Carla Belver was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2014 Barrymore Awards on October 27 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia. This video collage accompanied the introductory speech written by Michael Hollinger and given by Tom McCarthy and Greg Wood.
Here is how it started:
If you wanted to make a life in the theatre, you could do better than grow up in Lockhart, Texas, where Carla Belver was raised. Lockhart had no theatre, apart from the occasional school play; but the local cinema changed films three times a week, and she saw all of them. Despite this lack of opportunity, Carla performed wherever, whenever and however she could – at school, on the debate team, through speeches and contests. You might say she was “called to the stage.”
She began her undergraduate studies in theatre at the University of Texas, but these were put on hold when she married, moved to Oklahoma, and soon had two young children to perform for. In 1965, the family moved to Philadelphia, where Carla saw her first professional production, and took classes at Temple University to complete her degree. Four years later, she was a college graduate…and also a single mom. So she enrolled in Villanova’s graduate program with an eye toward becoming a high school teacher. But life and her new mentors had other plans for her.
Carla would perform at Villanova throughout the 70s, in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw, Chekhov, Williams, and the world premiere of IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM by David Rabe, who was playwright in residence. There was little professional work to speak of in Philly at the time, the Drama Guild being the only game in town. There Carla understudied DEATH OF A SALESMAN, in a production that was supposed to be directed by George C. Scott; but he had a falling out with the star, Martin Balsam, and quit. So Arthur Miller stepped in and directed instead. (Not a bad understudy.)
Along with colleagues from Villanova, Carla co-founded the Philadelphia Company (now Philadelphia Theatre Company), whose earliest productions included both modern and classical work, and many world premieres as well. At the same time, to make ends meet, she began to teach classes at Walnut Street Theatre. And so Carla found her second calling, as a teacher of acting.
In addition to the Walnut, where she taught for a dozen years, she has served on the faculty of many area theatre schools and colleges, such as Temple, University of the Arts, LaSalle, and ten years at Swarthmore College. Among her many devoted students are some who have themselves become prominent in this community.
Like many artists who become teachers, Carla cites these classes as a formative part of her development as an actor, saying, “When you teach something, you break it down and you’re teaching it weekly so you’re learning something every week, too, about yourself.”
