Broadway directors bring their passion for theater to The South Carolina New Play Festival
West Hyler and Shelley Butler have built acclaimed careers as directors in the theater world, on Broadway and internationally. However, their life’s journey could very well be its own award-winning production. Their latest accomplishment? Founding the South Carolina New Play Festival, now in its third year in downtown Greenville.
Hyler, who is originally from Kentucky, and Butler, who was born in Maine, met in the summer of 2004 when he was a student at the University of California San Diego and she was participating in a Drama League program in California for early-career directors. They were introduced by a mutual friend Hyler met while working as an apprentice at Greenville’s Warehouse Theater in the now-defunct Journeyman Program.
That summer, they ended up working with different directors at The Old Globe, a theater in San Diego. Hyler recalls making up excuses to go over to the area where Butler was working in to “borrow” various office supplies, just to have the opportunity to see her.
After their summer programs were over, Hyler finished a master’s degree program at The University of California, San Diego, and Butler moved to New York and then Los Angeles, where she was accepted into the Director’s Guild of America Program and worked on several televisions shows, including ER and Bones. The two stayed connected through email and eventually both moved to New York, with Hyler taking his first Broadway job as assistant director on How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The original Broadway production of Jersey Boys followed, taking him on a national and international tour with the show. At one point he was running nine different productions of Jersey Boys all over the world. Butler’s resume boasts such Broadway shows as Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, It Shoulda Been You, and Guys and Dolls.
It was during the first national tour of Jersey Boys in San Francisco that Hyler proposed to Butler at Golden Gate Park. It was opening night of the show, so the cast party became an engagement party.
The couple landed in Greenville in 2020 during the pandemic, when the lights went dim in the theater and life for so many had to be reimagined. Now parents, the two found themselves driving across the country in an RV while their son, Dash, attended school virtually. Hyler remembered the town he once spent time in as an apprentice at the Warehouse Theater. With the help of friends who assisted them in scouting houses, they settled in Greenville and began work on the South Carolina New Play Festival.
The Festival is a four-day event in which new plays and musicals, including youth productions, are presented citywide. It culminates with a Broadway Cabaret, this year featuring Greenville native Phillip Boykin, who is currently playing Hades in the Broadway production of Hadestown. Greenville’s local theaters have come together to support the festival, and most of the presentations are free to the community. The power duo brings over 20 years of theater experience to the Palmetto State and they are beyond excited to spread awareness about an event that could launch the next Broadway phenomenon.
Q & A with The South Carolina New Play Festival
When did you realize theater was your passion?
West Hyler: My mom enrolled me in everything when I was a child. I played every sport and took karate and gymnastics lessons, but it wasn’t until she sent me to a theater camp that I took an interest in any of my after-school activities. The best part of the theater camp was that a local summer-stock company, with semi-professional adult actors, was doing Grease nearby. Through a friend of the family I was able to watch the show from backstage and I was hooked. The next year I joined a children’s theater and then I enrolled in a performing arts high school in tenth grade. From 15 years old until now, theater has been my full-time passion.
Shelley Butler: I performed a lot as a child, but when I was 16 I directed my first show—a production of Little Shop of Horrors with 40 junior high students; my brother was in 8th grade and when the only theater teacher left our small town, I seized the opportunity. It was thrilling to shape the whole event and watch it impact an audience. I discovered I was truly in my element helming a production—and I’ve been on that path ever since.
What is new to the SC New Play Festival this year?
Hyler: This year we are expanding to include an outdoor variety stage, with world-renowned jugglers, acrobats, and comedians performing in Falls Park on Saturday and Sunday, August 10 and 11. We have three award-winning troupes playing in rotation from 3-8pm and you won’t want to miss it. We’re stretching the definition of theater and turning “play” from a noun to a verb.
You Can Go
SC New Play Festival
August 8-11
- 3 new musicals
- 2 new plays
- 1 outdoor variety stage
- insider industry sessions
- 1 cabaret featuring Tony-nominee (and Greenville native) Phillip Boykin
Find details at southcarolinanewplayfestival.org
