As head of Richland Northeast High School's Palmetto Center for the Arts , Donna Wilson and her students made five trips to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, an annual performance festival that takes over the medieval city and presents music, theater and comedy in bars, historic structures and galleries, to name a few. Wilson and her students performed their plays in churches like Greenside Parish Church, a nearly-300-year-old gothic sanctuary near the heart of Old Town. "They’re places that you just can't imagine doing a show in, but there it is and it’s magnificent," said Wilson, who is now retired.
"That was part of the beauty of it, was just seeing how creative people can be." Wilson was accompanied to Scotland by Greg Boatwright, a freelance musician who's worked in most artistic spheres in the Midlands, including local theater. The Fringe Festival sparked an idea for Boatwright, one that's coming to fruition after years of planning and fundraising.
Housed in Virginia Wingard United Methodist Church, the Broad River Arts Center is Columbia's newest arts and theater venue. Situated along Broad River Road, BRAC, as the founders are calling it, will produce plays and musicals, host concerts and endeavor to bring more arts to the St. Andrews corridor.
The cast of "Showtune," the first production from Broad River Arts Center are (from left) S arah Alexander, Curran Bramhall, Kerri Roberts, Jonah Isaac-Brooks and Taylor McCullough. "We felt the St. Andrews area n.