The Footlight Players, Charleston

It started small: in 1931, Lieutenant Commander Charles Russell Price directed a series of one-act plays at the Charleston Navy Yard. It was an unexpected success, and a year later, his band of amateur theater-makers were officially calling themselves The Footlight Players. The ensemble began performing at various spaces around town, and as their popularity grew, they became a local institution.

Today, The Footlight Players uphold Price's vision by staging seasonal works ranging from comic musicals to dramatic plays. And while the company now has a permanent home in a historic cotton warehouse, their scrappy, let's-put-on-a-show attitude hasn't changed—local volunteers are always welcome to audition, lend an extra hand, or shake cottonseeds out of the stage curtains.