Spotlight
Chris McCroskey.
Christopher McCroskey has returned home to El Dorado to carry out the role of musical director for the South Arkansas Arts Center’s rendition of “Beauty and the Beast.”
McCroskey has been involved in piano performance his entire life and got his start at SAAC when he was 14-years-old.
He became involved in the choir in junior high as the accompanist. He also played the trombone in band and was the drum major at Barton Junior High School. “I eventually decided that I either had to go the band direction or the choral direction, and I went the more choral/piano direction,” McCroskey said.
He started teaching piano lessons when he was 15, and his passion for teaching has lasted his whole life. When attending college, he always had assistantships where he was teach-
ing private piano. He taught music theory and music appreciation at Midlands College in Columbia, South Carolina for 17 years.
Since retiring, he has been substitute teaching, mostly subbing in music classes because choir directors and band directors know he can actually conduct their classes, but has recently found a new passion.
“I love teaching and I love kids,” McCroskey said. “But I have found that I have a really true love for special education. I am subbing a lot with special ed. I found that to be a very fulfilling area that I had not really done.”
McCroskey is currently the choir director and organist for Trinity United Methodist Church in West Columbia, and has been there for 24 years.
Even in retirement, he is busy with his church, substitute teaching, theater and also performing freelance at weddings, bar mitzvahs, cocktail parties, etc.
He also worked as a human resource specialist for AgFirst Farm Credit Bank in Columbia from 1997 to 2015. While getting his degree, he needed a job so he could stay in town to have access to the library and to his professors. He worked as a temp for Kelly Services all through college. While working on his dissertation, he was hired at AgFirst Farm Credit, which is an agricultural lending bank, who had associations on the East Coast and loaned money to the associations, who loan money to farmers.
He ended up staying with AgFirst while teaching at Midlands College. He has also been a piano judge for 25 years and is a member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
When McCroskey first went to college, he was the accompanist for the centenary choir and they traveled overseas every year.
His freshman year, they traveled to Russia and Poland. When they were in Russia when the invasion of Afghanistan happened and cultural exchanges were cut off. “It was a frightening time but yet it was an extremely interesting and educational time,” he said.
Another time, McCroskey visited Switzerland and played piano for the President. He also conducted a recital in Hungary, where his sister lived for a number of years.
McCroskey said there are many productions he has been a part of that have stood out in his career, including the work he has done in El Dorado. “Fiddler on the Roof” was the first that came to mind. “That is when I met so many people here in El Dorado,” he said. “I became very close with a lot of these families and these people really nurtured me.”
Others that stood out include “Mame” and “Hello, Dolly.”
Outside of music, McCroskey enjoys cooking and was featured on the cover of the Columbia magazine several years ago. He also knits and cross-stitches in his spare time and is an animal lover, owning two pets of his own.
His favorite composer is Frederic Chopin, but personal inspirations that stood out to him throughout his career mostly come from El Dorado. Most include past teachers he had including his piano teacher, choir director and a theater teacher. Dee Post was his theater teacher and he says her words still reverberate with him to this day. “She was just one of those wonderful people that I connected with and she encouraged me so much,” he said. “Because in the 70s, being a guy wanting to go into music, there wasn’t always a lot of support, you know. She was always there for me.”
He named many other inspirations from El Dorado. “I could just go on with names,” he added.
Currently he is working on “Beauty and the Beast,” which he says has had its challenges. “We’re putting the show together very fast,” he said. “I think this is probably the fastest I’ve ever put a show together, but it’s working.”
With the first runthrough of the first act taking place last week, McCroskey was very pleased with the limited time that the actors have had.
He is directing the vocals for the play and will also being performing in the show as well.
“I am musically directing, which means that I teach all the music,” he said. “Then, when it comes time for the show, I will play the show and conduct the orchestra.”
McCroskey is in town for a total of nine weeks working on the play and is excited to be back in El Dorado.
“Music is just a very personal thing. It’s something that I feel. It’s emotional,” he said. “I love theater because you can absorb yourself into a world. I’m not saying it’s fantasy, but to just kind of get outside of real life for a little while and immerse yourself into a nice world that you can enjoy.”