Renaissance Faire News - Sharing the Joy of Faire, one post at a time at FaireNews.com!!

 

The "Have You Met?" series introduces you to some of the people who make Faire a joy!

Have you met Caroline Jett?

Caroline Jett as Anne Bonny at the 2007 John Levique Pirate Days FestivalStopping in the lane, she listens intently as the children greet her. She asks her brother to provide the little boy with instruction in proper courtly behavior. Turning to the little girl, she explains to the child that jewels are always a good thing, holding out one of her own hands to show off her rings as the other reaches to a lady-in-waiting for a token to share. With the gift in hand, she presents a small gold-tone band to the child for a start on her own collection. On another day, she leads a motley pirate crew through the streets in a celebration of madness, mayhem, and rum tasting, charming wenches and picaroons with her salty ways. Whether playing Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Katherine Parr, or Anne Bonny the Pirate, she charms old and young alike. Let me introduce you to Caroline Jett.

Background

Caroline always knew she wanted to act. Some of her earliest memories are of going with her mother, a professional actor, to the Dockstreet Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina. With a hammer and board to keep her occupied, the child would “build sets” as her mother rehearsed. From the moment that she realized you grew up to be something, she wanted to be an actor. While other little girls were dreaming of being nurses, teachers, and mommies, she was directing plays on her back porch, attending dance classes, and performing in talent shows. Her first leading role was at age 8 when she played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

The daughter of a Navy pilot, she moved often and had attended nine different schools before she started high school. Her parents had seen the affects of moving her older brother and sister during their high school years and decided to try something different, registering her at a boarding school in Richmond, Virginia, for her final four years. She immediately joined the theatre club, the choir, and began taking dance classes, leading to numerous roles in musicals and other performances.

Because her grandparents lived in Charleston, she always considered it home. Upon completing high school, she returned and registered at the College of Charleston (known today as the Univeristy of Charleston) in the Theatre program. It was an outstanding program and she feels blessed to have studied under a director who felt that “If you can’t get a job in the performing arts when you graduate from this program, I’ve not done my job.” Like herself, many of her classmates are now journeymen actors, making a living at their craft though a few that she studied with, such as Orlando Jones and Thomas Gibson, have gone on to fame and fortune.

At 19, she appeared in a movie and, in what she considers her first professional gig, as a member of the cast of George Orwell’s Animal Farm at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. During her sophomore year, she attended the Southeastern Theatre Conference. For two summers, she worked as company choreographer and lead actor for a North Carolina outdoor historical drama. She lived on site, performing four to five different shows, including a historical drama, a comedy musical, and several children’s shows. After graduation, she continued working in the Charleston area with a modeling and talent agency. Looking back, she told me that she sometimes wonders what would have been different if she had not been quite so timid and had taken the chance on going to Los Angles or New York. The major difference would have been not meeting Ken Donovan, her future husband, and she would not have changed that for the world, so she has no regrets.

She and Ken attended a talent and modeling convention in Orlando, Florida, where they spent time together and fell in love. After returning to Charleston, the Dot Burns Talent Agency of Tampa offered Ken a contract and he decided to take accept it, inviting Caroline to go with him. With the Charleston agency she worked for closing, she had nothing tying her to the area. She agreed and moved with Ken to Tampa, Florida, in 1987. She continues to perform in the area, primarily doing live shows and specializing in improvisation.

Faire History

The entertainment director of the Bay Area Renaissance Festival (BARF), held in Largo at that time, approached Caroline in 1995 about being a member of the festival cast. They had worked together in other venues and her proficiency at improvisational acting made her an ideal candidate for the kind of interaction that happens at faire. She joined the cast in 1997 and spent three years in her initial role as the Lord Mayor’s wife.

Beginning in 1998, she appeared at the now defunct Sarasota Faire on the Ringling Museum grounds. That faire was rather unique in that each season they used a different scenario. The first year, Caroline portrayed Catherine de Valois, a French princess who became the wife of Henry V following the Battle of Agincourt. The second year, she portrayed a Viking Queen as part of the Battle of Malden between the Vikings and the Saxons. The third year, Caroline was hired to play an Elizabethan Queen for the first time.

Caroline Jett prepares to shoot Leinad with a marshmellow at the 2008 Bay Area Renaissance FestivalAlex Day became the Entertainment Director (ED) for the Bay Area Renaissance Festival and the Sarasota Ringling Museum Faire and, for the spring 2000 season, hired Caroline to perform as Queen Katherine Parr at BARF and Queen Elizabeth I (QEI) at Sarasota. Alex was also the ED for the Michigan Renaissance Festival (MiRF) and planned to switch that Faire’s scenario to an Elizabethan show. When he saw her portrayal of QEI at Sarasota, he offered her the same position at Hollygrove (MiRF) and she has been Queen there ever since.

It was her improvisational skills that earned her a place on the Festival cast, and it is a skill she uses every time she goes out. You never know what’s going to happen in a live, interactive show like faire she told me with a laugh. Whether it’s a corset so tight that you almost pass out or a hoop skirt that suddenly turns loose and starts sliding off, she works it in to her dialogue and makes a quick escape to fix whatever the problem is. She told me that a sewing kit and super glue have come to the rescue on more than one occasion. With prayer, and her Bubba Keg of coffee, she’s ready to face the world every festival day, knowing that whatever happens she will find a way to make it through.

While she has a passion for what she does, Caroline told me that it is professionalism that gets her where she needs to be no matter what she feels like doing. She worried that my readers might be a little put off to know that it is truly a job, one that she goes to whether she is sick, it’s raining, the car is acting up, or she just does not feel like it. When I asked her what made it worth it to keep doing faire, though, the stories poured forth.

She told me of two incidents the weekend following 9/11/2001. The first involved a child with severe mental and physical handicaps. Her mother had brought her out and later told Caroline that, though her child didn’t know what was wrong, she was aware that something was not right. Her day at faire provided her first relaxed moments in days and the mother thanked Caroline for the smile. Almost a year later, the young woman was still showing off the ring that Caroline gave her. The second incident came at the end of the weekend when a large tattooed man approached the Queen. Her guards blocked him but he politely requested a few moments to speak with her. When she agreed, he took her hand and said, “I want to thank you for being open this weekend. You have no idea what you have done for us.” He then hugged her, putting his head on her shoulder and she realized that he was crying.

At another time in Michigan, the weekend after Romance weekend, an old-time patron requested an audience with the Queen. He told her that he had lost his spirit for faire but found it again the previous weekend after being startled to such an extent that all he could do was sit and watch. He reminded her of the previous weekend when Crannog was playing and how she had danced in the street with a young man with Down’s syndrome. He told Caroline that, in that moment, the magic of faire and the true meanings of romance were again his. Presenting her with a book of Shakespearean sonnets, he thanked her.

Current

In addition to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival and the Michigan Renaissance Festival, Caroline is involved with the John Levique Pirate Days Festival at John’s Pass, Florida, portraying Anne Bonny. That event takes place this coming weekend and she told me that she’s ready for a great show.

When not performing on cast at a faire or festival, you might catch Caroline on a gig with Wise Guys, a local troupe who provides entertainment for corporate events. Clients specify the scenario and the troupe provides the entertainment. She has appeared as several Wild West characters including Annie Oakley and Dale Evans, as a 20s flapper, a nun, a pirate, whatever is needed. She is proficient with Swedish, Irish, French, Cockney, Country Southern, Yiddish (New York) accents as well as variations of British from country to upper class.

Her other project is publishing the Bay Area Crusader, a hometown anti-crime newspaper started in 1992 by Caroline’s late husband, Ken Donovan. Economic conditions are causing a shift in advertisers that is causing her some concern at this time, but she is committed to continuing. The monthly paper publishes mug shots of 50 to 70 suspects and bail-jumpers wanted on arrest warrants, along with official phone numbers for calling in tips.

Final Thoughts

While many people attend the faires and festivals in the hopes of escaping from their every day world, she feels that it is important to see how special every moment of our lives are. “Find the magic in your daily life, not just at faire, but in every moment that you live.”

Both pictures taken by the FaireNews crew

June 4th, 2008 Posted by | Have You Met? | 27 comments

Tweet This


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

27 Comments »

  1. Comment by BGreen | June 4, 2008

    GREAT JOB! Sharing the profile of this inspiring woman has been a wonderful start to my day. I truly appreciate learning of people such as Caroline, living their dreams, sharing magic and joy with others.

    Wishing everyone a fun-filled weekend @ the Faire!
    Bonnie


  2. Comment by James Raley | June 4, 2008

    Thank you for posting this splendid article about my wonderful friend, Caroline Jett-Donovan! It gladdens me that more people will now have to chance to learn about this extraordinary woman and all the great work she does. I have had the immense pleasure of working with Caroline at MiRF for the past three years and look forward to many more. She has taught me numerous things about acting, the human experience and life in general, and has played a major role in making Faire and performing my number one avocation (with hopes of making it a vocation). Everyone at MiRF absolutely LOVES Caroline!

    Anon,

    James


  3. Comment by Chris the Skitzoid Lady | June 4, 2008

    This is an absolutely fantastic article! I’m often reminded that we see cast at Fest, and we forget they are real people. I think Caroline is one of the coolest people on earth. I’ve experienced her generosity time and time and time again. And, improve? BAH! I have such a hard time with improve! I adore people who do it and do it well.


  4. Comment by Quiet One | June 4, 2008

    Thanks for the great article! I always look forward to my trips to Michigan each year and enjoyed coming to Bay Area RF this year. These are the only places I’ve followed what the cast was doing with interest. Caroline is fantastic! She brings to life the Queen so realistically and always shows a sense of humor in some way.


  5. Comment by Tammie | June 4, 2008

    An amazing woman…no doubt.


  6. Comment by Wenchie | June 4, 2008

    Caroline even took the time to notice I didn’t have my feathers on at faire. She asked me where they were and when I replied they were in Ladyfaire’s booth, she stared at me and raised her eyebrow. I then blurted out, ‘Oh! You want me to get them, don’t you?’
    The look on her face is one I still laugh about! It was as if she said ‘well, DUHHH!’ very royally!

    And she even named me ‘Featherhead’!

    Caroline, you are the absolute BEST!


  7. Comment by Kevin (Conor Savage) | June 4, 2008

    When I first started playing and singing at MiRF, I didn’t really know many people. It seemed very hard for me to get accepted as part of the gang so to speak, no one really knew me.. my mum and dad had passed away the year before and I felt very alone … I was playing in the lanes one day, and singing Black Velvet Band, and when it came to the part in the song where you yell “and she was” I heard a voice yelling “And I am !!!” and I looked over to see Caroline, as our Queen smiling and singing along with me. I have felt like I belonged ever since, and I will love that lady ’til the day I die for what she did that day.. and I doubt she even knows. Caroline is one special lady, and I consider myself blessed to count her among my friends.


  8. Comment by Anastasia Ellwood | June 5, 2008

    YAY Caroline!!

    It is a pleasure working alongside this wonderful woman at MiRF. Admittedly, I was a bit intimidated by her for my first season, but for as obnoxious and boisterous as I am with the patrons, I am equally timid with my peers…until I get to them.

    The day will come (too soon I fear) when I will no longer be a cast member of MiRF. When that happens, she will be one of the ones I miss the most.

    Thanks for an AWESOME article about an even more awesome lady!!


  9. Comment by Ozzy | June 5, 2008

    Though only recently have I joined the Faire Life, Caroline has consistently been an inspiration to me as both an actress/improviser and as a person. She is truly a wonderful person and I’m so glad she’s a part of my life.


  10. Comment by Silk | June 5, 2008

    One of the best women I know in, both the faire circuit and out. When the day is done, she still finds a way to make anyone smile. She redefines the definition of the word: Lady.


  11. Comment by Escarlata | June 5, 2008

    Caroline is a delight, both professionally and personally. It has been a privilege to get to know her through the years and I sometimes envy, just a bit, those of you who get to work with her at Faire. She has a way of helping everyone shine.

    Maybe one of these days she’ll grant me a second interview and I’ll ask all those questions that came to mind after we finished talking *grinning* I don’t think I asked anything impertinent and that’s just not like me.


  12. Comment by Admiral Morgan | June 5, 2008

    In all my years at MIRF she is the best and the brightest star of all and it is an honor to consider her one of my friends. Caroline is one of the finest entertainers I have ever met in my lifetime and it was a true joy reading an article finally on this woman of many talents. Huzzah!
    See you at me pub your Highness!


  13. Comment by Black Roger | June 5, 2008

    Indeed, if we were there were any true royalty on the faire circuit it would be Caroline. Strong in her character, firm in her presentation, and fully commanding, There is only one Queen of all faires; and that is Caroline! Her ability is proven and authority uncompromised! As a vendor I find myself always comparing the royalty of any faire to Caroline’s Queen Elizabeth Glorianna, and none ever compare. Just to stand next to her is an honor, and indeed her very presence is that of true royalty! I am honored and delighted to be her humble Privateer!

    Captain Black Roger
    Pirate Lord of Lake Erie
    Brethren of the Great Lakes


  14. Comment by Anne Jett Owens | June 5, 2008

    I had the priviledge of seeing Caroline in her first major role as Dorothy. Even today she still astounds me with her acting talents and her ability to connect with her audience.


  15. Comment by Susie Skibo | June 5, 2008

    Since Caroline has joined the cast of the Michigan Renaissance Festival she has brought so much sparkle and fun to the role of Queen Elizabeth. Personally, she is a truly caring and kind person.

    Thank you for the wonderful article on a truly extraordinary woman.


  16. Pingback by FaireNews.com - Sharing the Joy of Faire!! | June 5, 2008

    […] The FaireNews crew will be there to see many of their friends from around Florida, including Caroline Jett portraying Anne […]


  17. Comment by Athena | June 5, 2008

    I heard raves about Caroline before I visited BARF, and the praise is well deserved. She’s wonderful with the faire patrons, especially children, and has a great sense of humor! I’m looking forward to seeing her again in Michigan!


  18. Comment by Gwydolann | June 6, 2008

    What a lovely article. I have always been interested in Faire and have just recently gotten very involved. Although I have not met Caroline personally, I have heard many wonderful stories and personally witnessed many touching and fun moments. I look forward to seeing her at MiRF and maybe, just maybe get a chance for an audience.


  19. Comment by Bronwyn Campbell | June 6, 2008

    I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Caroline when I was managing a merchant booth at MRF. I was waiting in line for the privy behind the merchant booths just after faire closed and finally knocked on the door to ask if the person inside was ok. A few moments later who should walk out…but Caroline! In her wig and makeup and half garbed. She smiled and said ‘even the Queen has to go once in a while!!” I just stood there for a moment and almost forgot that I had to use the privy! Even off set and only half in garb she is still a QUeen! Hazzah to the best Queen Elizabeth I have ever seen in my 16 years of doing ren faires. And..I have to say….what a Wench! Cause somewhere in all that garb she is still a proud pin wearing member of the Internation Wenched Guild!


  20. Comment by Anndwalynn | June 6, 2008

    Caroline is my idol. She is always gracious and professional. I value her skills and experience. She allowed me to follow her court and experience her life style at MRF. What an honorable experience. She even took a few moments out of her busy day to pose for a picture with my own court members a bit ago. I will always cherish this moment. She is so inspiring. I look forward to this season being a member on cast at MRF.


  21. Comment by Bree | June 6, 2008

    What a wonderful piece! I have always admired Caroline, and over the years had become a friend of hers. This article is a beautiful piece about a beautiful woman, and I’m glad to know her. I’m glad that I got to know her, and through out the years I’ve been blessed to be able to joke around with her even while she’s been “The Queen”. I’ll always remember to ask her to “give us back our island” on Irish weekend!

    ~Bree K


  22. Comment by Heart & Soul | June 8, 2008

    Thank you for such a great article on such an outstanding woman!

    We hope to get to know this dear woman even better this year at MiRF.

    She’s a keeper!!


  23. Comment by THE DUTCHMEN&LADY ATHENA | June 8, 2008

    You will read all of these comments
    THEY WOULD ALL BE TRUE!!!!!
    If you ever have the chance to meet Caroline you may say fantastic,fun,great lady. We who have had the experience we call it HONOR!
    They say once in a life time if your VERY lucky some one like Caroline come’s a long, then we call it
    EXTRAORDINARY
    Caroline is our Michigan Renaissance Festival


  24. Comment by Escarlata | June 9, 2008

    It is such a pleasure to read what each of you has written about Caroline and to know that you enjoyed the article. Thank you for sharing.


  25. Pingback by FaireNews.com - Sharing the Joy of Faire!! | June 9, 2008

    […] around, listen to music, enjoy a smoke, and generally have a good time. Anne Bonny, as portrayed by Caroline Jett, is so much fun to interact with and her new waistcoat is beautiful. Many of the attendees of the […]


  26. Pingback by Michigan Renaissance Festival - Faire Fun for August 14-20, 2008 | FaireNews.com - Sharing the Joy of Faire!! | August 15, 2008

    […] Elizabeth (played by Caroline Jett) is once again in her northern shire of Hollygrove, much to the delight of her subjects. Get out […]


  27. Comment by Sir Scott and Lady Anne of Cleves | May 22, 2011

    You make me so proud…my momma watches over us and will always have gifts for the queens intent! Blessings for all the love you share!


Leave a comment