Thursday, May. 19, 2011

Chad Bagwell: Living the thespian dream

To insinuate that Chad Bagwell, 26, has greasepaint in his blood might be an understatement.

Born and raised in Myrtle Beach, Bagwell spent his junior and senior high school years studying drama at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville. "I lived on campus," he says. "When I went, everything was completely paid for. My parents didn't have to pay a cent - and I lived in a dorm room. It prepared me for college, that's for sure."

After graduation, Bagwell attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for a time but decided the school wasn't the right place for him. "I left and booked a couple of acting jobs after that and went on tour with a couple of musicals."

After a time, he moved back to Myrtle Beach and enrolled at Coastal Carolina University. "I'm still there pursuing a theatre degree and after that hopefully head off to grad school," he says. And when he found himself back on the Grand Strand, Bagwell also began teaching the craft of acting. "I gave private lessons, trying to freelance myself out there."

In 2005, he began teaching acting and musical theater at Christina's Centre Stage in Myrtle Beach. "Christina Postemski gave me the opportunity to have an entire studio for myself." Christina's Centre Stage [www.christinascentrestage.com] is primarily a dance studio, offering what Bagwell calls a wide array of dance techniques - tap, jazz, ballet and hip-hop - and Bagwell instructs children from six to 17 the finer points of the acting craft.

"We try to present them with as many tools as they need to get out there and do it if they need to. We go through a lot of different exercises and training techniques and present the students with a lot of different methods of actor training," he says, citing venerable methods such as the [Constntin] Stanislavsky system and the [Sanford] Meisner technique, among others. "The way I learned was to get a lot of different methods into my system so that I could pick and choose which ones worked best for me - so I try to do that for my students as well. Not every method works for every actor." For Bagwell, it's all about providing options. And for the musical theater aspect of his teaching, it's all about basic choreography, breathing (from the diaphragm, thank you) and voice training.

Bagwell has three rules: Respect everybody, don't be afraid to feel foolish and have fun. And by laying down foundations, the students will be free to pick and choose the methodologies that work for them.

At the end of each school year, students have the opportunity to perform at The Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach. "It's a lot more fun and more rewarding than performing a recital at a middle school under big fluorescent lights. We provide the young artists with a full production rather than just a few numbers to humor the students and parents."

This year's production (June 18) is called "MGM Hollywood." "My class will be doing numbers from 'Hair' and 'Singing in the Rain.' Where else on the Grand Strand can you say, 'oh, by the way, in June you are going to be performing where "Cats" and "Les Miserables" were?' It's great."

Bagwell recently performed in a production of "The 39 Steps" at the Palace Theatre. "It was a whirlwind. I played about 30 characters in one play," he says. And when he developed these characters, he presented them to his students for critique. "The only way that someone can teach an art is to live the art as well. I think the students can get a better grasp of this when I can give them examples of what's going on with my life."

But surely Bagwell can't be on all of the time - and he admits that there is an off switch somewhere. "I love to watch sports," he says. "A lot of people find that very surprising. My (Los Angeles) Lakers just got (bounced) out of the playoffs, and I am a little peeved by that - but I love to just sit down and not move." A self-admitted karaoke fiend, he can be spotted frequently at Broadway Louie's. "I can't help myself - I get up there and I have to sing."

Bagwell, a strong proponent of the South Carolina Arts Commission, is bothered by Gov. Nikki Haley's vow to cut funding for the program. "If we cut funding for the arts, then we're pretty much saying to the entire population that the arts don't matter. This translates into jobs being lost and theaters being closed down. A lot of artists make a living and support their families doing what they do, and by cutting out the arts, we're saying to the new generation that they shouldn't support the arts - when they are old enough to afford a ticket."

Know of a local with an interesting job or career that should be given the Working 4 A Living treatment? Contact Roger Yale at rgyale@gmail.com.