Greg Carter
Encyclopedia
Greg Carter is the founding Artistic Director of Strawberry Theatre Workshop
(aka Strawshop), a non-profit theatre company in Seattle, Washington
. He works as a freelance director, designer, and stage manager and teaches at Cornish College of the Arts
. As a playwright, he has adapted This Land (Woody Guthrie
), Fellow Passengers
(Charles Dickens
), and The Bridge of San Luis Rey
(Thornton Wilder
) for the stage.
(1989), and has a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington
(1999). From 1989-1994, he was Resident Artist and Technical Director at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
(HOBT) in Minneapolis. He trained as a puppeteer with Sandy Spieler and Jim Ouray at HOBT, and received a 1993 grant from the Puppeteers of America to create a play for puppets and actors derived from the writing, drawing, and music of American folk artist Woody Guthrie
. The play This Land was remounted in Seattle in 2004 as the inaugural event of Strawberry Theatre Workshop.
After completing a graduate program at UW, Carter served as Production Manager and Technical Director at Book-It Repertory Theatre (1998–2002). He designed over a dozen plays at Book-It which appeared on the stages of ACT Theatre
, Seattle Repertory Theatre
, On the Boards
, and Intiman Playhouse
. As a freelance artist, Carter has designed sets for Seattle Symphony
and Portland Center Stage
. He is an Associate Professor of Performance Production at Cornish, where he has taught since 1998.
newspaper’s Genius Award for an Organization--a prize awarded in other years to On the Boards
, Pacific Northwest Ballet
, and the Frye Art Museum
. Carter was nominated for a 2010 Gregory Award as Outstanding Director for The Laramie Project
.
Strawberry Theatre Workshop
Strawberry Theatre Workshop is an award-winning Seattle theatre company founded in 2003 by Greg Carter, associated with a movement in that city to improve wages for professional theatre artists...
(aka Strawshop), a non-profit theatre company in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. He works as a freelance director, designer, and stage manager and teaches at Cornish College of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts
-Library:The library at Cornish College specializes in art, dance, design, music, performance production, and theatre. As of 2011 it holds 4700 CDs, 40,000 books, has 2,200 videos, and subscribes to 154 periodicals...
. As a playwright, he has adapted This Land (Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
), Fellow Passengers
Fellow Passengers
Fellow Passengers is a three-actor narrative theatre adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol written by Greg Carter. The title is derived from a first-scene speech by Fred, the nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge, who says: "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round.....
(Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
), and The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope-fiber suspension bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the...
(Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
) for the stage.
Professional career
Carter studied Drama and English at Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(1989), and has a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
(1999). From 1989-1994, he was Resident Artist and Technical Director at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre is a puppet company from Minneapolis, Minnesota. HOBT began in 1973 as Powderhorn Puppet Theatre, named for a neighborhood park and lake in Minneapolis, and changed their name in 1979...
(HOBT) in Minneapolis. He trained as a puppeteer with Sandy Spieler and Jim Ouray at HOBT, and received a 1993 grant from the Puppeteers of America to create a play for puppets and actors derived from the writing, drawing, and music of American folk artist Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
. The play This Land was remounted in Seattle in 2004 as the inaugural event of Strawberry Theatre Workshop.
After completing a graduate program at UW, Carter served as Production Manager and Technical Director at Book-It Repertory Theatre (1998–2002). He designed over a dozen plays at Book-It which appeared on the stages of ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre
ACT Theatre is a regional, non-profit theatre organization in Seattle, Washington, USA. Gregory A. Falls founded ACT in 1965 and served as its first Artistic director; at the time ACT was founded he was also head of the Drama Department at the University of Washington...
, Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore...
, On the Boards
On the Boards
On the Boards is a non-profit contemporary performing arts organization in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1978. Originally located at Washington Hall in the Central District, the organization moved in 1998 to their current location in Lower Queen Anne...
, and Intiman Playhouse
Intiman Playhouse
Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the...
. As a freelance artist, Carter has designed sets for Seattle Symphony
Seattle Symphony
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra's season runs from September through July, and serves as the pit orchestra for most productions of the Seattle Opera in addition to its own concerts...
and Portland Center Stage
Portland Center Stage
Portland Center Stage is a theater company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Theater productions are presented at the Gerding Theater at the Armory in Portland's Pearl District. PCS was founded in 1988 as the northern sibling of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon...
. He is an Associate Professor of Performance Production at Cornish, where he has taught since 1998.
Critical reception
In 2007, Strawshop received The StrangerThe Stranger (newspaper)
The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
newspaper’s Genius Award for an Organization--a prize awarded in other years to On the Boards
On the Boards
On the Boards is a non-profit contemporary performing arts organization in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1978. Originally located at Washington Hall in the Central District, the organization moved in 1998 to their current location in Lower Queen Anne...
, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. It is said to have the highest per...
, and the Frye Art Museum
Frye Art Museum
The Frye Art Museum is an art museum located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA . The museum emphasizes painting and sculpture from the nineteenth century to the present. Its holdings originate in the private collection of Charles and Emma Frye...
. Carter was nominated for a 2010 Gregory Award as Outstanding Director for The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie,...
.