Parkway Playhouse is thrilled to welcome Grammy award-winning bluegrass musician, Marc Pruett, to Yancey County for a FREE community event at The Playhouse on Friday, September 12th at 7:30pm! Marc will be giving a talk, Appalachian Heart: Sharing Heritage, as the theater kicks off its Third Annual Appalachian Playwriting Festival.
Marc will share stories from his life that reflect his Appalachian experiences. He might tell about his first store-bought haircut from a drunk barber, shaving a cat’s tail when he was a boy, playing bicycle wreck with his young brother, or playing tricks on Grand Ol’ Opry Star, Ricky Skaggs. Along with this talk, guests will have a chance to mingle with the artists, enjoy light refreshments, and enjoy live music on the patio from Marc and his wife, Anita Pruett.
Anita and Marc both come from musical families in the Appalachian South. They each play banjo and guitar, and Marc will occasionally play the slide guitar in their performances. Marc’s extensive history in heritage music earned him a Grammy, the NC Heritage Award, Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an honorary Doctor of Arts, and he was recently inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. For almost 19 years, Marc has been a member of the popular Bluegrass group, Balsam Range. In addition to being a gifted singer, Anita has a deep catalogue of knowledge about Southern song history, old Country music, and Bluegrass music. Independently, they both developed a love for old styles of Country music, Gospel, Bluegrass, and acoustic Jazz, and they perform regionally as a duet.
The Appalachian Playwriting Festival will feature staged readings of new plays written by Appalachian Playwrights or plays that represent Appalachian Culture in some way. 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.
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 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 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.
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/
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.
