Imaginon preps for ‘The Daily Show' tapings

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a little more than a week, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” will set up shop in Charlotte, inside the Imaginon building.

Eyewitness News got an inside look at all the work happening behind the scenes to prepare for the show's tapings during the Democratic National Convention.

Production crews are drilling away, hard at work prepping for the show to move in.

Brenda Arko, production manager at the children's theater inside Imaginon, and her crew have been transforming the stage for the TV show. They’re doing everything from laying new floors to switching out lights.

“It's a very large undertaking,” Arko said. “I feel like I'm doing two jobs right now, but I'm really excited, and the payoff is going to be awesome.”

Arko took Eyewitness News backstage, where the show’s staff of about 140 people will set up shop inside rehearsal rooms.

“(This will be) office space for ‘The Daily Show.’ They're going to set up cubes and chairs. There's going to be computers and phones, and probably television monitors so they can see what's happening down on the stage up here,” Arko said.

Theater staff will work the two weeks the show's here, but they adjusted their fall performance schedule, pushing their own rehearsals back a couple weeks.

They don't mind. They hope when Jon Stewart hits the stage, he puts Charlotte on the world's stage.

“I think it'd be great if the whole nation heard about the fabulous things that we do here at Imaginon,” Arko said.

WSOC