This summer's production of "Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka" will be Signal Mountain resident Anna Dieter's first time managing a show for the Signal Mountain Playhouse, but it's not the first time she's shared the amphitheater with Willy Wonka lead Greg Glover. The WRCB-TV Channel 3 news anchor acted with Dieter in her debut Playhouse role in "The Music Man" when she was 13 years old.
She's acted in several other Playhouse productions over the years, but said she's since become passionate about stage managing and is excited to have the opportunity to take on the role with SMPH.
Dieter said she fell in love with the concept of stage management while serving as assistant manager, and later manager, of shows at Maryville College, where she's majoring in theater and minoring in business and gender studies. Last summer she was the assistant manager for the Chattanooga Theatre Centre production of "Spamalot," which featured current Willy Wonka director Jennifer Abrogast.
The director is responsible for the show's creative drive and how it's artistically crafted, while the stage manager sets everything up, takes it all down and ensures that everything functions and goes as planned.
"I make sure it happens exactly the way [the director] wants it," Dieter explained.
That may involve a myriad of tasks, such as bandaging the leg of a young actress who scraped her knee, or fighting with the stuck lock in the lighting booth, she said.
While Dieter said she enjoys acting, she loves watching a show come together from the stage manager's perspective. When longtime Playhouse stage manager Jeanette Landis decided to step down after SMPH's last production, Dieter stepped up to take over the position at Abrogast's request.
In the future, Dieter said her plan is to start her own acting company and direct more girl-power shows.
"I don't think there's quite enough of those in mainstream theater," she said.
For now she's excited to see the Chocolate Factory come to life.
"It's such an essential childhood story that brings back so many good memories," said Dieter. "It makes you feel like being a kid again."
Roald Dahl's "Willy Wonka" runs July 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 at 8 p.m. at the Playhouse Amphitheater on the corner of Rolling Way and James Boulevard.