Steve Baskett
Steve Baskett has served on the Board of Theatre Bristol for more than a decade, including positions of vice president and treasurer and general house manager for the theater. He assists with set design and build for every show, teaching volunteers valuable skills in carpentry. He runs the box office, taking calls and reserving tickets. He also gives directions and shares places to eat downtown with theater visitors.
He is one of the mentors of the Youth Service Board, supporting and encouraging young actors and stage crew. He teaches master carpentry basics and acting for the annual summercamp for kindergarten through eighth grades. He promotes shows on social media, manages item donations, helps schools and other theaters borrow costumes and props, oversees concession inventory, and literally does a lot of the heavy lifting.
“Baskett has ‘invented’ several set design solutions that would be in the Theatre Bristol Hall of Fame, if we had one,” Samantha Gray, Theatre Bristol executive director says.
“I suppose my first interest in theater began when I was 8 years old and in third grade. I was cast as Baby Bear in an afterschool program production of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.’ That also began my tendency to always second-guess the director. I thought I should have been the Papa Bear. I thought that it would have been funnier to have the shortest one, me, play the Father and the large kid play the Baby Bear.
“I saw my first stage play on my 12th birthday, a dinner theater production of ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.’ I was so moved by the performers that I was inspired to adapt my own version of ‘Charlie Brown’s All Stars.’ My friends and I performed it that summer, in my carport. The other kids in the neighborhood and I formed a sort of company. We charged admission, sold popcorn and split the earnings. I think we each made about $2.65. This was in 1972,” Baskett says.
“In high school, I got involved with the spring play late in my sophomore year. Then, in my junior and senior year, I ended up taking every single class that was offered in speech & drama, stagecraft and broadcasting. I was awarded a letter in drama, just like the sports teams earned. I have to thank Dianne Graves, my drama teacher my junior and senior years, for the inspiration to continue performance art.
“I performed in a couple of shows in my freshman and sophomore years in college then got serious about my education, and in 1985 graduated from University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis with a D.Ph., degree in pharmacy.
“Skip ahead 25 years and my daughter, Morgan, and I discovered Theatre Bristol with the show ‘Annie’ in 2004. After that I began doing one show a year. In 2012, I was asked to join the Theatre Bristol Board of Directors. Since then I have been involved in just about every aspect of the productions at Theatre Bristol, whether promoting the shows, performing on stage, building sets, or more recently, directing shows.
“I can attest that having taken speech and drama in high school helped me land my first job. During the interview, I was asked about the classes I was taking and my future career plans. It came up that, in addition to AP English and AP biology, I had been taking speech and drama. They thought that qualified me for the sales job since the attributes you learn in those classes would help when speaking with customers, helping people on the phone and having the confidence to speak before a group. These are the things that I believe theater has taught me and that we at Theatre Bristol try to instill in others.
For nearly two decades, Baskett has appeared in more than 25 Theatre Bristol productions and other area productions. He has played Scrooge in “Scrooge The Musical,” Maurice in “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” Bustopher Jones in “Cats,” Mr. Bemelman in “Madeline,” Gepetto in “Pinocchio,” the Narrator in “Into the Woods,” Mr. McGregor in “Peter Rabbit,” Grandpa Potts in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” Mr. Bundles in “Annie,” Bottom in “A Midsummmer’s Night’s Dream,” Smee in “Peter Pan,” Minister North in “Rumpelstiltskin,” Matthew Cuthbert in “Anne of Green Gables,” Nachum the peddler in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Wise Ol’ Owl in “The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf,” Sawyer in “Miracle on 34th Street,” Mr. Scary in “Junie B,” Herb in “Godspell,” the Emerald City Guard in “The Wizard of Oz,” the chamberlain in “Oliver!” Charlie Brown, and many, many others.
He’s just as eager to take roles like fifth prisoner from the left, person on the fly rail singing the bass line, one of a strolling quartet, the two-line inspector, shoe salesman with children as the show leads, or third act narrator.
“His gift for acting and beautiful baritone voice, along with his ability to transform have made him a virtual one-person Theatre Bristol company,” says Gray. He has been in nearly every show over the last several years. Additionally, in true team spirit, Baskett is the utility player, stepping in to learn lines and blocking without program credit, when an actor is ill. “Even more, he provides an anchor and a quality standard in the field of community theatre that can be a wild card,” Gray continues.
Baskett began directing shows a few years ago, starting with “The Adventures of Robin Hood” as a melodrama. Now bit by the directing bug, he has directed Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer,” “The Best Christmas Pageant,” and most recently, “ She Loves Me” with friend of 45 years, Steve Davis.
Baskett supports all of the arts, such as attending school and community theater productions in the area and helping with load-ins at the Paramount for concerts. He even extends his role-playing to train engineer, entertaining children and adults with train rides and a character of his own, each summer at Steele Creek Park.
He is an avid appreciator of downtown Bristol architecture. Not just a student of Bristol history, he has invested in one of the downtown buildings. His “yellow-brick road” Bank Street alley is one of the most photographed locations in Bristol.
Baskett spent many years as a pharmacist and his work drew him to the area. He raised his two daughters Morgan and Tori, in the arts, through their own Theatre Bristol and Bristol Ballet experiences over the years.
“Steve’s passion is how the arts tell a story that moves you, and he works hard to achieve that in his work — whether it’s the tear he draws when singing ‘Love While You Can’ in ‘Scrooge the Musical,’ or the laugh he garners in the sweeping scene while directing ‘She Loves Me,’ says Gray.
“I have never been one to care much for personal awards or accolades, but I do hope that any recognition I receive from this reflects positively on Theatre Bristol and our attempts to keep drama on the community theater stage,” Baskett says.
