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The University of South Carolina Dance Program will present Wonderland, a dance theatre version of the classic tale Alice in Wonderland, February 9–11 at Drayton Hall Theatre.

Show times are 7: 30 p. m. nightly, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee performance February 11. Admission is $15 for students, $20 for USC faculty/staff, military, and seniors 60+, and $22 for the public. Tickets may be purchased online at sc.universitytickets.com or at the door. Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College Street, across from the historic USC Horseshoe.

Choreographed and directed by USC Dance associate professor Jennifer Deckert, Wonderland is a contemporary reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s beloved story that fuses dance and whimsical production design to tell the story of a young girl’s adventures through a strange fantasyland. Alice’s journey through the rabbit hole takes her into the depths of her own psyche, where she must find inner strength to survive a bizarre and dangerous world that just gets “curiouser and curiouser.”

Deckert says her take on the oft-told tale is that Alice’s adventure is really an internal battle with her own insecurities.

“I think the world of the show lives inside Alice’s mind,” says Deckert. “It’s a dive into the magical, absurd, and scary parts of our subconscious and the voices that control us.”

She adds that Alice’s odyssey mirrors the creative process that was undertaken to bring Wonderland to the stage.

“Creation requires you give up yourself,” she says. “You literally jump in and explore things of beauty while being confronted by voices that tell you you’re not good enough or you don’t belong. In the end, it’s all about pushing through that and saying those voices don’t matter. Wonderland is about Alice’s journey to confront those voices of doubt.”

While the original story’s iconic characters, such as the Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, and Cheshire Cat, remain in the narrative, Deckert says the production purposely veers away from the familiar imagery of Disney’s version of the story. In fact, she says the unique visions of the show’s designers have inspired her choreographic interpretation.

“I guided all our designers away from the sometimes carnival-like perceptions of Wonderland and its characters and toward a more sophisticated and nuanced interpretation. For instance, many of the costumes have been built upon the idea that in our dreams we often see pieces instead of full images. And rather than setting the story in a realm of marble floors and columns, our Wonderland exists within nature.”

“ The creation of this work and my movement vocabulary has actually been driven through collaborations with the designers just as much as their designs have been influenced by the story. This entire piece is being built almost from the design up or, at the very least, hand-in-hand with the design.”

Creating the fantastical world are second-year MFA design students Andrew Burns ( costume design), Ashley Jensen ( scenic design), and Lorna Young (lighting design). A cast of 18 dancers embody Wonderland’s eccentric characters, led by sophomore dance education major Bailey Brown as Alice.

“I hope this production inspires a bit of child-like inquiry and playful reflection,” says Deckert of her dreams for this original work. “And a belief that anything is possible.”

For more information on Wonderland or the dance program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu or by phone at 803-777-9353.

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It wasn’t so much a job interview as it was a commandment.

In the spring of 2007, a young Maurice Drayton was an assistant football coach, teacher and an administrator at Goose Creek High School.

Drayton got a call one morning from South Carolina State head coach Buddy Pough. Pough wanted Drayton to make the short drive up I-26 to Orangeburg for a chat about his future.

One of Pough’s assistant coaches, James Island native Tony Elliott, was leaving Orangeburg to coach at Furman.

“When I got up there it wasn’t necessarily a job interview,” Drayton said with a chuckle at his weekly press conference on Sept. 18. “He basically told me I was going to come up there and be his wide receivers coach.”

It was an offer Drayton couldn’t refuse.

Drayton spent the next two seasons (2008-09) at S.C. State as a defensive backs and special teams coach.

Drayton will face his old boss for the first time when The Citadel takes on S.C. State on Saturday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg. Kickoff for the game is set for 6 p.m.

“Coach Pough is one of my mentors, a coach I’ve looked up to for a long time,” Drayton said. “He means everything to me. He has taught me so many valuable lessons about football and life.”

The first time Drayton encountered Pough on the sidelines came in the mid-1990s when Berkeley High School and Fairfield Central High School met during the playoffs.

No coach wants his or her team to lose a game.

But when The Citadel’s 23-match win streak came to an end in late October against Western Carolina, Bulldogs volleyball coach Dave Zelenock couldn’t help but be a little relieved.

It wasn’t that he wanted the Bulldogs to lose, but Zelenock understood that going into this weekend’s Southern Conference Tournament without a single loss on their resume might have placed an undue amount of pressure on the team.

The top-seeded Citadel will take on East Tennessee State Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament, which will be held at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on the campus of Wofford. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The Citadel’s regular-season success was reflected in the SoCon postseason awards, with Ali Ruffin named SoCon player of the year; Belle Hogan the setter of the year; and Jaelynn Elgert libero of the year. Zelenock was named coach of the year.

Hogan and Ruffin were named to the all-SoCon first team. Maddy Cardenas and Gina DeLance made the second team along with Elgert, and Angelina Sayles was named to the all-freshman team.

Like most mid-major conferences, the SoCon will send just one team, the tournament champion, to the NCAA Tournament next month.

Despite the Bulldogs’ gaudy 26-2 regular season record, which includes the nation’s second-longest winning streak this season, a loss in the SoCon Tournament would most likely end their season.

“Championships are not won in the regular season,” Zelenock said. “My worst nightmare was to go undefeated in the regular season and then lose in the first or second round of the conference tournament. Winning the Southern Conference tournament and getting into the NCAA Tournament, that’s our goal.”

For the staff of Drayton Hall, it’s time to make the “hard ask.”

No more nuance, no more casual conversation with potential donors about the weather and these trying times. Just an urgent call for help.

“Drayton Hall’s entrance gates have now been closed to guests for more than a month; a situation which may remain in place until the end of our fiscal year on June 30, 2020,” wrote President and CEO Carter Hudgins in an email blast to supporters. “Being closed during our busiest season is catastrophic to advancing our mission as revenues received during the spring support our operations during the balance of the year.”

Drayton Hall is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., and managed by the privately funded nonprofit Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, which is tasked with the stewardship, research and interpretation of the property. Its one of 27 National Trust historic sites open to the public.

“In terms of cash reserves that we have on hand, we are good to get through the spring,” Hudgins said. “Anything beyond that, we’ll have to take additional action. We are attacking this pandemic with every tool and from every angle possible.”

The historic site is one of several in the area struggling financially and facing funding shortfalls during a period when, normally, they welcome many thousands of paying visitors. Few would dispute that April is the best month to enjoy springtime gardens, wildlife, domestic animals such as sheep and peacocks, blooming azaleas and informative tours of the grounds and the colonial-era house museums.

“Truth be told, if we are shut down and guests are not coming to Drayton Hall through the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, we will have missed upwards of half a million in revenue, which goes to pay educators, keep the lights on and preserves historic resources,” Hudgins said. “It really puts us in a compromised situation.”

He’s hoping to encourage people to buy memberships and make donations even though they can’t yet visit the venue.

“We have an emergency budget in place, a skeletal budget,” he said. “We plan to continue that into the next fiscal year.” Funding for traditional programming and activities will be reduced or eliminated, impacting education activities, travel and more, Hudgins added.

Some who work for outdoor historic sites like to joke about how April is “economic recovery month,” when enough earned income is generated to ensure the nonprofits end their entire fiscal year in the black.

“It is, hands down, the most important month of the year for all the outdoor sites,” said Tracey Todd, CEO of Middleton Place Foundation. “We’ve lost it. This is unprecedented.”

Now, he and his colleagues at the other cultural nonprofits are trying to figure out how to adjust current budgets and determine budgets for the next fiscal year. They are doing so despite many unknowns, such as when visitors will return and in what numbers.

They’re getting some help from the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and from the College of Charleston’s hospitality and tourism management program, which is surveying the economic damage and generating a study, which Todd and others can use as a tentative basis for budgeting.

“There’s some comfort in that,” Todd said. “No one’s ever experienced anything quite like this.”

At Middleton Place, the operating budget depends primarily on earned income (ticket revenue especially). Fundraising usually is reserved for capital improvement projects, museum acquisitions and sustaining a financial cushion with a reserve fund, which has become “amazingly important right now,” Todd said. Because of the pandemic, all earned income from admissions, tours and special events has dried up.

Federal funding through the emergency Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has proven essential. The $350 million rescue fund ran out of money after just two weeks, but not before Middleton Place, Drayton Hall and other organizations managed to secure forgivable loans.

“It’s a life raft that will help us make payroll in the next couple of months,” Todd said.

But Drayton Hall, unlike some historic sites that rely, in part, on volunteer staff, has been forced to let go several staff temporarily, Hudgins said. These are “people prohibited from doing their normal work” by the coronavirus shutdown, he said.

Curatorial staff have been in touch with members and patrons, and have been working on a series of videos to be rolled out on social media. At both venues, work continues. Gardens must be maintained, repairs made.

“This has to happen whether we’re open or not,” Todd said.

At Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, a privately owned and operated historic site near Middleton Place and Drayton Hall on Ashley River Road, a bare-bones staff is pruning the azaleas and seizing the opportunity to fix little-used roads, according to Tom Johnson, director of gardens. None of the tour guides or interpreters are on the job.

Columnists

The sudden disruption in income is worrisome, and the organization is tapping into reserve funds, but it’s keeping expenses to a minimum and hoping for federal aid, Johnson said. It helps that some staffers live on the site.

“I’m very conscious that we may not open up in a week, or a month,” he said. When the historic site does reopen to the public, it will likely allow access only to the outdoor spaces at first, and it will launch its regular initiatives, campaigning for community blood banks, food banks and animal shelters.

Meanwhile, the wildlife seems to be enjoying the strange quiet, he said. The flowers are blooming in greater numbers, the birds are feeling liberated.

“We’ve seen alligators walking down the road,” Johnson said. “They’re not used to having everything to themselves.”

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She once doled out uppercuts. Now she gives haircuts.

But Ashley Rushing is still tough — covered in tattoos all the way up to her neck and a blue-green pixie cut, she's opened up the Bareknuckle Barbershop in Drayton Mills Marketplace, the name a nod to her MMA fighting career.

Once known as Doll Face in the MMA world, Rushing fought for a little more than a decade, starting with an amateur career at a North Carolina gym. She began her professional career when she moved to South Carolina and fought in two professional fights with Invicta Fighting Championships, a women's MMA organization.

But she's always had a passion for cosmetology, too, and has worked as a cosmetologist for about 15 years.

"My family's always done hair, so I've kind of always been around it," Rushing said.

When Rushing broke a lower vertebrae ending her fighting career, she decided to focus on hair full time which led to the opening of Bareknuckle Barbershop.

She co-owns the shop with Tyler Maupin, who isn't a stylist, but works on the business and financial side. He created the name and helped with the design for the shop.

Artist Leon Wilkie created the logo - two fists (or bare knuckles) grasping a pair of scissors. The shop also displays some of Rushing's belts from her fighting career.

However, Maupin and Rushing don't go way back. Maupin was just a client of Rushing's when she worked at a different Spartanburg barber shop before opening up her own.

"I scheduled an appointment with her when she worked at the Black Derby (in downtown Spartanburg)," Maupin said. "And then she noticed that I was coming in every week and then we just started talking."

Rushing and Maupin opened up shop Aug. 1, behind Dray Bar & Grill, and business has been successful for the almost two weeks since they've opened, they said.

Bareknuckle Barbershop hasn't faced too many challenges due to COVID-19 either, Rushing said. It opened after Gov. Henry McMaster reopened salons and barber shops in South Carolina.

"I think with men's grooming, it's always gonna be around," Rushing said. "Men have to get their hair cut."

And if this barber shop isn't tough enough for you yet, there's a whiskey tap right when you walk in.

"So I give complimentary beverages with all services," Rushing said pointing to the tap and a beer fridge next to it. "So when guys come to check in they literally help themselves, pour themselves (a drink), grab whatever and just hang out.

Rushing found she prefers doing men's cuts and women's pixie cuts over a traditional women's color and highlights that can take hours at a salon.

"I didn't like standing behind someone's head for four hours," Rushing said. "I've only had my barbers license for about a year. But when I got into barbering, and started shaving, I got super addicted."

There's no specific demographic that comes into the shop, co-owner Maupin said, mostly men of all ages, races and ethnicities come to Bareknuckle Barbershop.

"Ashley really works with all types of ethnicities and hair," Maupin said.

It may seem like a drastic career change, but to Rushing, her life is pretty simple.

"That's it," she said with a laugh. "Just an MMA background and hair."

Contact Genna at gcontino@gannett.com or on Twitter @GennaContino.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Former Bulldog player and defensive coordinator Maurice Drayton has been named the next head football coach at The Citadel. The announcement was made by Director of Athletics Mike Capaccio on Tuesday.

“We are very excited to have Maurice back at The Citadel,” said Capaccio. “We conducted a very thorough search and it was clear that Maurice was the best person for this position. He understands what it takes to be a cadet-athlete at The Citadel, and also understands what it takes to be successful on the field.”

A former standout player and defensive coordinator, Drayton returns to The Citadel after spending the previous seven seasons working in the NFL. He most recently served as the assistant special teams coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders. Drayton also served as the special teams coordinator in Green Bay in 2021, assistant special teams coordinator for the Packers from 2018-20, and the special teams coordinator for Indianapolis Colts in 2016-17.

In his final season in Green Bay, Drayton worked with newcomer P Corey Bojorquez, who finished with the highest gross punting average (46.5 avg.) in a season (min. 35 punts) in franchise history. He also saw K Mason Crosby set a new franchise record with a streak of 24 consecutive field goals made from 2019-2021.

Drayton’s first season with the Colts saw him guide Pat McAfee to his second Pro Bowl after leading the league with a 49.3 yard average. Additionally, he helped Adam Vinatieri register his 19th and 20th 100-point seasons, extending his NFL record.

“I want to thank Gen. Walters, Mike Capaccio and the entire committee for giving me this opportunity. I made the decision several years ago to take the road less traveled, and it allowed me to meet people that have remained loyal.

“I believe in the divine power of God and that has moved in the minds of those who extended the invitation to return home. For me and my family, Moncks Corner, Charleston and The Citadel will always be home. I am prepared to assist in taking our school to the next level.”

Drayton served as The Citadel’s defensive coordinator from 2014-15, helping the Bulldogs to the 2015 Southern Conference Championship. The 2015 defense led the conference with 31 takeaways, 11 fumble recoveries, 10 passing TDs allowed and a 36.5 opponent third-down conversion percentage. The defense also ranked third in the FCS with 20 interceptions, including five returned for touchdowns.

All-in-all, Drayton has spent 14 seasons at The Citadel as a player or coach. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1998 and his master’s in education in 2007.

As a player, Drayton was a two-year starter at cornerback and finished his career with 145 tackles, 17 pass break-ups and three interceptions.

After completing his eligibility in 1998, Drayton spent the next seven seasons as a member of the Bulldog coaching staff. He began as a graduate assistant/secondary coach, before spending the 2000 season coaching the tackles/tight ends. He also worked with the wide receivers (2001) and outside linebackers (2002), before spending the 2003-05 seasons coaching the secondary, special teams and serving as the recruiting coordinator.

Drayton spent the 2006 season as the defensive coordinator for the Seinajoki (Finland) Crocodiles of the European Football League. He spent 2007 as an assistant principal and assistant coach at Goose Creek High School.

Drayton joined the staff at South Carolina State in 2008, coaching the defensive backs and special teams. In his two seasons in Orangeburg, Drayton helped SCSU capture a pair of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) titles.

Drayton spent the 2010-11 seasons as the assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Coastal Carolina.

He would serve as the secondary coach for former Bulldog head coach Ellis Johnson at Southern Miss in 2012 before working with the defense and special teams with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 2013.

A native of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, Drayton and his wife are the proud parents of two children.

Coaching Career

2023 The Citadel Head Coach

2022 Las Vegas Raiders Assistant Special Teams

2021 Green Bay Packers Special Teams Coordinator

2018-20 Green Bay Packers Assistant Special Teams

2016-17 Indianapolis Colts Special Teams Coordinator

2014-15 The Citadel Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks

2013 Montreal Alouttes Guest Coach

2012 Southern Mississippi Secondary

2010-11 Coastal Carolina Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams/Wide Receivers

2008-09 South Carolina State Special Teams/Defensive Backs

2007 Assistant Coach Goose Creek High School

2006 Seinajoki Crocodiles Defensive Coordinator

2003-05 The Citadel Special Teams/Secondary/Recruiting Coordinator

2002 The Citadel Outside Linebackers

2001 The Citadel Wide Receivers

2000 The Citadel Tight Ends/Tackles

1999 The Citadel Graduate Assistant/Secondary

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