2019t say enough about the effect of Mrs. Dickson\u2019s teachings and support and Mr. Jason South\u2019s encouragement through my time there and afterwards as I became part of the community side of it.\u201dMorgan Baker and Tatyana Thompson are two of the more recent graduates from the program and are continuing to work and study theatre.After spending nights talking to fellow cast members in the parking lot of the Dinner Theater, Baker now plans to earn his Master\u2019s in acting at University of Southern Mississippi and become a theatre professor. He began acting at the Dinner Theater when he was a student at Alabama Christian Academy.Acting gave him meaning to life, he said.\u201cThere\u2019s a real humanity in it all. When you see someone forget their line or run into a door, it\u2019s like real life,\u201d Baker said.\u201cAlso when you learn acting, you not only learn the craft of it, you learn how to see within yourself. I see my life with so much more clarity than I did five years ago.\u201dTechnical theatre student Tatyana Thompson is now working with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival as a quick-change artist sewing the performers\u2019 costumes after graduating in 2017.She started working at the dinner theater her sophomore year and did a lot of work with lighting and sound and of course costumes.Morgan Baker plays a role in the Faulkner Dinner Theater play, Les Miserables.\u201cBeing backstage is stressful, but I thrive on that. It\u2019s that crisis situation that makes stage life fun,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThe audience only gets to see the top of the iceberg. There is a lot of excitement, a lot of nerves and a lot of things not working the night of a show, but we are taught to be on alert, improvise and that\u2019s what makes the end result so worth it.\u201dThose skills prepared her well for the higher-profile work at ASF working on theatrical projects like Christmas Carol, Shakespeare\u2019s Twelfth Night and most recently, Annie.\u201cIt has been a smooth transition from working with the Dinner Theater to working with actors and actresses at ASF,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cFaulkner\u2019s Dinner Theater prepared us well.\u201d\u201cKnowing the legacy that the Dinner Theater has makes me humble. To know that so many people were in it and loved it for so long is overwhelming. I would not be at ASF if it had not been for everyone at the Dinner Theatre pouring their knowledge into me. I\u2019m truly appreciative.\u201dDickson is no longer the girl whoFaulkner students and children from the community participated in roles at the Faulkner Dinner Theater.walked into The Barn nearly three decades ago. She\u2019s a seasoned actor and professional director. She sits in one of the Dinner Theater\u2019s lobby chairs with a comfortable smile and looks about her at the cardboard boxes ready to be packed away. Scenes of past shows captured on the walls in frames hang above her. The door to the theater full of memories is open to her left. She looks toward it.\u201cIt was never about the shows. It was always about the relationships around us,\u201d Dickson said. \u201cThe Dinner Theater was truly like a family \u2013 estranged members, crazy members, lovable members and all. It means so much to know I may have made a difference in the lives of some of my students.\u201dHunter Lee Smith, center and other students and faculty from Faulkner perform in the Faulkner Dinner Theater’s last show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faulkner Dinner Theater's 30-year legacy lives on through graduates","item":"https:\/\/www.faulkner.edu\/news\/faulkner-dinner-theaters-30-year-legacy-lives-on-through-graduates\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]