Carpenter begins building career as director in Mt. Airy

Posted 5/30/18

Josh Carpenter’s adaptation of “The Prince and the Pauper,” Mark Twain's first attempt at historical fiction, is currently being staged by Quintessence Theatre, 7137 Germantown Ave. in Mt. …

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Carpenter begins building career as director in Mt. Airy

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Josh Carpenter’s adaptation of “The Prince and the Pauper,” Mark Twain's first attempt at historical fiction, is currently being staged by Quintessence Theatre, 7137 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy, through June 3.[/caption]

by Rita Charleston

“The Prince and the Pauper,” Mark Twain's first attempt at historical fiction, is currently being staged by Quintessence Theatre, 7137 Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy, through June 3. Adapted and directed by Josh Carpenter, the story, set in 1547, tells the tale of two young boys who are identical in appearance.

Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive father in Offal County in London, has always aspired to a better life. One day, while loitering around the palace gates, he meets Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. Later, inside Edward's palace chamber, fascinated by each other's lives and their uncanny resemblance to each other, they decide to switch places temporarily. And the plot thickens from there.

Carpenter, long associated with Quintessence as an actor, is making his directorial debut with this production. Born just outside Buffalo, New York 39 years ago, Carpenter moved around the country as an “Air Force brat. By the time I left high school — three spent in New Mexico and the last one in California — I had my heart set on becoming an actor and a teacher.”

The love he felt for the theater began earlier, he adds, when he appeared in “Bye, Bye Birdie.” The experience encompassed everything he hoped it would. “I loved the experience of learning dialogue, the rehearsal process, the warmth I felt from others in the show. Everything.”

And so after high school, Carpenter was off to Northwestern University to major in Theater. With his B.S. degree in hand, he next headed to Brooklyn for a year to teach 7th and 8th grade English and 9th grade World History at Yeshiva Torah Temimah in Brooklyn. He then headed to Prague for a year to teach English, before heading back to a middle school in Long Island to teach English and drama for several years.

But finally, in 2005, Carpenter decided to try his hand at being an actor. Fortunately, he had met Alexander Burns, artistic director at Quintessence, years before when both were students at Northwestern. “So when Alex was casting for a Shakespeare play and found out I was appearing with the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, he came to see me, offered me a part, and I've been performing mostly with them ever since.”

Carpenter, who says he's directed children in school productions before, admits this is the first time he's tried his hand with professional actors, and the whole process is different. “I also adapted Twain's book into a play, trying to be as true to Twain's spirit and language as I possibly could be. The plot, of course, is way more involved than could possibly be captured on stage, so I had to prioritize parts of the plot to ty to tie everything together.”

For this actor/director, the challenge is learning how to switch hats. “As an actor you're trying to interpret what the director wants to execute, and then you're charged with actually doing it. The director also has to learn to communicate with the different actors where communication may work with one but not with another. Having been an actor myself has certainly helped with directing. Having an ear for the rhythm of the play and the rhythm of the speech is certainly a plus for me as well. And the fact that I spent basically a year working on the script and now seeing it all brought to life is absolutely thrilling.”

When he's not on stage, Carpenter says he has learned to support himself “like many other theater artists do, from catering to tutoring to various forms of teaching and almost anything else that puts money in your pocket. But five years from now I hope to be doing a combination of acting and directing full-time. I still think of myself as an actor first, but I have found this process of adapting and directing very rewarding. But I don't think anything will ever scare me off the stage.”

For ticket information, call 215-987-4450.

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