SANTANA M. CARLTON - Director/Choreographer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, JR - 2021

This was the most adorable show! A perfect holiday ending to 2021.

The challenge of this show was getting older cast members to not take themselves too seriously or read too deeply into the text. Like most holiday shows, this one was more about entertaining the audience and having a lot of fun while doing it.

The cast and I enjoyed researching the show together and learning the background of the original story of Rudolph. I enjoyed helping the cast develop their own spin on these classic characters.

Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years At A Certain School Of Magic and Magic - 2021

Aside from that one Shakespeare play I directed, staging a play was new and exciting. Puffs is a hilarious script and any Potter fan will absolutely love it. The difficult part of this show is keeping the comedic pace up for entire show until the final scenes. Something else I encountered was the "adult" content in the script. Even though I chose to license the youth edition, I still had to censor a lot if the dialogue and character interactions. Like most of my shows, I wanted this to be a family friendly experience.

This show was staged in our small black box theatre so we used very little scenery in the space.

In the end, the cast members were able to convey the story while keeping everything rated G for all audience types. We had a great time producing something out of the norm for us. "Third or nothing!"

Disney's Newsies - 2021

This show was a beast! Thanks to Disney+, we had all the show at our fingertips to draw inspiration from for choreography and staging. However, I did not want an exact replica of the Broadway musical. I'm not a fan of copy and paste musicals but I knew our audiences were expecting to see the original. I had to determine how to make this version my own. The first major choice I made was casting a young lady as Katherine that was completely unexpected. Although she is very talented, her physical appearance does not meet the norm of what you would normally see for this role. In the end, talent won over appearance and by doing this, it gave other young ladies, who look like her, an opportunity to see themselves as a leading lady. Much of my casting ended up being gender blind. Pulitzer's entire staff was made up of women and it worked very well.

Throughout this process, the cast and I discussed many historical concepts of this show. We talked about child labor laws, the Fair Labor Standards Act, class division in 1899, and the industrial revolution. Most of this cast was made up of young performers between the ages of 15 and 25. Being staged in 2021 amongst many political riots and protests in our country, the young cast members were able to connect to their characters and what it meant to them to stand up for their rights.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR - 2021

A tale as old as time. One of our family's favorites and a pleasure to direct. Young people really enjoy working on this production and it isn't a hard one to direct. For inspiration on how I wanted to bring this to life, I looked to the animated film, the new life action film, the Disney cruise line production, the Broadway version, and the mini version at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The cast and I discussed ideas of hate, discrimination, stereotyping, judgement, and why Gaston is actually the most dangerous Disney villain of all the golden age films.

Putting the narcissistic character aside, this show also has great demonstration of how to look beyond someone's past and appearance and begin to forgive and heal. The Beast has to forgive himself in order to begin to love Belle and Belle has to forgive him for responding to her as a, well, a beast.

My students enjoyed digging into the familiar characters with these new ideas and concepts in mind.

Disney's Mary Poppins JR - 2021

This show was staged for a state competition. We drew inspiration from themes in show such as the iconic umbrella, the black and white personalities of the Banks family and the "colorfulness" that Mary brought, and the concept of time. The idea that life is not constant and the wind is always changing. With these ideas in mind, we staged the whole show to move swiftly life the ever changing wind. Actors were rarely standing still and moving at a swift pace unless we needed that sudden pause in time to take in a moment. A moment like when we see Mary and Bert on the rooftops singing "Chim Chim Cher-ee." Mary needed a moment of silence and stillness to think on her next move. Along with the idea of time moving fast in mind, we explored how the Banks father struggled with slowing down to enjoy the playful imaginations of his children. To connect this idea, the father was staged to always be excessively moving except for his moment with the gingerbread stars and the last scene with his family. The mother moved at a slower, calmer pace when with her children, but anxiously tried to keep up with her husband when he was onstage. Mary moved at a naturally swift pace, while Bert moved at a relaxed pace. The two were able to move about cohesively when together on stage. In short, every cast member on stage had a beat and rhythm for movement.

Into the Woods - 2021

When stepping into this show, I knew I didn't want to do a traditional staging. I wanted the concept to connect to the story. I read and watched a lot of interviews with Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine from when they were creating this production. I came up with the idea to set the show in the 1950s/60s. Some of this inspiration came from my college days when I worked on this show as an assistant director. My professor set his show in the 1940s/50s.

My actors were fascinated in my ideas of the witch being a communist. We talked about what communism was actually supposed to be before it was corrupted and how this related to the Witch. We discussed ideas of how in the 1950s, it was custom and expected for the women to stay at home with the children and anything else was socially unacceptable. Conformity, social norms, and conservative family life was further explored with the Baker's Wife, Baker, Cinderella, and the Princes. We also tied the story and characters to the ideas of the "American Dream" and how it mostly just people putting on a facade, or acting out a "fairy-tale" lifestyle. Little Red and Jack represented the "new era" of the 60s. The desire for something new and unexpected and out of the norm. We tied every character to some sort of symbolism in this time frame and in the end, it was better show because the actors had something deep to connect with for their performance.

Disney's Descendants - 2020

In October 2020, we were still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. In order to continue giving our community live theatrical experiences, we had a meeting of the minds to develop strategies to safely continue to rehearse and perform. Masks were being used during all rehearsals and required of all audience members. Only during performances did actors remove their masks. At this point, some of our older cast members and staff had begun getting vaccinated as well. We also continued to use outdoor facilities for all performances.

This show was pretty surface level for me to direct. I watched the movies religiously as well as interviews with the cast and crew from the films. The cast and I explored themes and concepts of friendship, devotion, stereotyping, and difference in parental abuse and "tough love."

With such a huge turnout for auditions, I created various ensembles for all the students and cast members to be able to participate in the show.

Disney's Moana JR - 2020

If you don't produce Moana JR outdoors, are you really producing Moana Jr?

Staging this show outdoors near our local riverside area was exactly what I had envisioned when I chose to do this show. This show had been postponed due to the recent pandemic crisis and I think we ended up with a better situation. Originally set to be staged indoors in early May, we chose to move the show outdoors in late July. This allowed for cast members to perform without the use of masks (according to the current CDC guidelines at the time), although audience members were required to wear masks.

I spent a lot of time researching the influences that were used for the creation of the film. I went down a few rabbit holes when exploring the ancient cultures of the Pacific Islanders. I was most intrigued to learn about the historical accuracy of the "long pause," when the ancient wayfinders suddenly stopped voyaging. We studied the Samoan and Tokelauan languages in the show, and used traditional dance movement for our choreography to go along with the language in the songs. I wanted to be very respectful of everything we did in this show. I wanted to educate audiences and cast members about the culture, but not offend anyone. I also had to go against designers wanting to put Maui in a tattoo'd shirt or use temporary tattoos. I learned in my research that it is very disrespectful in the Oceania/Polynesian culture to tattoo someone that has not earned their ink. In the end, everyone understood and no one was falsely tattoo'd for the show.

Disney's Frozen, JR - 2019

This new title in the Broadway Junior collection became available early 2019 and I grabbed it as soon as it was released. We staged it in December as our holiday production and we all had so much fun producing this show. My designers were challenged with creating the ice castle and Elsa's dress transformation. Since we do not have a Broadway budget, we went with classic theatre tricks and used a lot of lighting and make believe for the ice castle and magnets for the dress change.

Everything about this show was magical. I wanted my actors to portray the characters very close to the animated film. That's what the people want to see afterall. Cast members were also able to bring their own uniqueness to the characters as well. Specifically with roles such as the Hygge family, the Hidden Folk, and our Snow Dancers.

This show was another moment for me when I didn't want to reinvent the wheel. For my staging and styling, I drew inspiration from the Broadway production as well as the production formerly at Disney's California Adventure.

The Music Man - 2019

I love a good classic! I chose to do The Music Man with my competition team to challenge them to perform something outside their norm. Almost all of them had never heard of The Music Man before so we spend a lot of time researching the show together. The challenge for me and my students was how to honor Meredith Willson's request of not making light of the people in the story. The playwright's forward is very specific on how he wants the people of Iowa to be represented in this show. The characters are often portrayed in a rude, uptight manner. But according to Willson, the characters believed themselves to be kind and generous and quite the opposite to the uninformed reader of the play.

In the end, our honest approach to this story earned my team the coveted top award at the National Junior Theatre Festival.

Romeo and Juliet - 2019

Adding Shakespeare to my repertoire had never been a thought for me before. Although I enjoy watching a Shakespeare play, I had never really been interested in directing it. The summer of 2019 was a difficult one for me personally and I wanted to do something out of my comfort zone. A friend of mine talked me into doing Romeo and Juliet. I have never been a fan of this so called "love story" before but I decided to give it a try.

When conceptualizing this show, I did not want to go the normal route that I had seen produced so many times locally. I wanted a fresh take on this story. I'm a huge fan of Gone With The Wind and I have always wanted to stage a play in that time frame. I started my research and decided that this era was perfect to set this story in. A time of war and conflict was exactly what the show was about. To sum it up, the story was set in northern Virginia, post war. The Union (the Capulets) hadn't yet vacated the little town amongst the fallen Confederates (the Montagues). Romeo and Juliet meet at a local barn dance and fall for each other instantly. You know how it ends. No detail was spared in this adaptation of the show. I spend hours pouring over this script and adapting it to this time period. We spent a lot of time talking about the struggles that the soldiers must have had and what it would have been like to find love in a war zone.

Working with teenagers, college students and adults was also refreshing, as I had just finished up two shows with very young performers.

Disney's Aladdin, JR - 2019

This show was another teaching show for me. For this show, I had an assistant director and a student stage manager. An update had also been made to the original Aladdin JR script so it was fun to work on something different. This show was part of a youth summer camp I produced so we only had 4 days to work on it. That meant that everything had to be simplified. I went with simple staging and blocking and our choreographer kept the dances simple. The scenery and props were easily put together by parent volunteers. This was a fun experience and the cast members had a great experience.

Junie B Jones JR - 2019

After working on multiple shows that were mentally exhausting, this next show was a brain-break for me. I brought in two assistant directors to work on this show alongside me. I used this show as a teaching show. I worked with my assistant directors on the basics of directing a show, particularly a show with young performers. Our concept was easy. Just have fun! And fun we had!

Junie B Jones JR is an adorable coming of age story that teaches young audience members the importance of individuality. Junie B deals with the sudden cold shoulder of a former best friend, her changing body, and exploring the acceptance of not being perfect at everything. Student actors were encouraged to journal their experiences as we explored their own coming of age stories during this process.

James and the Giant Peach - 2018

This was another show we staged for a state competition, with the 10x10' rule.

The first challenge I had was how to make the audience believe that the characters were trapped inside a giant peach. I limited the playing space to give the allusion that the actors had very little room to use inside this peach. Pantomime was explored as a useful technique for this show.

My actors and I also had to explore ways to get the audience to believe so many things that could not be staged, like a falling plane into the Empire State Building, A Giant Peach rolling through the city and squishing the evil aunts, and a floating peach in the middle of the ocean. I tapped into old vaudeville techniques for this show. Using puppetry and various styles from the Marx brothers, I was able to communicate these comedic moments of the show to the audience in a light and carefree manner.

Disney's Tarzan - 2018

This show was staged for an outdoor venue. We wanted to create a rainforest world at a local amphitheatre that would make the audience feel like they were there with the gorillas.

The challenge of this show was definitely working with the outdoor elements. Rain and heat were our enemies. Getting performers to endure despite the weather was tough. Most of these actors had never performed outdoors before. Many precautions were taken to keep our actors safe, which added to the way I needed to stage the show. I educated myself on outdoor venue safety and the best way to keep everyone safe while maintaining a quality production. This meant that some of my original blocking had to be altered but it was the best thing to do for my actors.

This was also a show that the actors couldn't rely on their microphones to get their sound out. Due to some technical difficulties with the equipment, actors quickly realized that they had to project even more than usual in order to be heard and for the show to carry on.

Once On This Island JR - 2018

This show was soul stirring. Working on a show that is predominantly cast with people of color is a challenge in itself. Being in Alabama, we don't have many people from the Caribbean. With Broadway Junior shows, you are encouraged to produce shows of all backgrounds and help your students appreciate other cultures. That's the point of theatre isn't? To encourage people to open their minds and their hearts.

The cast and I spent many hours digging into the material and exploring the culture of the Caribbean/Haitian people. We studied the Vodou practices and the history of Haiti, including the French takeover. After getting an in-depth history lesson on the culture, the cast was able to take on their roles with confidence and stay true to the nature of the piece.

Along with studying the culture, we also studied the authors, and the source material that inspired the playwrights. The story of Ti Moune and her unrequited love is a universal truth that all students, despite their culture or background, can relate to.

This show was staged as a traveling show that we took to a state competition and then toured it at a local outdoor venue as well. Being true to Haitian culture, we performed this show with only a few painted rehearsal cubes and only necessary props and costumes. The cast had to rely on performing the story with their bodies and movement.

Disney's High School Musical - 2018

Few challenges for this show. Mostly design wise. This show has so many quick scene changes that I had to figure out a design that made sense with all the different scenes and also be able to have seamless transitions.

As a Director, I was working with students that were trying to replicate the movie exactly. We worked for several weeks on ways that they could bring their own uniqueness to the role while still being true to the iconic characters. Teaching boys to dance and play basketball at the same time was also a challenge, but we did it!

I enjoyed playing around with the Jack Scott character as well. Since he isn't a dominant character, we were able to bring new ideas to him and the cast member really jumped into the role and made it his own.

Elf JR - 2017

I have to admit, I had never seen the movie Elf before I directed this show. I'm not a majorly huge fan of Will Ferrell, so the film didn't interest me. However, when I read the script for the show, I fell in love with the adorable character of Buddy. Minimal hard pieces was the way to go for this show. The stage was going to be filled enough with small little elves. We rented a backdrop and hung frames to give the illusion of buildings instead of piecing together large flats. Concept wise, I just wanted to keep it simple. The script translated well enough to not have to add in a bunch of ribbons and bows. Holiday shows are often easier to do because everyone is already in a joyous mindset coming in that you really don't have to work that hard to create Christmas magic. Especially when your actors are doing their job to entertain.

Shrek JR - 2017

This show was done as a competition piece for a state theatre festival. All scenery, costumes and cast members had to be able to start and finish within a 10x10' box backstage. Minimal scenery for Shrek is not common, as Shrek is a large spectacle show. However, not only did we need to downsize per the competition rules, but I also wanted to really zero in on the story itself and how my actors told that story. Shrek's journey is a beautiful one that hits very close to home for so many young performers. The idea of not being accepted by your peers is a terrifying thought. Enough to make some young people act like a big giant ogre! During this show, we talked a lot about the importance of acceptance and showing kindness.

The Musical Adventure of Flat Stanley, JR - 2016

Another new challenge! Bringing a storybook character to life. And the bigger challenge? He's supposed to be "flattened" by his bulletin board and sent through the mail? Challenge accepted! The biggest obstacle I found with this show was not creating a flat character. It was finding a place for so many cast members. I knew I didn't want to overcrown the stage by having 50 kids in each scene. So I had to figure out how to spread them out into smaller groups. I managed to create smaller ensembles that were not originally listed in the script. I added "Post Cards" characters to the song "Traveling Through the Mail." And I created "extra" cameo characters within songs to give other cast members a chance to shine, such as Darth Vader and Harry Potter in the song "I Wish I Were."

Similar to Alice, this show focused a lot on a child's imagination and how it can take you anywhere in the world. The scenery was designed to resemble a giant coloring book, with large black and white outlines and only a little bit of "coloring" done inside (and outside) the lines. I loved challenging the cast with a unique and unexpected take on each song too. The opening prologue number was set up like an 80s rock concert. A sweet ballad sung by Stanley and the Birds in the Tree was choreographed as a 90s hip-hop video. So many fun elements in this show and we had a blast putting it together.

Disney's Alice in Wonderland, JR - 2016

Alice was a fun one to direct. Due to the nature of the story, I really felt like I was working with a blank slate here. Yes, the text itself is based on the animated Disney film, but the script did not play out like the film.

I decided to do a true steampunk concept of the show, but stay far away from the darker side of this story like the recent Tim Burton film. I wanted to explore the playful childlike innocence of the play. In this script, there is so much emphasis on Alice’s exploration and imagination. There’s also this idea of searching for one’s identity. Alice takes this journey to find the White Rabbit but ends up finding herself in the end.

Keeping the ideas of “playing” and “exploring” in mind along with the world of Steampunk, I began to make sketches of what I could do. I knew that I did not want the typical stage full of platforms but I needed levels and areas for Alice and the other characters to weave through and climb on. The more that I thought about it, the more I came to love the idea of a child’s playground. I thought, “What better place for a child to play and explore and become someone else for a moment?”

To read my full thesis on this show, click HERE!

Disney's The Lion King, JR - 2015

By far my favorite show to date. I had 5 months to work on this show but I could have worked on this one all year. It was a very rewarding and satisfying production to work on. The students and I bonded over spirituality themes in the show and how it affected them personally. We explored the concept of good vs. evil and was Scar actually the villain or was he a victim of family abuse. Because Julie Taymor has already done an amazing job bringing this show to life on Broadway, we really didn't want to "re-invent the wheel" with this one. Design wise, we chose to simplify the costumes and scenery that Taymor has already created but keeping our own artistic spin on it as well as working with a significantly smaller budget.

My favorite thing that I brought to this show was the concept of the "spirit dancers and chorus." These are not part of the script of course, but I wanted to showcase my highly skilled dancers in the song, "He Lives In You." I added the idea of tribal dancers dressed costumes that resembled traditional clothing of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They danced around Simba during his transition moment in the song. I also added a background chorus with ladies dressed in African kaftans. The chorus was inspired by the Zulu tribe, known for their strong fighting spirit. I thought that was a great addition to the song that is encouraging Simba to return home.

The students and I spent several weeks going through character studies, discussing the themes of the show, and understanding the script as a text. The students became more engrossed in the African culture and the underlying meaning behind the words they were saying. They were not just performing The Lion King, they were experiencing and appreciating the culture and we loved every moment of it.

Disney's The Jungle Book, KIDS - 2015

I loved working on this show. I really wanted to bring the Indian culture to life with this one instead of focusing on the animated film. In youth productions, it is very common to put children (or adults) in large mascot style suits when they are portraying animals. I have never been a fan of that. I love to encourage young performers to convey the animal characters through their bodies and physicality, rather than relying on the costume. We explore animal movement and behavior a lot before performing a show like this one.

In the script, the show called for one Narrator and a Jungle Chorus. The Chorus was supposed to be made up of random items from the jungle such as "prickly pears" and "palm trees." I chose to forego this suggestion in the script and create a chorus of Hindu goddess dancers. Their choreography was drawn from traditional Indian dance. The Narrator's lines and singing solos were split up between these young ladies and together they told the story of Mowgli and his friends. They never left the stage and set the tone for each scene.

Seussical the Musical, JR - 2015

Our first traveling show! This was my first experience with rehearsing a show for a stage that I had never seen before. We were participating in a local stage competition for youth theatre. Everything had to be designed and staged according to the guidelines set by the competition. I knew I had to design a show to fit within a 10x10' box, along with all the students as well. We decided to keep everything very simple and mostly focus on showcasing the students.

Seussical was a new adventure for me, being that it was my first non-Disney show to direct. I had to dive into the world of Dr. Seuss. A world that I didn't grow up with so it was all rather strange to me. I had to look past the rhythms and rhymes and get to the core meaning of the story. I did a lot of research on the authors and creators of the show and their thoughts going into the production. Together, the students and I talked about the themes of friendship, acceptance, and being true to yourself to create this beautiful piece.

Disney's My Son Pinocchio, JR - 2014

This show was my first experience with "conceptualizing" a show. Before this one, I hadn't had an opportunity to experiment with concepts before. After researching the time frame of when the original story of Pinocchio was written, I really wanted to go with an 1800s circus concept. I had two marionette characters that worked at kuroko's throughout the show. They moved scenery and helped the audience transition from scene to scene.

The scenery was designed to fit the concept of a circus. It needed to transition from scene to scene seamlessly, just like acts in a circus. The overall pace of the show was to resemble the timing of that of a circus.

Disney's 101 Dalmatians, KIDS - 2014

Once again, I had a cast of over 100 kids but this time, it was much easier to find placements for them all. After I cast our principle characters, I created a small ensemble made up of my older, veteran performers to form the "twilight bark" alliance. These students were assigned to various types of dogs that are featured in the show, such as Chiuauas, Poodles, and Scottish Terriers. Everyone else became part of the 99 puppies ensemble. When the curtain came up on the scene with 99 "puppies" onstage, there was a collective gasp from the audience. It was a great moment!

Disney's Aladdin JR - 2013

This show came with so many challenges. How to make a magic carpet fly on a limited budget? How to create a cavern full of treasures? How do I create the magic from the genie? How do I quickly change Jafar from a vizier to a sultan to a genie?

We decided to build a wagon for the carpet and fill the stage with low -lying fog to create the flying effect. The wagon had two connections on either side of the stage so that it could be pulled back and forth. I had students slowly cross the stage during the song holding large cutouts of famous landmarks, translating that Aladdin and Jasmine were "traveling."

Although the design of the show included large mounds of gold and treasures, the actors were instructed to create the golden room of treasures for the audience by their physicality and movement during the scene.

The Genie magic was created with a lot of smoke and mirrors. Lighting helped with the quick disappearing scenes and Jafar transformations. We also broke out the fog machine for these transformations as well.

All in all, a successful show.

Disney's The Little Mermaid, JR - 2013

Due to the success of my directorial debut show, I had three times the amount of children turn out of auditions for this next show. ince our policy is to never turn a child away from the stage, I was challenged with casting over 100 kids. This is where my new strategy of "age grouping" developed. After all the principle characters were cast, I sorted the ensemble into groups based on their age range, instead of skill level, so that they only had to focus on one role. This concept works perfectly for younger students. No costume changes, no having to learn multiple songs, and they stay grouped together onstage and offstage. This also makes it easier for adult volunteers that work backstage as well. The most rewarding compliment I received from audience members was how believable it was that the characters were actually "underwater." We worked on that a lot!

Disney's Winnie the Pooh, KIDS - 2012

My very first show to direct! Because it was part of our youth series, I also served as the choreographer and designer for this show. I was nervous but excited. Up until this point, I had been assisting on various shows but had never been given full responsibility for an entire show. Granted, this show is only 30 mins and my cast of 35 was under the age of 18. But it still came with its challenges. How do you bring this classic story to life on a 40x20 stage? As a Designer, that's a lot of space to fill. I decided to draw inspiration from the cartoon since that's what I expected audiences were coming to see. With the students, I also wanted them to stick to the personalities of the characters we all know and love. The students were instructed to watch the 2011 film that this show was based on. I also asked each student playing a lead role to write a one page essay on their characters. They had to include basic information and also give a background description on how they ended up living in the hundred acre woods. We had a few good laughs and for my first production, I was very satisfied with the end result.

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