Skip to main content

Groups of 15+
Call 803.802.2300

Yvonne H. Clark

CO-FOUNDER • EST. 1996
Composer | Orchestrator | Conductor
Yvonne H. Clark, co-founder of NarroWay Productions

NARROWAY LEADERSHIP

The Musical Soul of NarroWay

Yvonne Clark — known to everyone who loves her as "Birdie" — has composed, orchestrated, arranged, and directed every note of original music in NarroWay's history. She taught herself guitar as a child, composed privately before anyone asked, and has never stopped. The music, as she and Rebecca would say, was always going to happen.
  • CO-FOUNDED
    NarroWay, 1996
  • EDUCATION
    ETSU • SBTS
  • HOMETOWN
    Glade Spring, VA
COMPOSER • ORCHESTRATOR • CONDUCTOR

EARLY LIFE

Born one month apart, twenty minutes away

Yvonne H. Clark (born Yvonne Harrison Clark, September 18, 1955) grew up in Southwest Virginia, the eldest of five children born to Sam K. Clark and Joan Clark. She was raised just twenty minutes from where K. Rebecca Martin was growing up in East Tennessee — a geographical near-miss that, in hindsight, feels less like coincidence and more like something carefully arranged. The two never crossed paths until they attended the same college.
She was born exactly one month after her future co-founder and fellow visionary — a detail that has never ceased to delight those who know them both. In a friendship and artistic union built on a lifetime of parallel choices and shared convictions, even their birthdays feel like part of the story.

A LIFE IN MUSIC

She Didn't Wait to be Taught

Music was Clark's native language from the start. As a young child, she watched guitar players on television and taught herself to play by imitation — not from instruction, but from pure instinct and observation. It was the first sign of a creative independence that would define her entire musical life.
She continued private piano lessons through her school years, though by her own admission she never much cared for the practice regimen. What she cared about was composing. She wrote music privately, for herself, long before anyone asked her to — sketching scores and arrangements in her own time, with no audience in mind but her own creative satisfaction.
She excelled throughout her formal education, participating in a wide range of instrumental performance groups and consistently distinguishing herself not merely as a technically proficient player, but as a musician with something distinctly original to say.

She taught herself guitar as a child by watching television. By college, she was composing original music. By 1996, she was writing the scores that would define a theatre.

EDUCATION

Outstanding Instrumentalist

Clark earned a bachelor's degree in Music Education from East Tennessee State University. She continued her education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky — where she attained a Master's degree in Music with an emphasis in composition. The two credentials together reflect the dual nature of her gift: the discipline of a trained educator and the imagination of an original composer.

Bachelor's Degree

Music Education

East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, Tennessee

Master's Degree

Music (Composition)

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky

OUTSTANDING INSTRUMENTALIST

Upon completing her Master's degree, she was named Outstanding Instrumentalist — a distinction that recognized not just technical mastery, but artistry. That combination of technical mastery, training and artistry has shaped NarroWay's musical identity.

NARROWAY PRODUCTIONS

Every Note, Since the Beginning

In 1996, Clark co-founded NarroWay Productions alongside K. Rebecca Martin with a shared conviction: that faith-inspired entertainment, created with genuine craft and joy, could change lives. From the very first production to the most recent, Clark has been the complete musical architect of every show NarroWay has ever staged.
The NarroWay sound is defined by Yvonne Clark’s distinct musical architecture. While she writes and composes the vast majority of NarroWay’s repertoire from scratch, she also serves as the master arranger for every piece heard on stage. From meticulously arranging licensed 1940s classics to reimagining traditional Christmas carols, every note is custom-orchestrated and directed by Yvonne specifically for the NarroWay experience.

COMPOSER

Original scores written from scratch for every NarroWay production — no two shows alike.

ARRANGER

Musical arrangements shaped to serve the story, the cast, and the emotional arc of each show.

ORCHESTRATOR

Full orchestration of every musical element, from solo moments to full ensemble climaxes.

MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Direction of all musical performance across NarroWay's full calendar of original productions.
Where Rebecca Martin writes the story, Yvonne Clark gives it a voice. The two work in a creative symbiosis — Martin's narrative instincts and Clark's musical imagination feeding each other across decades of collaboration — producing something neither could make alone. NarroWay audiences, many of whom return year after year, consistently describe the music as one of the most powerful parts of the experience.

RESILIENCE

The Music Never Stopped

In 2004, Clark was diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis came in the middle of an active production season at NarroWay, and it would have been entirely understandable for her creative output to slow or pause during the months of treatment that followed.
It did not. Clark continued her work at NarroWay throughout her treatment — composing, directing, and showing up — and her creative output never faltered. Those who worked alongside her during that period describe her resilience not as extraordinary endurance, but simply as who she is.

BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR • 2004 - 2005

Clark completed her treatment in 2005 and has been cancer-free since. Through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, NarroWay's music never missed a beat. Her work during that period is, to those who witnessed it, as much a part of her legacy as anything she has composed.
Today she is cancer-free, still composing, still directing, and still — as Rebecca Martin would put it — giving the stories their voice. Praise God, the music continues.

LEGACY

The Musical Heartbeat of the Stage

The body of work Yvonne Clark has produced at NarroWay is, by any measure, remarkable. Her repertoire spans dozens of original productions and hundreds of original compositions—a storied legacy of music written to serve themes of faith, sacrifice, redemption, and joy. These works continue to inspire audiences who travel from across the United States to experience NarroWay’s unique brand of dinner theatre in Fort Mill, South Carolina, just minutes from Charlotte, NC.
NarroWay is, as its founders have always said, more than a theatre. It is a cause. And in Yvonne Clark, that cause has always had a soundtrack.

THE GENESIS OF A CREATIVE CALLING

A Creative Partnership Born in Faith

The NarroWay story began during the founders' first week of college, where K. Rebecca Martin and Yvonne "Birdie" Clark first met. Their friendship took on a deeper dimension just months later when Rebecca was instrumental in leading Yvonne to her Christian faith. This spiritual bond formed the bedrock of a professional musical theatre team that has now flourished for over five decades.
Before establishing NarroWay Productions in 1996, the duo served on church staffs, where they began writing, producing, and touring original Christian musicals. Driven by a mission to take the Gospel beyond traditional church walls, they produced large-scale performances ranging from open-air shows at Myrtle Beach campgrounds to fully-staged productions at a leased state-park amphitheater. This early period of touring and site-specific theatre served as the testing ground for the signature Broadway-style productions that would eventually define the NarroWay stage.
yvonne clark and rebecca martin at the King's Arena Amphitheatre

THE MELODY TO THE STORY

The Genius Behind the Story

Every piece of music Yvonne composes finds its purpose in the stories Rebecca writes. Together, their shared conviction and artistic unity have defined the NarroWay experience since 1996. Discover the woman behind the scripts and the vision that started it all.
Rebecca Martin, composer & conductor NarroWay Productions

K. Rebecca Martin

CO-FOUNDER • WRITER • CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Writer, producer and creative director of every NarroWay production.
READ HER STORY

QUICK FACTS

  • FULL NAME
    Yvonne Harrison Clark
  • NICKNAME
    "Birdie"
  • BORN
    September 18, 1955
    Southwest Virginia
  • ROLE
    Co-Founder, Composer, Orchestrator and Musical Director
  • EDUCATION
    B.S. Music Education, ETSU
    M.A. Music (Composition), SBTS
    OUTSTANDING INSTRUMENTALIST

Plan Your Visit

  • LOCATION
    3327 Hwy. 51
    Fort Mill SC
    Exit 90 off I-77
  • SHOWTIMES
    Fri 6:30pm
    Sat 12pm & 5pm
    additional days/times for Christmas and Easter
  • GROUPS
    803.802.2300
GET TICKETS ONLINE
BACK TO ABOUT