Carmelita Becnel (she/her)

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Hello!  I am a professional stage manager and proud member of Actors' Equity Association since 1995. With a Master's degree in Stage Management from the University of California at San Diego, I have had the great fortune to work with legendary theater artists such as Horton Foote, Edward Albee, Athol Fugard, Anna Deavere Smith, and August Wilson. Since January 2008, I have been delighted to work with the amazing, boundless, FEARLESS talents of the students, faculty, and guest artists here at the Lewis Center of the Arts, and am especially proud of the unflappable student stage managers and assistant stage managers I've worked with through the years.

I have been a diligent member of the Lewis Center for the Arts' Climate and Inclusion Committee since 2019, possessing a passionate conviction that the Arts must be for All.  I am also a member of the 2019 artEquity Facilitator Training cohort, a Steering Committee member of Parents Arts Advocacy League (PAAL), founding member of Black Theater Caucus, the recipient of Princeton University's 2021 Donald Griffin ’23 Management Award, and one of the Project Directors for the Program in Theater's radically unique casting process, Try On Theater.

If you really know me, you know I'm Louisiana-born and bred.  A great-great granddaughter of the Enslaved from Becnel Plantation in St. John Parish.  Laissez les bon temps rouler.

My Favorite Lewis Center Events EVER ...

1.  One of my favorite events was when I stage managed "Der Bourgeois Bigwig", which was the Program in Theater's 2012-2013 Fall Show. It was directed by Tim Vasen (who was the head of the Program in Theater at the time), translated and adapted by James Magruder, and conducted by Michael Pratt. We had a cast of 12, a 32-piece orchestra (onstage the entire time, basically part of the set), and a 10-member choir. Everyone was a [patient, cooperative] joy to work with, we had a blast, and I found out I was pregnant with my twins, Freddy and Lilly!
2. My second favorite event has to be the ensuing surprise Mardi Gras-themed baby shower the LCA threw for me - I will never forget it.
3. Stage managing The Winter's Tale.  IYKYK. The most thrilling part was that I worked beside my daughter Lilly Cuthrell, and my sister Kim Becnel, both in that magnificent Company.

#iloveplayrehearsal [Thank you, Joe Iconis!]