“Being Appalachian means carrying the spirit of a people forged by independence,” says playwright Travis Lowe. “They are the indigenous peoples who chose ridgelines over coastlines, enduring arduous ascents for no other reason than to touch the sky. They are the Germans, Scots, and Irish, unwelcome in the English colonies, who found a home among the lush laurels and rhododendrons. They are the descendants of formerly enslaved peoples who carved out a complex freedom in the hollers and the hills, still struggling against inequity amidst the rough equality of poverty. They are resilient storytellers, full of fears and fables, who work themselves near to death in the shrouded dark just to fiddle their way through the starlit night. I am proud to call myself one of them.”
Lowe is one of three playwrights whose new plays were chosen to be part of Parkway Playhouse’s Third Annual Appalachian Playwriting Festival. This festival features staged readings of new plays written by Appalachian Playwrights or plays that represent Appalachian Culture in some way. One script from the festival will be chosen to be fully produced in Parkway Playhouse’s 2026 Mainstage Season.
In Carswell Holler by Travis Lowe, when a traveling EPA agent stops in for a bite at a greasy spoon café in southern West Virginia’s coal country, it sets off a series of dangerous events and menacing stories, both real and imagined, natural and supernatural. A comedically elegant and broodingly dark celebration of Appalachia and its ghosts.
In Deera’s Country Funeral by Ned Dougherty, Ray Sally’s beloved tractor died, and it’s time to have a funeral. But maybe it’s Ray Sally who is about to meet his maker, since what good is an old farmer to the world if he can’t even keep a tractor running? On the surface, this is just a silly little play about a tractor, but underneath, questions about destiny, rural masculinity, and the measure of a life well-lived face this tiny community caught at the height of their grief.
In In a Manor of Speaking by Steven D. Miller, Spinster Florence Wren has fallen on hard times during the Great Depression and is renting her mansion, Wren Manor, to Raskin and Amelia Forbes, Northerners who are in town to scout locations for a textile mill and to repair their marriage. Into this situation comes Georgeanne Cash, a young woman hoping for elocution lessons so that she can snag a rich husband. Lives unravel and then find unanticipated resolutions.
Friday, September 12th at 7:30pm will feature keynote speaker Marc Pruett (Bluegrass banjo player and founding member of the band Balsam Range), live music on the patio, light refreshments, and a chance to mingle with the artists.
Saturday, September 13th, will feature staged readings of all three Appalachian Playwriting Festival script selections. Deera’s Country Funeral is showing at 1pm. In a Manor of Speaking is showing at 4pm. Carswell Holler is showing at 7pm.
Sunday, September 14th, at 2:30pm will feature a staged reading of the script voted Best of Show by audiences on Saturday.
“The Appalachian Playwriting Festival is a celebration of Appalachian Culture. It is a preservation of the stories, people, and traditions that make our community so wonderful. This festival is an opportunity to give back by offering a microphone to those voices telling the stories of our home and heart.” Says festival founder and director Cheyenne Dancy.
Passes are available to get you into all events for just $20, or individual tickets are on sale for just $10. These can be purchased online at www.parkwayplayhouse.com/tickets or by calling 828-682-4285.
Parkway Playhouse is a professional theater company located at 202 Green Mountain Drive, Burnsville, North Carolina 28714. The oldest continually operating summer theater in North Carolina, they are celebrating their 78th season this year. Parkway Playhouse offers something for everyone, including shows, classes, community events, and more! To find out more about Parkway Playhouse, please visit their website at www.parkwayplayhouse.com, or check out their Facebook or Instagram pages.
