By Rachel Muha
Founder of the Brian Muha Foundation

When he was a child, Charles Travon Easley loved to watch Tyler Perry plays. He dreamed of being in them and doing what Perry did.

One of his favorite guiding quotes is from Perry: “It doesn’t matter if a million people tell you what you can’t do, or if ten million tell you no. If you get one yes from God, that’s all you need.”

When Charles started coming to the Run the Race Center at age 9, rehearsals for a Christmas program were underway. That only fueled his interest. He tried to figure out how he could get involved. From there, he went on to write and perform his own shows at the Run the Race Center.

Thanks to volunteers at the center who offered to mentor him, Charles attended a camp at Columbus Children’s Theatre when he was 11 or 12. This became the spark God used to open doors he never imagined. At the end of camp, instructors encouraged him to audition for the main season because of his remarkable talent. That year, they were producing Junie B. Jones the Musical. Charles auditioned — and booked his very first professional role.

Since then, Charles, also known as Travon, has returned to the Run the Race Center to direct, teach and serve as an example for young people and others on the West Side.

Charles’ life was not all sunshine and roses. Quite the opposite. He endured the same struggles other Run the Racers faced: schools graded as failing and neighborhoods so dangerous he had to stay inside most of the time.

Except at the Run the Race Center. That was when he could be a child, be a teen and become the man he is now. He is a true example of overcoming obstacles and not letting anything stand in his way.

“It only takes one yes from God to change your life,” Charles said, quoting Perry.

“To watch a young boy who had so many struggles in his life achieve what many others would love to achieve is a testimony to the love, attention and interest the good volunteers and mentors at the Run the Race Center showed him and so many others,” said Rachel Muha, founder of the Brian Muha Foundation.

Over the years, Charles has directed and performed in more than 60 productions around central Ohio. And now, only 12 years after first walking into the Run the Race Center, he has been asked to direct the 25th anniversary production of Black Nativity. This is not just a milestone — it is a homecoming, a celebration, a prayer answered.

“We are more than proud. We are in awe,” Muha said. “And we cannot wait to see where God leads him next.”