Different Strokes Frontwoman Stephanie Hickling Beckman Changes the Face of Local Theatre
By meg hale brunton
Photo Credit: Carol Spags Photography
Managing Director of Different Strokes Performing Arts Collaborative Stephanie Hickling Beckman spent years in the Asheville theatre community, avoiding ruffling feathers. When she decided to start her own theatre company, she knew her natural tendency toward reservedness was no longer an option. “When you become a mom, you’re put in a position where you have to speak up for your kid,” explains Stephanie. “Now, I feel that way about Different Strokes.”
Stephanie was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but her passion for theatre didn’t reveal itself until her family moved to Kansas City. “We generally don’t get introduced to theatre as children,” she says of people of color. “Theatre was a luxury item then, and it wasn’t a part of our culture.” At 14, Stephanie saw her first play: Timbuktu! starring Eartha Kitt. She credits that show with the beginning of her love of theatre.
Stephanie joined the drama department, but found that she got very few roles she auditioned for at her 1% black high school. “I think that’s what created the longing,” she says of performing onstage. She opted to embrace the technical side of theatre and worked as stage manager and assistant director for the school’s shows.
Stephanie was accepted to the University of Kansas, but a diagnosis of lupus prevented her from going. Instead, she moved to Georgia after her father was transferred there for work. Once she had her lupus under control, she opted to go to Georgia State University where she pursued a degree in Accounting and Business Management, but never graduated.
In 1992, Stephanie got a job with Cigna Healthcare in the mail room. She stayed with the company for 15 years and was promoted to Department Manager, but had no time for theatre. After seeing what a positive gay community and thriving theatre scene Asheville, North Carolina had to offer, she decided to move there and got a job with an insurance company. Then, she suffered a stroke at 38. On her way to the hospital, she recited her monologue lines from a show she was in called The Vagina Monologues to remain calm, which prevented the stroke from damaging her brain. “Theatre saved my life,” she says.
In Asheville, Stephanie could devote more time to theatre, but found that she was continually being turned away at auditions because they had no parts for a black female. Stephanie took roles in shows like The Children’s Hour and Sunshine Boys, but it wasn’t until she was cast as the French princess in Montford Park Players’ production of Love’s Labour’s Lost that she felt she had arrived, because it wasn’t just a part for a person of color. One day, she was crying to her mother about the trials of being a black actor. Her mom replied, “Baby, you don’t get to keep complaining if you’re not going to do anything about it.”
In 2010, Stephanie started Different Strokes, a theatre company prioritizing diversity on the page and on the stage. “If I had arrived, then I needed to pave the way for other actors of color to have the same opportunities,” she says, explaining that the majority of roles were written with white actors in mind (because people see themselves in what they write), but that they do not have to be cast that way. Different Strokes inserted diversity into those plays by changing up the gender or race of the characters. They also produced plays dealing with sexual identity, gender roles and race relations.
Now, in its 13th season, Different Strokes is setting the bar for meaningful, thought-provoking local theatre. In 2019, they were selected to be the company of residency for The Diana Wortham Theater. While she was past getting race-related role offers, Stephanie admits she still gets calls asking for recommendations of other black actors. “You can’t just call actors of color when you have parts for actors of color, you have to make sure that those same audition calls go out to everybody,” she explains. “I say, ‘Don’t you know any black actors? I suggest you make those relationships then.’”
In 2021, Stephanie partnered with the American Myth Center to create a national nonprofit called A Different Myth to help writers of color create and produce their works. This April, Different Strokes will be hosting the 369 Monologue and Short Play Festival, which will feature many of those artists’ works. Different Strokes has also been doing performances of select shows for middle schoolers to help educate them about black history.
Stephanie also does a great deal of community work and serves on the board for local organizations, including the WNC chapter of the ACLU, and the Asheville Area Arts Council. “It feels overwhelming because there’s just one of me. I have to build more,” she says, adding that she would love to see Asheville become renowned for its diversity, so that she can focus all her energy into directing. “I’ve been paving a way for other people for over a decade. At some point, it’s gotta be me, feeding my dreams.”
To learn more about Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective, visit their website: www.differentstrokespac.org
