From the moment she walks into the Tryon Little Theater (TLT), rushed from her commute from Spartanburg and weary from her day as office manager and paralegal at Security Finance, Debbie Craig-Archer looks like she knows what she’s doing and belongs where she is.
Theater is in her blood, Craig-Archer said. Born to parents with significant theatrical accomplishments of their own, she was dragged to rehearsals as an infant, and made her own debut on stage at age 4. She describes her family as having been a ready-made quartet: her father a bass, her brother a tenor, her mother a soprano and Craig-Archer an alto.
By the time she was in high school, Craig-Archer’s love of theater was already deeply rooted, she said. She took every drama class she could and auditioned for every show. After a break to study psychology in college, she found her way back to the stage.
Last season, her first working with TLT, she directed the successful “Clue.” Then, switching roles from director to actor, she brought wit and world-weary charm to the role of Desiree in “A Little Night Music.”