Charles Carr

Charles Carr is a multiple award-winning, nationally published author (Macmillan, St. Martin's Press, Heartland, Eldridge). His op-ed newspaper column, Southpaw, is the recipient of back-to-back Press Club awards and has appeared across the country and in newspapers and college textbooks including America Now (Macmillan), The American Writer (St. Martin's Press), and Writer/Thinker/Maker 2e (Bedford).

Charles has written thousands of newspaper articles, magazine stories, and columns for the San Diego Union-Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register, The Reader, San Diego Magazine, The Californian, and many more.

Carr is author of What a World, a collection of vignettes and award-winning newspaper columns chronicling twenty years in the San Diego back country.

Carr is also a noted television producer/director with documentaries currently airing and/or in production on Cox Cable and elsewhere.

Carr's background in the world of journalism has created an excellent basis for penning scripts and stage plays, most of which have a classical literature, historical, or true crime footing. His theatrical works have been produced at prestigious venues across the nation and attended by thousands. Works include All the Time in the World; Passage Into Fear; Mark Twain's A Christmas Carol; Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Angels; Hope Springs, Eternal; Mr. Scrooge & Mr. Dickens; and The Dangerous Christmas. Carr's timeless thriller, Passage Into Fear, published nationally by Eldridge Plays and Musicals, was produced Dec. 2023 at the California Center for the Arts Escondido.

Carr's Hope Springs, Eternal will be performed Dec. 2024 at the California Center for the Arts Escondido.

A decade ago, Charles, his wife Marsi Carr, and others looking for ways to help organizations struggling in difficult economic times founded Art Animates Life, a CA incorporated, federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Art Animates Life along with its award-winning theatrical company, North County Players, have raised tens-of-thousands of dollars for San Diego area charities including a disaster relief agency, arts nonprofits, a municipal art gallery, veterans' relief funds, a community outreach center, a historical society, several struggling community theaters, and others. Thousands have attended North County Players events and productions.

Art Animates Life's first full-length feature film, Old Dogs, Dirty Tricks, written and directed by Carr, is currently in the film festival circuit. Watch the trailer.

A professional musician for more than 20 years, Carr's playing and arranging have been featured on many recordings. He has taken top honors in San Diego Songwriter's Guild competitions for his original musical compositions "Baby's First Words" and "The Twelve Months of Christmas."

Since its inception Carr produced the Fallbrook International Film Festival's red carpet event and recently moderated the San Diego International Kids' Film Festival's scriptwriting panel discussion.

Charles enjoys speaking from time-to-time to schools and organizations about his eclectic life in the arts and volunteers at his hometown high school as a journalism teacher and student adviser.