To echo the national celebration of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial, each one of our shows in our 46th season embraces strong women characters! We hope you join us as we celebrate women of any and all backgrounds, coming together–on stage and off.
Opening our season is the hilarious musical Church Basement Ladies! Performances will run March 5-15, 2020, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; matinees held on both Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30. Tickets are $25-$30. Discounted group rate of $20 (groups of 10 or more). Tickets can be purchased via the SART website, sartplays.com, or by calling the SART box office, 828-689-1232.
Church Basement Ladies is a touching story of how women band together in times of celebration, grief, and all the days in between. Our first thought about a church community may be that it is run by the male clergy, but this musical shows us that behind every strong church is an even stronger group of women. The musical is inspired by the book Growing Up Lutheran by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson. Come visit the basement as they handle Christmas Dinner, a close-to-home funeral, a Hawaiian fundraiser, and hot July wedding.
This story shows how though “the times they are a changin’” the bond we share through faith and family stands true. Directed by Samantha Lebrocq, music directed by Misty Theisen, and choreographed by Kyrstin Ezzell. Featuring Tabitha Judy, Delina Hensley, Kathleen Watson, Kaleigh Anne Jackson, and William Tyler Ezzell, accompanied on piano by Chelsea Cribbs. Church Basement Ladies is based on the book by Jim Stowell and Jessica Zuehlke, and music and lyrics by Drew Jansen. Additional creative team: lighting and sound design Andrew Zebroski, costume and prop design by Kyrstin Ezzell, and set design by Richard Seagle and Braeden Johnson.
Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre (SART), founded in 1975, is a professional theatre company on the campus of Mars Hill University. Since the beginning, SART’s primary mission has been to cultivate quality and professional theatre for the WNC region. Musicals, both big and small, have delighted our audiences, and the magic of theatre has provoked both company members and patrons alike. SART’s partnership with Mars Hill University promotes vital onstage experience for Theatre Arts Department students by providing them the opportunity to perform alongside professional actors in our community.
In addition, each of the shows this year will feature support for local charitable organizations, including collecting children’s books for the Children’s Literacy Achievement Project (CLAP) of Madison County. CLAP provides books for low-income children, so we are encouraging our patrons to bring a new or gently used children’s book when attending the show!
Grab your tickets and get closer to heaven (in the church basement) with some of the area’s most hilarious performers in historic Owen Theatre!
