Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Come join us for a fun afternoon sampling some wine(s) and talking about books. As always, the book can be fiction or non-fiction ….. whatever……just so that it somehow involves whatever topic we’ve chosen for the month. For December we will be sharing about books that interest us enough to give them or get them for the holidays.. And if you just want to join us to hear about the books we’ve read but haven’t read any yet yourself, come along anyhow. You’ll have a chance then to suggest a topic for us to read books on next time.

The Friends of the Weaverville Library (FOWL) are excited to announce the opening of their used bookstore in Weaverville on Thursday, July 8. Located in the lower level of the Weaverville Library at 41 N. Main St., the store will be open Thursdays 1-5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with expanded hours beginning in September. The store is stocked with thousands of books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, and more. All adult books are priced at $1.50-$3.00, children and teen books at $1.00-$1.50, audio and video at $2.00.
There is also a bargain-priced area and a collection of special finds that are priced individually. Please feel free to contact us at 828-641-1812 or [email protected]. All proceeds from the store will benefit the Weaverville Library.
Start your new holiday tradition with LaZoom! Our top rated Hey Asheville Tour gets an extra dose of holiday cheer for the season. We’ll laugh all the way as the purple bus roams the historical streets of Asheville as you learn new holiday traditions, and meet colorful characters that are sure to bring joy to the world.
Historical and hysterical, The Hey Asheville tour features outrageously entertaining tour guides, outlandish comedy skits complete with special appearances and loads of Asheville information. You’ll get to see the best of downtown Asheville and the rarely seen but stunningly beautiful Montford neighborhood, not to mention the burgeoning River Arts District! You’ve never had a ride like this. It’s like a vaudeville show on wheels!
Find out what makes Asheville so unique on LaZoom’s City Comedy Tour. It’s the perfect mix of history, comedy, and entertainment. Our guides are trained professional actors working with an original script. It’s like a theatre on wheels! The tour highlights downtown Asheville, historic neighborhoods, the South Slope, and the River Arts District.

The Friends of the Weaverville Library (FOWL) are excited to announce the opening of their used bookstore in Weaverville on Thursday, July 8. Located in the lower level of the Weaverville Library at 41 N. Main St., the store will be open Thursdays 1-5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with expanded hours beginning in September. The store is stocked with thousands of books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, and more. All adult books are priced at $1.50-$3.00, children and teen books at $1.00-$1.50, audio and video at $2.00.
There is also a bargain-priced area and a collection of special finds that are priced individually. Please feel free to contact us at 828-641-1812 or [email protected]. All proceeds from the store will benefit the Weaverville Library.

The Friends of the Weaverville Library (FOWL) are excited to announce the opening of their used bookstore in Weaverville on Thursday, July 8. Located in the lower level of the Weaverville Library at 41 N. Main St., the store will be open Thursdays 1-5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with expanded hours beginning in September. The store is stocked with thousands of books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, and more. All adult books are priced at $1.50-$3.00, children and teen books at $1.00-$1.50, audio and video at $2.00.
There is also a bargain-priced area and a collection of special finds that are priced individually. Please feel free to contact us at 828-641-1812 or [email protected]. All proceeds from the store will benefit the Weaverville Library.

Come join us even if you don’t read/finish the novel!

The Friends of the Weaverville Library (FOWL) are excited to announce the opening of their used bookstore in Weaverville on Thursday, July 8. Located in the lower level of the Weaverville Library at 41 N. Main St., the store will be open Thursdays 1-5 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with expanded hours beginning in September. The store is stocked with thousands of books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, and more. All adult books are priced at $1.50-$3.00, children and teen books at $1.00-$1.50, audio and video at $2.00.
There is also a bargain-priced area and a collection of special finds that are priced individually. Please feel free to contact us at 828-641-1812 or [email protected]. All proceeds from the store will benefit the Weaverville Library.

Looking for a good read? Buncombe County Public Libraries have virtual and in-person book clubs every month and all readers are welcome. Book clubs are free and open to everyone, but you do need to register to get the zoom password for an online meeting. Locate any of these book clubs on the library calendar to sign up and join the discussion.
Weaverville Library Evening Book Club – The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.
Weaverville Library Afternoon Book Club – All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung
Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 3 p.m.
Swannanoa Book Club – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Thursday, Jan. 6 at 4 p.m.
East Asheville Book Club – The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Thursday, Jan. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Leicester Book Club – The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. (in person at the library)
Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 1 p.m. (online)
Pack Library Book Club – Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 10:30 a.m.
Black Experience Book Club – Quicksand by Nella Larsen
Thursday, Jan. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Fairview Evening Book Club – Cousins: Connected Through Slavery, a Black Woman and a White Woman Discover Their Past by Betty Kilby
Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.

New year, new adventures! Buncombe County Public Libraries’ 2022 Winter Reading Challenge encourages young readers to explore diversity, empathy, and action through reading.
This year, we are exploring what animals do during the winter months with two distinct challenges for children and teens. Children will complete fun activities while learning fascinating facts about local Western North Carolina animals. Teens will navigate winter reading quests and take home a collectible postcard. Both challenges will encourage youth to enjoy the winter season together in a screen-free, socially distanced way. These free activity sheets are designed with kids and teens in mind, but everyone is invited to participate.
Beginning Jan. 4, pick up a Winter Reading Activity Sheet from any Buncombe County Public Library. Warm up your winter with our reading challenge, and we’ll see you at the library.

Chat with other book lovers about this month’s book selection.
Interested in reading ahead? Here’s what we have coming up in the next few months!
– November- “Once Upon A River” Diane Setterfield
– December- “Dutch House” Ann Patchett
– January- “Mexican Gothic” Silvia Moreno-Garcia
– February- “The Rose Code” Kate Quinn
To reserve your copy of the book, visit buncombe.nccardinal.org or swing by the library to pick one up from the book clubs holds shelf.
To join the book club email [email protected] or call us at 250-4758.

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

New year, new adventures! Buncombe County Public Libraries’ 2022 Winter Reading Challenge encourages young readers to explore diversity, empathy, and action through reading.
This year, we are exploring what animals do during the winter months with two distinct challenges for children and teens. Children will complete fun activities while learning fascinating facts about local Western North Carolina animals. Teens will navigate winter reading quests and take home a collectible postcard. Both challenges will encourage youth to enjoy the winter season together in a screen-free, socially distanced way. These free activity sheets are designed with kids and teens in mind, but everyone is invited to participate.
Beginning Jan. 4, pick up a Winter Reading Activity Sheet from any Buncombe County Public Library. Warm up your winter with our reading challenge, and we’ll see you at the library.

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

Looking for a good read? Buncombe County Public Libraries have virtual and in-person book clubs every month and all readers are welcome. Book clubs are free and open to everyone, but you do need to register to get the zoom password for an online meeting. Locate any of these book clubs on the library calendar to sign up and join the discussion.
Weaverville Library Evening Book Club – The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Tuesday, Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.
Weaverville Library Afternoon Book Club – All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung
Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 3 p.m.
Swannanoa Book Club – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Thursday, Jan. 6 at 4 p.m.
East Asheville Book Club – The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin
Thursday, Jan. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Leicester Book Club – The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. (in person at the library)
Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 1 p.m. (online)
Pack Library Book Club – Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 10:30 a.m.
Black Experience Book Club – Quicksand by Nella Larsen
Thursday, Jan. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Fairview Evening Book Club – Cousins: Connected Through Slavery, a Black Woman and a White Woman Discover Their Past by Betty Kilby
Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.

New year, new adventures! Buncombe County Public Libraries’ 2022 Winter Reading Challenge encourages young readers to explore diversity, empathy, and action through reading.
This year, we are exploring what animals do during the winter months with two distinct challenges for children and teens. Children will complete fun activities while learning fascinating facts about local Western North Carolina animals. Teens will navigate winter reading quests and take home a collectible postcard. Both challenges will encourage youth to enjoy the winter season together in a screen-free, socially distanced way. These free activity sheets are designed with kids and teens in mind, but everyone is invited to participate.
Beginning Jan. 4, pick up a Winter Reading Activity Sheet from any Buncombe County Public Library. Warm up your winter with our reading challenge, and we’ll see you at the library.

Join us as we discuss All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung.
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Join us as we discuss All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung. We will meet on Thursday, January 6th at 3 PM via ZOOM. Registration is necessary. Newcomers are welcome! |
Registration is necessary. Newcomers are welcome!

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Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . . the only way to survive is to open your heart. –Good Reads review Join us for a ZOOM book club event. Snuggle up with a hot drink, warm cozy slippers and a lovely book…then we’ll talk about it. You will receive the Zoom link through an email after you register for the event. |

Join other literature lovers to discuss your favorite books over Zoom. This month’s pick is The 100 Years of Lenni and Margot, by Marianne Cronin.

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

New year, new adventures! Buncombe County Public Libraries’ 2022 Winter Reading Challenge encourages young readers to explore diversity, empathy, and action through reading.
This year, we are exploring what animals do during the winter months with two distinct challenges for children and teens. Children will complete fun activities while learning fascinating facts about local Western North Carolina animals. Teens will navigate winter reading quests and take home a collectible postcard. Both challenges will encourage youth to enjoy the winter season together in a screen-free, socially distanced way. These free activity sheets are designed with kids and teens in mind, but everyone is invited to participate.
Beginning Jan. 4, pick up a Winter Reading Activity Sheet from any Buncombe County Public Library. Warm up your winter with our reading challenge, and we’ll see you at the library.

Originally from North Carolina and having just graduated college, Maddie Wiener is a stand-up comedian with a style described as “irreverent humor … with a streak of brazenness,” and “abrasive and likable at the same time.” At 23 years old, she was selected as a “New Face” at the 2021 Just For Laughs festival. Maddie has appeared on You Up with Nikki Glaser on Comedy Central’s Sirius XM channel, was a 2018 semi-finalist for Stand-Up NBC, and performed at the 2019 Limestone and Asheville Comedy Festivals. Most recently she taped a set for Comedy Central which will be airing later this year. Maddie currently resides in NYC.
ages 21+ (must have ID with you)

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

New year, new adventures! Buncombe County Public Libraries’ 2022 Winter Reading Challenge encourages young readers to explore diversity, empathy, and action through reading.
This year, we are exploring what animals do during the winter months with two distinct challenges for children and teens. Children will complete fun activities while learning fascinating facts about local Western North Carolina animals. Teens will navigate winter reading quests and take home a collectible postcard. Both challenges will encourage youth to enjoy the winter season together in a screen-free, socially distanced way. These free activity sheets are designed with kids and teens in mind, but everyone is invited to participate.
Beginning Jan. 4, pick up a Winter Reading Activity Sheet from any Buncombe County Public Library. Warm up your winter with our reading challenge, and we’ll see you at the library.

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

Andy Sandford is a comedian who got funny in Atlanta, GA and is now based out of New York City. Andy has performed his jokes on Conan and The Late Late Show with James Corden, as well as other, less prestigious shows. Andy’s debut album, Me the Whole Time; was one of Splitsider’s “9 Best Standup Albums of The Year.” His hour special, “Shameful Information,” is currently featured on Amazon Prime. Sandford even played an animated version of himself on Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The Village Voice called him, “one of New York’s comedic gems;” and despite all of this, he has managed to remain humble. “It’s a testament to Sandford’s deep well of material that midway through his album, he’s telling stories that most comics would save for their closers” – The Spit Take. “It’s been said that the best comedy comes from pain. If that’s really the case, then somebody must have kicked the shit out of Andy Sandford…Sandford is a skillful linguist who carefully plays with pitch, tone and timing to spice up his jokes” – Creative Loafing Magazine. Also featuring Nick Murphy. Ages 21+ (must have ID to enter)

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”
Join us for our monthly poetry event featuring three poets. This month, we welcome Paul Jones, Aruni Kashyap, Pat Riviere-Seel!
Click here to RSVP. Prior to the event, will send a reminder email with the link required to attend.
Like most of our events, this event is free. If you decide to attend and purchase the authors’ books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
Pat Riviere-Seel is the author of three poetry collections, including Nothing Below but Air (2014), The Serial Killer’s Daughter (2009), which won the Roanoke-Chowan Award, and No Turning Back Now (2004). She taught poetry classes for UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program for 15 years before moving to Yancey County in 2019. She served as the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Distinguished Poet in the Western Region from 2016-2018. In 2017 she received the “Charlie Award” from the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. Before earning her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, she worked as a newspaper journalist, editor, publicist, and lobbyist for nonprofit organizations in the Maryland State House. For more, visit https://patriviereseel.com
“I choose this earth that breaks / my heart again and again”, Pat Riviere-Seel writes. When There Were Horses addresses the ways in which we can do that, while acknowledging that, “it cannot last, of course”. Circling around “what to tell” and “the truth we didn’t dare” in quiet, beautifully-honed lines, Riviere-Seel brings readers with her through loss after loss to the knowledge that “further out is the only way back.” These poems come from a poet at the height of her powers, able to swim into deep pools of the senses and the deeper pools of understanding, subtle and complex as multiple ripples spreading and rebounding on the surface of a pond. These are poems to come for the pure pleasure in words and rhythms and play, then return again and again, for the intimate whisperings of a truer life under the surfaces of things.
Order When There Were Horses from Malaprop’s below.
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Aruni Kashyap is a writer and translator. He is the author of His Father’s Disease (Context/ Westland Books India, 2019; Flipped Eye Books, UK) and the novel The House with a Thousand Stories (Viking/ Penguin Random House, 2013). He has also translated from Assamese and introduced celebrated Indian writer Indira Goswami’s last work of fiction, The Bronze Sword of Thengphakhri Tehsildar (Zubaan Books, 2013). He won the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship for Creative Writing to the University of Edinburgh, and his poetry collection, There is No Good Time for Bad News (Future Cycle Press, 2021) was a finalist for the 2018 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and 2018 Four Way Books Levis Award in Poetry. His short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Catapult, Bitch Media, The Boston Review, Electric Literature, The Oxford Anthology of Writings from Northeast, The Kenyon Review, The New York Times, The Guardian UK, and others. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Georgia, Athens. He also writes in Assamese, and his first Assamese novel is Noikhon Etia Duroit (Panchajanya Books, 2019). For more, visit https://www.arunikashyap.com
There is No Good Time for Bad News opens in a country ravaged by prolonged political conflict. Told in the voices of survivors, it introduces the reader to a wide array of characters: the local police precinct summons a woman after three decades to identify the body of her insurgent son among recovered bodies; a soldier lives through nightmares about the war he fought forty years ago; a woman writes a letter to her insurgent lover; and an ordinary citizen, through an open letter, challenges the child-killing insurgents to kill her. At once vignettes and urgent pleas, these are stories as much as they are poems. Zooming through wars, protest marches, and conflicts, they show what it means to live under the duress of prolonged violence.
Order There is No Good Time for Bad News from Malaprop’s below.
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Paul Jones has published poetry in many journals including the Southern Poetry Review, Ohio Review, Georgia Review, Ironwood, River Heron Review, Broadkill Review, as well as in cookbooks, travel anthologies, collections about passion, love, and The Best American Erotic Poems: 1800 – Present (from Scribner). Recently, he was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and two Best of the Web Awards. His chapbook is What the Welsh and Chinese Have in Common. A manuscript of his poems crashed on the moon’s surface in 2019. Jones is Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Writers Network, a Board Member of the North Carolina Poetry Society, and a member of the Carrboro Poets Council. In November 2021, he was inducted into the NC State Computer Science Hall of Fame. For more, visit http://smalljones.com
Something Wonderful embodies a vast, intimate terrain. These poems listen back through lenses of nature, variations of joy, sorrow, mischief, surrender, death, and a few constellations of mystery in between. Paul Jones perches the reader in limbs that were empty choir lofts. From this vantage point of his lyrical universe we experience the space between dreams, new worlds created by old words spoken, odes to tubers, donuts, and the magical everydayness of where poetry lives and is sustained. Something Wonderful offers poetics that are accessible, language that stirs memory, and imagery that overflows cups meant to constrain. This new collection by Paul Jones makes us swoon to a song about “a world where nothing that is cut bleeds.”

Call it “musical comedy heaven” (Rolling Stone). Call it “the most uproarious new musical in years!” (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it Tootsie!
This laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime. Featuring a hilarious Tony®-winning book by Robert Horn and an outrageously clever score by 2018 Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), this New York Times Critic’s Pick is “a joyful delight” (The Washington Post) that’s “so packed with punchlines, it should be called a jokebox musical!” (Bloomberg). “In these turbulent times, when the world seems out of balance, we need a place to let the good times roll,” raves Rolling Stone. “Tootsie is it!”
This year will feature an exhilarating blend of beloved productions, including Million Dollar Quartet, West Side Story, and Mamma Mia! The popular Music on the Rock® series, Studio 52 Family Programming, and a brand new Black Box series round out the 2022 season and mark a renewed beginning for FRP after a long pandemic shutdown.
Season subscriptions are on sale now. Music on the Rock® single tickets go on sale on January 24, 2022, and single tickets for all remaining shows go on sale on February 14, 2022.
The Music of Tom Petty
Feb. 24-March 5
Two Jews, Talking
A Hilarious Staged Reading
March 17-19
A side-splitting piece written by Ed. Weinberger, our characters take us on a rollicking romp through time! The two-act story brings Lou and Bud together in the Biblical past, and Phil and Marty together in contemporary Long Island. They philosophize about women, sex, food, the divine, and destiny in this tale of companionship and friendship.
The Music of Elton John
March 31-April 2
The Music of Neil Diamond
April 7-10
Catch Me If You Can
April 28-May 14
This comedy thriller is a classic gem with exciting twists and turns from beginning to end. “The final 15 minutes will reward you like a murder mystery should.” The New York Times
Million Dollar Quartet
May 20-June 19
Back by popular demand, the musical celebrates the historic Sam Phillips studio recording sessions of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley.
The Music of the Eagles
An Outdoor Stadium Concert
June 18
Join Flat Rock Playhouse for another rockin’ evening of outdoor summer fun at West Henderson’s Athletic Stadium, Johnson Field.
West Side Story
July 1-30
The Romeo and Juliet inspired love story of Tony and Maria amid the Jets and Sharks gang rivalry. Ranked #1 in the most recent survey of theatre patrons.
Mozart to Pop Chart
The Musical Story Continues
August 5-13
Nat Zegree (Jerry Lee Lewis/Amadeus) is back to whisk you away on an all-new musical journey through the history and triumphs of music from Mozart to today’s current hits. Featuring many of the local region’s best rock and symphonic musicians!
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
August 19-Sept. 4
Don’t miss this fresh and relevant stage adaptation of the iconic film that starred the inimitable and great Sidney Poitier.
Introducing The Black Box Series.
September 15-October 9
You’ve never experienced a play on The Rock like before. The audience and artists share the MainStage for an intimate and immersive theatre experience. The Black Box Series will feature contemporary works, classics, and stories and playwrights from around the globe. Be among the first to join us on this new and exciting theatrical journey!
God of Carnage
Sept. 15-Oct. 8
A triple-Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation the New Yorker called “laugh-out-loud hilarity,” and “ninety minutes of sustained mayhem.”
Blood Knot
Sept. 16-Oct. 9
A play that asks us to dig beneath the surface of what makes us kin and what happens when we don’t like what we find there. By renowned South African playwright Athol Fugard.
Mamma Mia!
Encore Performance
Oct. 21-Nov. 13
The hugely popular mega-Broadway hit featuring the music of ABBA is back for an encore performance. Featuring songs like “Dancing Queen,” “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!,” “Honey Honey” and so many more.
A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas
November 25-December 22
The WNC tradition continues. Same great show, all new material. A Playhouse favorite that will leave you feeling merry and bright!
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Studio 52)
December 1-4
Everyone’s favorite holiday classic comes to life in a spectacular new production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Adapted from Charles M. Schulz’s timeless story the whole family can enjoy. Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, and the whole Peanuts gang as they sing, dance, and learn the true meaning of Christmas!
To learn more about the 2022 lineup and how to purchase your tickets, please visit the website at www.flatrockplayhouse.org.
FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE
In 1937, a group of struggling performers, led by Robroy Farquhar, organized themselves as the Vagabond Players. The Vagabonds worked in a variety of places over the course of three years, and in 1940 found themselves in the Blue Ridge region of Western North Carolina. The local and tourist community welcomed them with open arms when they presented their first summer season of plays in a 150-year-old grist mill they converted into The Old Mill Playhouse at Highland Lake. So successful was that summer, they returned in 1941. After WWII, the Vagabond Players reorganized came back to the region and opened a playhouse in nearby Lake Summit. The Lake Summit Playhouse thrived during the post-war years and soon the Vagabond Players were looking for a larger and permanent home. In 1952, the troupe of performers, and a newly formed board of directors made an offer to buy an 8-acre lot in the Village of Flat Rock. This new home made the Vagabonds “locals” and a rented big top gave birth to Flat Rock Playhouse. As the beautiful Western Carolina region continued to grow, so did the Playhouse and in 1961, by Act of the North Carolina General Assembly, Flat Rock Playhouse was officially designated The State Theatre of North Carolina. What began as a few weeks of summer performances in 1940 is now a nine-month season of plays including Broadway musicals, comedy, drama, and theatre for young audiences. The Playhouse’s dual mission of producing the performing arts and providing education in the performing arts includes a professional series; a summer and fall college apprentice and intern program; and Studio 52, year-round classes and workshops in theatre and film for students from kindergarten through adults. Flat Rock Playhouse now hosts over 98,000 patrons annually and is a significant contributor to the local economy and the Arts in North Carolina.
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