The Journey
A newsletter for chapter advisors, chapter officers, and regional officers.

Smith Stands Center Stage

Playwright Charles R. Smith, a Phi Theta Kappa alumnus of Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois, received excellent reviews for his play “Puddn’head Wilson,” an original adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel by the same name. The show, commissioned by The Acting Company of New York, played to nearly 100,000 people as it toured the nation.

Though admittedly not a Twain scholar, Smith wrote the stage adaptation by recounting his impressions from the novel. “I simply re-told the story I had read,” he says. Smith considers the play to be one of his greatest accomplishments, as he was able to make “a clear, personal statement.”

Smith currently serves as the Head of the Professional Playwriting Program at Ohio University and is playwright-in-residence at Victoria Gardens Theatre in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and member of the New Dramatists of New York. He authored two Emmy Award-winning teleplays, Fast Break to Glory and Pequito, and his play Black Star Line, commissioned by The Goodman Theater in Chicago, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

When asked what led him back to the classroom as a teacher, Smith chuckled. “Well, as a high school drop-out, I was very suspicious of education and educators. But during my time in the military, I took a few English classes and discovered teachers who helped me find direction and inspired me. I had doubts when Northwestern University first approached me about teaching, but after I agreed, I found students who reminded me of myself, and I felt obligated to help them as I had been helped.”

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This page last modified -- Friday, 14-Nov-2003 11:00:24 CST (cwe)