Sunday, November 6th, 1:00-4:00pm
Story Parlor | 227 Haywood Road
Parking Info
Free (Donations Accepted)
About the event:
Led by Trayce Gardner (Writer/Teacher/Guerilla Filmmaker/Community Organizer and recent refugee from Brooklyn, NY), take part in this pop-up intro to the Spring ‘Show’ for Asheville beginners wishing for a stage to shine on (or behind). This will be an interactive event with lessons and mock auditions, as well as selected group readings from Trayce’s original screenplay, Billie’s Song, an Ubran Fairy Tale. More details on the proposed 2023 Theatrical Readings can be found here.
About the script:
The synopsis: Billie, a struggling working-class Black actress estranged from her family, becomes involved with Benjamin, an emotionally conflicted wealthy white man angling to secure a leadership position he has on a probationary basis. Initially, Billie and Ben amuse, then need and support each other. But the differences in their communities—and the personal demons they don’t reveal to each other—eventually put them up against each other in a potentially violent fight for survival.
The theatrical readings: The script has half Black characters and half White (with a few roles that can be other). For future theatrical readings, the plan is to reach out to all areas of Asheville to pull a creative team together, with blocking, wardrobe, props, and set pieces all obtained in a community scavenger hunt, or created by community members. The goal will be to rotate performance locations, from an art gallery to a church to a public housing community center to a storefront business, to draw-in people who wouldn’t normally turn out together.
“I think the script is wonderfully written, well-paced, fun, and serious without taking itself seriously. I especially love the ending!" - Erin Clare, Story Parlor founder