Providence Gap Reading, a picnic & more in Boone

Last week we had a reading for Providence Gap up in Boone for the Appalachian Festival, the new Preston Lane & Laurelyn Dossett collaboration that we will producing on our mainstage in June of 2010.

The playwright and the composer talk to the cast during rehearsal for the reading.

Cinny Stickland reading Levathy Lovell.

Laurelyn Dossett singing "Lady of the Mountain."

Yours truly reading the stage directions.

Laurelyn Dossett on banjo with Christine Morris and Noah Duvarney reading.

Jeff West, Katy Sink, & TJ Austin.

Josh Yoder, TJ Austin, & Lee Spencer reading Nurvel Greene, Chance Presnell, & Jackson Johnson.

Josh Yoder & Ginny Lee.

Patrons persusing the dramaturgical boards in the Valborg lobby before a performance of Oleanna.

App. Heights where we where we resided and where we had a tech picnic.

John Wolf giving some straight talk.

Boone boys who helped us with the production: Grayson, Marshall, & Jason.

Sean Dumm on the Barby!

Carrie Cook & Lee Spencer.

Emily Mails surprised, but still very cool.

Christy Wright & Ginny Lee.

Preston says, "I ain't a-goin' on no gosh darn picnic!

I'm a-goin' to do some office chair calisthenics instead."

~

WUNC in the Upstage Cabaret

The State of Things, hosted by Frank Statio, broadcasted live from our Upstage Cabaret last Thursday and Friday.

His first guest was Mr. Jake Henry, the principal at the Newcomer's School here in Greensboro which serves primarily refugees from other countries in order to give them a transition into American public education.

The next guests were artists from Greensboro. On the left are George & Stephanie from Elsewhere Collaborative based just a little futher down on Elm Street than we are, and their living museum has a collection of things dating back to 1939 when George's grandmother began running myriad businesses there. On the right sits Harvey, who has a kitchen where he interviews local artists. Harvey's website is Monkeywhale.com.


Molly McGinn played with her band, Amelia's Mechanics, to round out the hour.

Molly explains how she got the name for the band as Laurelyn Dossett stands behind with a bass (a rare thing), and Kasey Horton looks on holding her viola.

Listen to the smooth & subtly gritty performance here.

Laurelyn Dossett goes big time... (symphonically)

(rock star when she's not waxing classical)

For those of you who have seen the past Preston Lane & Laurelyn Dossett collaborations that include Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star, & Bloody Blackbeard, you will be interested to know about happenings with those productions outside of Greensboro:

• The North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh is putting together a summer pops concert tour called Blue Skies & Golden Sands that will include a few of Ms. Dossett's songs from Bloody Blackbeard.
• The Water Tower Theatre in Addison, Texas performed Beautiful Star as their holiday show this past December and was wonderfully received as well.
• The Human Race Theatre in Dayton, Ohio performed Brother Wolf in collaboration with a dance company which ran through January 2009 through February.
• And “Anna Lee,” a song Laurelyn wrote for Brother Wolf, was recorded by Levon Helm for his Grammy-winning album Dirt Farmer.
• A youth version of Bloody Blackbeard entitled Blackbeard is touring the eastern counties of North Carolina in April, performed by Triad Stage actors and funded by NC Arts Council.
• And visit here for Laurelyn Dossett's website full of photos, video, & her calendar. (Have fun at the Ramble, Laurelyn.)