(Featured image is a file photo of Carol Rezzelle standing in the sound booth overlooking the stage at Flowing Wells Theatre in September 2023. Charmain Z. Brackett/Augusta Good News.)
Carol Rezzelle remembers sitting at the piano after her children had gone to bed, writing a song when her husband came into the room.
She’d been working on a play called “I, Mary,” about Mary the mother of Jesus.
“He said, ‘let me hear it,’” Rezzelle said. “I had no idea how he’d respond.”
He listened and liked what he heard.
“He said, “we need to take this around for others to hear,’” she said.
In 2024, Enopion Theatre Co. will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Rezzelle started with that one-woman show, which took her five years to write.
“I wondered how Mary would feel. Since then, there have been many movies done, but back then, not a lot of people had,” she said.
From there, the company has grown beyond her wildest dreams.
In the early days, she traveled to area churches with her presentation.
She’s continued to write her own plays. Some are interpretations of Bible stories such as “The Story of Noah” as well as “Cain and Abel” while others have Christian themes such as “The Cure: about a pandemic; “The Prince is Giving a Ball” with a fairy tale like plot; and “The General and His Lady” about Salvation Army founder William Booth and his wife, Catherine.
No matter what the play the underlying message is always the same.
“It all started with the desire to tell people about Jesus,” she said.
Productions have been staged in multiple locations over the years including the former Fort Discovery theater, the Kroc Center and a former glass company on Commercial Court in Martinez.
“We’ve been a nomadic theatre company,” she said.
In November 2023, the curtain opened on the first production of in the new Flowing Wells Theatre on Flowing Wells Road. A sold-out run of “The Cure,” which actors had been preparing for more than a year.
While Rezzelle didn’t start out wanting her own theater, she said she learned a lot over the years to prepare her for one. With each move, Rezzelle saw what she wanted and didn’t want in a theater space.
At the Kroc Center, Enopion introduced the dinner theater concept because the space had an industrial kitchen, but the Flowing Wells Theatre will have a warming kitchen instead with a caterer bringing in the food.
Rezzelle expanded the theater company’s offerings while at the Commercial Court space by adding programming for children including theater classes and productions.
Rezzelle said she’d been looking for property to build a theater for many years before she finally found the site on Flowing Wells Road near Augusta Preparatory Day School.
The pandemic put a damper on construction. Materials were delayed, and prices went up.
In January 2022, the site had been cleared, and she’d hoped to have a Christmas dinner theater production to celebrate the theater’s opening, but the paving contractor went bankrupt causing more delays.
Even without a building, Rezzelle used the grounds for an outdoor theater, which she plans to continue. The original design had to be altered because of the building costs. It has fewer seats than intended, but there is room for future expansion.
The theater can seat about 150 people except for dinner theater shows which will be about 80.
Despite that, Rezzelle is excited that it’s all come together.
Enopion’s schedule is full for 2024 with a production of “The Witnesses” running through May 24 and “Eli’s Bethlehem Inn” at Christmas and outdoor performances in the summer.
There will also be children’s productions, and at some point, she plans to have a grand opening celebration to thank her volunteers and supporters.
To learn more, visit enopion.com or call (706) 771-7777.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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