‘Charlotte’s Web’ charms audience
A gem that lies in southeast Arkansas sits on Main Street, hidden behind the hustle and bustle of Pine Bluff’s city life. For those who have a moment in time, the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas has become a way of escape into a whimsical, magical and theatrical experience.
Young talent shined in its latest theatrical production, “Charlotte’s Web,” which ran April 20-23 to sold-out audiences. From the tiniest gosling and the novice directors to the design set and stage production, this stage adaptation of the best-selling children’s novel received a standing ovation, engaging the hearts and minds of the audience.
Directed by Kayla Earnest, Keiren Minter and Kourtlynn Pinkins, the production almost didn’t happen.
“Three years,” said Earnest of White Hall. “This show was three years in the making.”
In March 2020, according to Earnest, auditions were held for “Charlotte’s Web.” Earnest at the time was stage managing and Tracy Sutherland was directing. After two rehearsals the production was put on hiatus due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“We rescheduled and then rescheduled again,” said Earnest. “I inherited the show from Tracy because she was pregnant … and felt like she didn’t need to direct a show so close to her due date.”
The uncertainty of the pandemic led to the decision to cancel the production, which Earnest described as “heartbroken.”
“I threw myself into other projects. My life changed in a million different ways, but I still kept this show and this story in the back of my head and deep down in my heart,” she said. “I had costume sketches for characters that I wasn’t sure would ever wear them. I had designs for a set that I wasn’t sure would ever be built and I had this beautiful script that I wasn’t sure I would ever see come alive onstage by my own direction.”
Earnest, who began volunteering at the ASC as a teenager and is now the Gallery/Theater assistant at The ARTSpace on Main, has directed several stage plays as well as choreographed, designed costumes and sets, stage managed and appeared onstage in many theater projects.
Earlier this year, Earnest said the ASC Performing Arts Committee decided that it was time to revisit “Charlotte’s Web.”
“I was lucky enough to be asked to direct again, this time, with two of my theatre babies that have now grown up,” she said. “I worked with both Kourtlynn and Keiren in their childhoods, and I was blessed to get to see the result of those seeds that I helped plant so many years ago.”
Minter, a senior at Watson Chapel High School, made his directorial debut and is an intern at ASC. Pinkins, who will graduate with a master’s degree in computer science this week from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, also made her theatre directorial debut at ASC. Pinkins is an
actress and filmmaker who received a bachelor’s degree in film production.
“Seeing those two work with children the same way I worked with them … there are no words,” said Earnest. “I’m so incredibly proud of them, and it has been an honor to co-direct with them.”
Earnest was also proud of the talented cast and crew who made the stage play come to life with the charm, charisma and comedic wit of the actors to the creativity of the costumes and set construction.
Transforming the stage to the farm life illustrated in “Charlotte’s Web,” the audience watched as the friendship between the livestock pig Wilbur and the barn spider Charlotte blossomed.
When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur such as “Some Pig” and “Humble” in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. She promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life. Wilbur is eventually entered into the county fair winning a special prize by the judges.
Violet Jennings’ stellar performance as Wilbur had the audience cheering her on as she ran through the theater trying to escape from being a side of bacon or a succulent piece of ham. Her memorization skills and the way she interpreted Wilbur’s feelings were portrayed in such a compelling way. Violet, 9, has been performing since she was 6.
Skyler McKinley, a ninth grader who is homeschooled, graced the stage as Charlotte, a barn spider with a naturally short lifespan. Charlotte was dying of natural causes by the time the award is announced. Knowing that she has saved Wilbur, she was satisfied with the outcome of her life and realizes that the prize meant Wilbur would never be slaughtered for his meat.
The emotional turn in the play had audience members in tears when Charlotte died. However, she allowed Wilbur to care for her egg sac from which hundreds of spiders hatched later. Three of Charlotte’s offspring remained in the barn with Wilbur for a bitter-sweet ending. McKinley’s lines were clear and understandable through her soft-spoken voice and she portrayed Charlotte in a humble and terrific way, the same words her character used to describe Wilbur.
While McKinley’s sweet and caring spirit as Charlotte warmed the hearts of the audience, characters like Templeton the rat played by Matthew Nguyen, a 17-year-old senior at White Hall High School, kept the audience laughing with his rambunctious behavior and exaggerated performance of the food-driven rat whose weight increased over the course of the play.
Other cast members who shined included Arin Bell, a senior at Watson Chapel who played Homer Zuckerman; Loren Bell, a 12-yearold Sheridan Middle School student who played a sheep/ ensemble; Peyton Bifford, a 7-year-old Moody Elementary student in White Hall who played a gosling; Allison Carraway, an 11-year-old fifth grader at Taylor Elementary who played Fern Arable; Langston Cosner, a 9-year-old of Gandy Elementary School who played a gosling; Paisley Criner, an 8-year-old third grader of Taylor Elementary who played a baby spider/ensemble; Charlie Davis, an 8-year-old fourth-grader at Friendship Aspire Charter School in Pine Bluff who played a baby spider/ensemble; Daijah Dismuke, a 10-year-old at Malvern Elementary who played a gosling; Patience Reed Guy, an 8-year-old second grader at Broadmoor Elementary who played a baby spider/ensemble; Kaleb Hughes, a 13-year stage veteran of Sheridan, who played Uncle the pig/ ensemble; Crystal Jennings, an ASC volunteer since 2019 as a set painter and props master who played Martha Arable; Lily Jennings, a 12-year-old of Woodlawn who played Edith Zuckerman; Rory Lake, an 8-yearold third grader at Gandy
Elementary who played a lamb; Brandt Lunsford, a fifth-grader at Gandy Elementary who played Avery
Arable; Violet Myers, a 13-year-old of Sheridan Middle School who played Lurvy; Emily Scarbrough, an eighth-grader at White Hall Middle School who played a goose/ensemble; Hunter Sims, a sixth-grader at Arkansas Virtual Academy who was a narrator; Lilana Wall, a fourth-grader at Gandy Elementary who was a narrator; Raymond Wallace, a Pine Bluff High School alumnus and ASC intern who played John Arable; Alice Weeley, a seventh-grader at White Hall Middle School who was a narrator; and Will Young, a 17-year-old junior at White Hall High School.
The theater production crew included Pam Holcomb; Mindy Myers; Crystal Jennings; Lindsey Collins; Will Witt; Janecia Perry; Erica Washington; Kayla Earnest; Arin Bell, Raymond Wallace; Xay Branch; Stormi Funderburk; and Felicia Jones.
“It was everything I dreamed it could be and more and that’s really saying something, seeing as how I had three whole years to dream about it,” said Earnest, who said the vision came full circle with Tracy and her daughter Emery attending the finale. “The actors, their parents, our crew, our frontof-house workers, even the audience members … every single one has a special place carved out in my heart, right where all of those hopes and dreams and plans of this show have been for the past three years.”