'Window of Wonder'

When artist Jonathan Green returned to the Lowcountry, his origins, last year, he told longtime collaborator and Charleston resident Barbara Burgess that he'd be interested in finding a new canvas for his work.

"What about the stage?" she said. Burgess, whose artistic interests include theater, is former chairwoman of Charleston Stage.

Green loved the idea, so Burgess set up a lunch meeting with Julian Wiles, who runs the professional theater company.

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Dock Street Theatre Stage Drop

Artist Jonathan Green's vision was realized in a larger scale by scene painters Colleen Ballance and Heather Humphery, who used a painting of Green's for the new stage drop at the Dock Street Theatre.

"They clicked," Burgess said of the two artists. The idea of getting Green to design scenery for a show came up, but was placed on the back burner in favor of something more immediate, permanent, historic.

What about making a new stage drop, or painted screen, for the Dock Street Theatre, Wiles suggested, on the occasion of its reopening after renovations and the kick-off of Charleston Stage's 33rd season?

Green said he liked the idea of using yellow, which represents Carolina Gold rice and fits nicely in the space, and he seized on a visual theme he's been exploring for years: fabric billowing in the Lowcountry air, dividing enough to allow a glimpse of the distant marsh and light and sea and sky.

The image is titled "Window of Wonder." It is a look back in time and a look forward in time, he said. It contains no human figures since behind it on stage they will appear in abundance.

Lately, Green has been thinking a lot about the Lowcountry rice economy and the foundation it provided the city of Charleston. He said he wants to spark a conversation about the economy of rice, which informs both black and white culture in the Lowcountry and offers a chance to explore a common heritage.

The "Window of Wonder," installed at a historic building that likely included slave labor, "is the perfect frame for the magnificence of the Carolina Gold rice fields, Green said. "Without the economy of rice, we certainly would not have the Dock Street Theatre. It set the stage for making Charleston one of the jewels of this country."

Wiles said he admired the image for its visceral appeal.

"I think one of the great things about Jonathan's work is it tends to draw you in and tends to always have emotion with it," Wiles said.

Charleston Stage, which was forced to relocate temporarily to the Memminger Theater during the three-year, $20 million renovation project, wanted to signal a new beginning this season, one that features Green's addition to the historic Dock Street Theatre and collaborations with other local artists, Wiles said.

How do you celebrate the arts and heritage of the Lowcountry? Wiles and Burgess considered the use of music and quickly decided that there was a certain local trumpeter who might be commissioned to write a fanfare: Charlton Singleton.

"Fanfare for a Rising Tide" is meant to honor tradition and signify what's yet to come, Wiles said.

It will be played by the Charlton Singleton Quintet on Sept. 2 at the Dock Street during a special opening ceremony that will unveil to the public Green's colorful new stage drop.

Singleton said he consulted with Wiles to conceptualize the fanfare.

By definition, a fanfare is an announcement in musical form, a way to signal the beginning of an event. When most people think of the form, they imagine the Olympics or a grand royal entrance, Singleton said.

"Julian wanted more jazz, less classical. The picture he painted for me seemed to line up more with an old-school jazz marching band," a band that might include trumpet, trombone, clarinet and tuba, he said.

Probably, he will employ a simple melody that weaves through a dynamic, improvisatory musical texture, Singleton said. Maybe he'll discreetly embed a familiar theme or two. The Charleston, for example.

Since the project as a whole is meant, in part, to demystify the rarefied arts tradition of peninsular Charleston and embrace the full history of the Lowcountry, it is fitting for the fanfare to showcase jazz, Singleton said.

"Charleston has every right to claim that it had something to do with, if not a lot to do with, the birth of jazz music," he said. The Jenkins Orphanage Band toured internationally "before Louis Armstrong was born."

The stage drop will not replace the one used by Spoleto Festival USA, which features a stylized cityscape of Charleston and an illusionary broom painted in the lower right corner. That image will remain the backdrop for the chamber music series and the first Dock Street stage image that greets Spoleto Festival patrons.

Green's drop is for use during the rest of the year.

It was painted by Colleen Ballance, a scene painter who works for the Spoleto Festival and Charleston Stage, and who teaches theater design at Wofford College. She was assisted by Heather Humphery.

Once the project was defined and the schedule established, Wiles called Ballance.

"I was really excited, because I've liked Jonathan Green's work for a long time," she said.

It was done in a little more than a week. The two women referred to an original painting by Green, scaling it to size (19 by 38 feet), stretching muslin across the floor and drawing a grid on it, and using big brushes on bamboo poles.

Ballance and Humphery used special scenic paint instead of latex because its pigments are more concentrated and it contains less binder that would cause creases and cracks when the drop is folded for storage or transport.

Ballance said she has painted in many styles, depending on the set design, and each style requires a different approach.

Green's image uses pointillism, not unlike a painting by Georges Seurat, creating an impressionistic blend of color and light and space and movement. Painting the stage drop, therefore, required lots of control, Ballance said.

"It was the most fun thing I've done in quite a while," she said.

Barbara Burgess said the project means a lot to her and her husband, John Dinkelspiel. The experience that sparked their move to Charleston from Boston was a visit to the Dock Street Theatre during the 1995 Spoleto Festival.

Now, 15 years later, the couple financed this $20,000 project that will leave a lasting mark on the cultural landscape of Charleston.

"For John and I to be able to make an imprint on the Dock Street Theatre was such an incredible opportunity," Burgess said.

Burgess and Dinkelspiel said they have been supporters of Green, Charleston Stage and local jazz artists for many years. It has been a way for them to engage in the community and to immerse themselves in the remarkable culture of the Lowcountry, she said.

The couple have collected numerous works by Green and been involved in various projects.

In 2008, they were executive producers of a jazz CD based on Green's painting "Seeking," which hangs at Mepkin Abbey.

The current project has been especially rewarding, she said.

"You know how occasionally you have a project where nothing goes wrong? Well, this was one of them."

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.