Celebrate Juneteenth With A Trip to the Theatre

Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’First 100 Years

June 1-11, 2023

Written by Emily Mann

Adapted from the book by the Delany sisters and Amy Hill-Hearth

Directed by Stephanie Hickling Beckman

HAVING OUR SAY opens as 103-year-old Sadie Delany (Candace Taylor) and 101-year-old Bessie Delany (DonnaMarie McMillan) welcome us into their Mount Vernon, New York, home. As they prepare a celebratory dinner in remembrance of their father’s birthday, they take us on a remarkable journey through the last hundred years of our nation’s history, recounting a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering African-American professionals. Their story is not simply African-American history or women’s history. It is our history, told through the eyes of two unforgettable women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the twenty-first century.

We are proud to be partnering with Professor Candace Taylor, Department Chair, and the Warren Wilson College Theatre program for this production!  Our mutually beneficial partnership optimizes resources through both organizations to offer Warren Wilson students opportunities that serve to enhance their theatrical education and experiences as they consider post-graduate careers in the performing arts.

Our Community Outreach Partner for this production is The YWCA of Asheville.

Blood at the Root

August 25-September 10, 2022

Written by Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Stephanie Hickling Beckman

Blood at The Root written by Dominique Morisseau – BLOOD AT THE ROOT is a striking ensemble drama based on the Jena Six; six Black students who were initially charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree on campus. This bold new play by Dominique Morisseau (Sunset Baby, Detroit ’67, Skeleton Crew) examines the miscarriage of justice, racial double standards, and the crises in relations between men and women of all classes and, as a result, the shattering state of Black family life.

“Bursting with youthful exuberance, critical race issues, emotional authenticity, and astonishing beauty.  It is powerfully auspicious“-DC Theater Arts

“Blood at the Root vividly illustrates the near impossibility of getting through one’s teenage years-fraught in the best-case scenario-unscathed when also having to tackle larger societal problems. It’s a necessary and evocative production all-around.” – Chicago Reader

Abe Lincoln and Uncle Tom in the White House

February 2-19, 2023

Written by Carlyle Brown

Directed by Stephanie Hickling Beckman

ABE LINCOLN AND UNCLE TOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE portrays a gripping re-imagination of the the events the night before Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Alone in the Executive Office, President Abraham Lincoln is struggling with signing the Emancipation Proclamation when he is mysteriously visited by Uncle Tom, the fictional character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly. These two iconic characters from life and literature—one real, the other fiction—attempt to understand each other across a chasm of race in the midst of the Civil War. Throughout one late night and into the dawning day, they find themselves crossing over into each other’s world in a tale of suffering, self-discovery, and redemption.

“I hadn’t read the book [Uncle Tom’s Cabin], and I had fallen victim to the mentality that says when you hear the name Uncle Tom you get the picture of the worst individual you could imagine, In reading the book, I found a character of honor and dignity and I thought, maybe this character deserves to be looked at again.” – James A Williams.

Resources on Abe Lincoln, Uncle Tom, Slavery, Reconstruction and More

Performances are Thu-Sat at 7:30pm  and Sunday February 19th at 3pm, in the  Tina McGuire Theatre at  Wortham Center for The Performing Arts (18 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville NC 28801).