Calendar of Events

“This is a phenomenon.”- New York Magazine, Sara Holdren

All rise for Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork. The New York Times Critic’s Pick TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is “the most successful American play in Broadway history” (60 Minutes). With direction by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD — “the greatest novel of all time” (Chicago Tribune) — has quickly become “one of the greatest plays in history” (NPR).

Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas will play the role of Atticus Finch in the National Tour.

Judah and the Lion’s Revival comes at a moment of rejuvenation and evolution for the band, both personally and professionally, with a world looking to get back to normal. Judah Akers and
Brian Macdonald return with the band’s fourth album that aims to channel the energy and spirit presented at the beginning of the group’s journey.

Revival is a collection of songs that speaks to the band’s return to innocence and hope through reclamation. They look inwards on life’s changes as a group that still finds energy in innocence
after touring for 8 years and reaching heights on the Billboard charts and earning awards like iHeart Music’s Best New Alternative Rock Artist of the Year in 2018.

“It’s learning to let go of things that are out of our control,” Judah said, reflecting on working with his therapist through anxiety and depression. “Finding purity in life again. For all of us, we’re
gifted innocence when we’re born, and at some point in our lives, be it through choices or tragedy, innocence is robbed. Second innocence is where we’re not given it, but we choose to take it.”

In their last release, Pep Talks, Judah processed the loss of stability with his family. In the leadup to Revival, he was able to process his grief and anxieties alone in his home. The band toured nonstop for eight years, giving the project everything they had. Being primarily on the road prior to 2020 created a misunderstanding of where they were individually and their connection to feeling at home.

“Being home and not getting to mask my emotions with being on tour and being around crowds was big,” Judah said. “It’s an easy distraction because you can avoid dealing with it emotionally. You can get on stage and perform, and everything’s fine.”

Brian also had a journey in finding peace and putting in work to feel complete in a different emotional environment. His wife attended a graduate program in Sweden, thousands of miles from the home they made. As the world slowed to a halt, he had to find comfort in Visby Island’s cold, lonely, and grey terrain.

“The big thing for me was re-learning what ‘home’ means,” Brian said. “Leaving my home and trying to make a new one and realizing that home wasn’t a physical place for me.”

When they came back together, their fulfillment alone proved to change not just themselves but how they fit together. Founding member Nate Zuercher informed them he was leaving the group, changing dynamics for a group of friends making music together for over a decade. Brian picked up the banjo, trying his best to fill the void Nate left but making his playing be his own and offering a new style.

The loss of a key member helped Brian and Judah grow further in reinvigorating their partnership. It brought new energy to their songwriting and collaboration. In the Fall of 2021, Judah & Brian invited their longtime friends and touring musicians with them to record at Echo Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina.

“It was one of the most fun times we had in the studio,” Brian said. “There was a lot of freedom to it, and it felt like a retreat. We were all in it.”

– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY

THE SADIES

• May 19: Baba Commandant with Coconut Cake
• June 16: Victoria Victoria featuring Charlie Hunter with Josh Phillips
• July 21: The Rumble featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux with Funk’N Around
• August 18: Asheville All-Stars with Asheville Rock Academy
• September 15: The Sensational Barnes Brothers with Alex Krug Combo

Wanna hear the best local music ​and​ drink the best local beers? Hop aboard LaZoom’s Purple Bus and rock out with a local band while we take you on a journey to Asheville’s premiere local breweries.

– ALL AGES
– LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED

LUA FLORA

Lua Flora is the soundtrack of your favorite daydream. The Asheville, NC-based group’s sun-kissed melodies are rooted in the harmonies of Appalachia, rhythms of the West Indies, and lyricism of American folk. Live, the band allures listeners with gut-punching jams weaved between powerful lyrics. Lua Flora has supported Satsang, Franc Moody, Of Good Nature, Kendall Street Company, and more. Their recent debut album amassed over 150,000 streams in the first week.

“The musical embodiment of Asheville’s creative spirit”   -Face The Current

“…easy and melodic — a light, laidback recluse from the grind.”   -Top Shelf Music

“Lua Flora shows folk & reggae mix.”   -Grateful Web

DIFFERENT STROKES! PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTIVE PRESENTS

THREE SIX NINE MONOLOGUE AND SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL features a curated selection of original pieces written by emerging Black Playwrights, primarily from our emerging Black Playwright’s program, A Different Myth. Join us for nine evenings of heart-warming, dramatic, funny, heart-breaking, and provocative short plays and monologues. Three Six Nine features represents 3 weekends, 6 short plays, and 9 monologues. No two weekends will be the same, and neither will you. Join us as we mix and match 12 pieces over the course of 90 minutes on 9 very different evenings.

April 6-8, 2023
April 13-15, 2023
April 20-22, 2023
at 7:30 p.m. each evening

Music, Book, & Story by Steve Martin; Music, Lyrics, & Story by Edie Brickell

Set in our very own Blue Ridge Mountains, Bright Star tells the story of Alice at two different points in her life: as a young girl in the mountains, and 22 years later as the well-to-do editor of a successful Asheville magazine. A serendipitous encounter inspires Alice to face her past, and a stunning realization changes her life forever. Bright Star is based on the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass album, Love Has Come for You, and centers particularly on the song “Iron Mountain Baby.” Be sure to listen also for the song with our namesake – “Asheville”!

Content Warning: Bright Star contains swearing, language that some may find blasphemous, incidental drinking and smoking, and kidnapping.

Accessibility:

All performances: Accessible wheelchair/scooter seating available.

Saturday, May 6, 2023: ASL-Interpreted Performance

Daniel Donato Live in Concert at The Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium April 21 7:30pm. Tickets on sale NOW

Directed and adapted by Aaron Snook for the Drama Department from a new translation of Euripedes’ Electra by the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Department, and infused with original Appalachian roots music composed by the Music Department, this production of Elektra aims to spark a conversation around the cycles of violence that inherited hate produces.

The Civil War may have ended, but the blood that was spilled sowed the Appalachian soil with loss and grievance.  In the succeeding years, the Conservative cause nurtured those seeds with violence and intimidation, creating an inheritance of hate to be passed down to the younger generation.  In the sleepy mountain town of Mycenae, North Carolina this legacy is tearing at the heart of a young girl named Elektra.  Fatherless at the hands of her mother’s new husband, Elektra awaits her brother’s return and prays for vengeance.

A CONCERT CELEBRATING

THE LAUNCH OF THE NEW

WHITE HORSE BLACK MOUNTAIN

NON-PROFIT

Come Celebrate With Us

Enjoy Great Live Music

and

Learn More About The Exciting

Benefits of Becoming a

Supporting Member

The Celebration will feature performances by:

Tony Cedras

(performed with Paul Simon, Harry Belafonte, and

Hugh Masekala),

Anne Coombs

(founder of Asheville’s ‘Rock Academy’ and

legendary Asheville-based performer),

BJ Leiderman

(Songwriter and entertainer of NPR fame),

Connell Sanderson

(Extraordinary Celtic Piper),

Palmardelu

(featuring Ecuadorian native Patricia Kayser,

founder of Autism and Music)

Black Mountain’s own

David LaMotte

(singer, songwriter, author,

founder of PEG Partners)

and

Bob Hinkle

the founder and owner of the White Horse

White Horse Black Mountain has a long history of service to our community and our region. We love hosting benefits for worthy causes, and nourishing community through shared experiences of music and other events. Our new non-profit status will allow us to expand our ability to serve. We will be better able to collaborate with other organizations on events, pursue grants, and do a wide variety of new and exciting things.

We are inviting YOU to join us in our efforts to impact individual lives, impact our community, impact our region— and impact the world. We are kicking off the new non-profit with a BIG musical celebration on Friday, April 21, and YOU are invited to celebrate with us! The night will feature this awesome lineup:

Everyone will be warmly welcomed to all White Horse shows, with or without membership, but the members will have some extra perks that we are excited to share with you, including discounts on event tickets and merchandise, a cool White Horse lapel pin, private member events, public gratitude at the White Horse, and the knowledge that you are a part of the team that makes the White Horse a resource for the whole community.

To learn more about membership, email: [email protected]

And by the way, if you join us on the 21st, you can become a ‘founding member’! And if you can’t make it to the big celebration event, you can become a member any time at www.WhiteHorseBlackMountain.com/membership

The April 21st Celebration is going to be one of those events that people will talk about for years to come, and we hope you will join us!

From the songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and the healing power of home and family. More than two dozen classic hits including “I Walk the Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and, of course, “Ring of Fire.” Performed by a multi-talented cast.

Director Ben Hope adds “Having spent many years working on various productions of Ring of Fire (this production will be my personal 10th!), The most extraordinary thing I keep finding about Mr. Cash is how unanimously loved he is, even now, 20 years since his death. No other project seems to attract such a varied and enthusiastic crowd as the music of Johnny Cash. I think it’s because he wrote for the ordinary. His words and music are authentic and simple, and he speaks plainly about things we all connect with. He was fallible, with personal demons and shortcomings. He makes us feel like our own imperfections are normal and mundane, and he teaches us that there’s beauty and hope, even in despair. I love Johnny Cash, and I know Flat Rock audiences are going to love Ring of Fire’.”

Don’t miss this inspiring story, all the great music, and an evening of iconic Johnny Cash!

Ring of Fire is presented by WHKP and Carolina Ace Hardware. Flat Rock Playhouse’s 2023 Season is supported by Charlotte & Bob Otto, Optimum, WHKP, and WTZQ as well as the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. www.NCArts.org

For a complete lineup with show descriptions and to purchase tickets, visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

FISH
By Cyndi Williams
Directed by Ashleigh Goff

When two characters connect unexpectedly in a lonely bar, they wind up playing a dangerous game. Who will survive, and how can they forgive themselves in the process?  Shifting timelines and unearthing skeletons, Fish is a fever dream twisting through memory, fantasy and the present.

“This is a phenomenon.”- New York Magazine, Sara Holdren

All rise for Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork. The New York Times Critic’s Pick TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is “the most successful American play in Broadway history” (60 Minutes). With direction by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD — “the greatest novel of all time” (Chicago Tribune) — has quickly become “one of the greatest plays in history” (NPR).

Emmy Award®-winning actor Richard Thomas will play the role of Atticus Finch in the National Tour.

Live Music at Hickory Tavern, 9:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m.

A Disney Channel Dreams & 2000s pop throwback Dance Party in Asheville, presented by Le Petite Fete!

From the songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and the healing power of home and family. More than two dozen classic hits including “I Walk The Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and, of course, “Ring of Fire.” Performed by a multi-talented cast, Ring of Fire paints a musical portrait of ‘The Man in Black’ that promises to be a foot-stompin’, crowd-pleasin’ salute to a unique musical legend!

From the songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and the healing power of home and family. More than two dozen classic hits including “I Walk the Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and, of course, “Ring of Fire.” Performed by a multi-talented cast.

Director Ben Hope adds “Having spent many years working on various productions of Ring of Fire (this production will be my personal 10th!), The most extraordinary thing I keep finding about Mr. Cash is how unanimously loved he is, even now, 20 years since his death. No other project seems to attract such a varied and enthusiastic crowd as the music of Johnny Cash. I think it’s because he wrote for the ordinary. His words and music are authentic and simple, and he speaks plainly about things we all connect with. He was fallible, with personal demons and shortcomings. He makes us feel like our own imperfections are normal and mundane, and he teaches us that there’s beauty and hope, even in despair. I love Johnny Cash, and I know Flat Rock audiences are going to love Ring of Fire’.”

Don’t miss this inspiring story, all the great music, and an evening of iconic Johnny Cash!

Ring of Fire is presented by WHKP and Carolina Ace Hardware. Flat Rock Playhouse’s 2023 Season is supported by Charlotte & Bob Otto, Optimum, WHKP, and WTZQ as well as the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. www.NCArts.org

For a complete lineup with show descriptions and to purchase tickets, visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.