Asheville Children Audition for
NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet
Saturday, October 8

Local youth are invited to audition and perform in children’s roles in NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet alongside an international cast of world class artists from Ukraine, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan and more.
NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet is performing in Asheville on Dec. 20, at Harrah’s Cherokee at 4 and 8 p.m. with auditions hosted by local ballet school Center Stage Dance Studio, located at 38 Rosscraggon Road in Asheville on Oct. 8 at 9:30 a.m. The company invites local ballet students to fill children’s roles. In this opportunity of a lifetime, the students are coached by the classically trained Ukrainian soloists who teach them not only the choreography but the beautiful artistry of ballet in a bold and unique rendition of Tchaikovksy’s timeless holiday masterpiece.
Local youth ages six to 17 can audition for the roles of party children, mice, snowflakes, snow maidens, and variations through the “Dance-with-Us ” community engagement program. Auditions will be held in each performance city this fall. The “Dance-with-Us” program has brought more than 100,000 aspiring ballet dancers on stage with the professionals over the past 30 years.
Ukrainian audition director Anna Trafimova will lead the selection process. In this moment of international conflict, these soloists from leading opera houses in Ukraine bring a timely message of peace and harmony to American students.

Children in the cast rehearse for weeks at the local studio, preparing for the performance(s) that will take place under the bright lights of the Harrah’s Cherokee. On the performance day, the youth cast starts early with costume fittings having been assigned classical hand-sewn costumes designed by the highly acclaimed Arthur Oliver. A dress rehearsal will be held on stage with the professional company led by Ukrainian Artistic Director, Nobuhiro Terada, (artistic director of the National School in Kyiv.)
Tickets are available at www.nutcracker.com

Auditions www.nutcracker.com/dance.
See NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet Tues., Dec. 20 at 4 and 8 p.m. at Harrah’s Cherokee. Buy Tickets.
Center Stage Dance Studio / Center Stage offers classes in a variety of dance styles for children age three to 18 in Western North Carolina’s top rated dance facility since 1979. Unique among dance studios in the area, all members of our faculty hold degrees in dance or early childhood education, have danced with a professional company or maintain membership in Dance Masters of America. Our founder Michele Lee has remained committed to offering the highest quality dance education to students in western North Carolina for over thirty years. The success of Center Stage lies in maintaining positive relationships with our students and forming a life-long love of dance.

Announcing youth auditions for Flat Rock Playhouse and Studio 52’s upcoming holiday productions of
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, an adaptation of the 1965 animated television special based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, and A FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS.

All cast members must be fully vaccinated, along with the production team and all Flat Rock Playhouse staff. Proof of vaccination will be required upon being cast.

Auditions will be held by appointment on Wednesday, September 14, and Thursday, September 15, between 5 – 8 PM with invited callbacks on Saturday, September 17 from 10AM – 1PM. Actors who are invited to callbacks will receive an email invitation on Friday, September 16.

Auditioning young actors will be asked to sing a minute (16 – 32 bars) of a Broadway song or their favorite holiday song. Actors can sing a cappella or bring sheet music. An accompanist will be provided. We also ask that actors bring a recent photo of themselves and a resume or list of experience, if possible. Please be prepared to list any conflicts at your audition. (Again, Studio 52 classes will not be considered a conflict for casting.)

Flat Rock Playhouse seeks a small Youth Ensemble ages 10-18 for A FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE CHRISTMAS, with rehearsals beginning November 13 and the production running November 25 through December 22.

Studio 52 seeks a diverse company of young actors and singers, ages 10 –  18, for the following roles in A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS:

CHARLIE BROWN

SNOOPY

LUCY VAN PELT

LINUS VAN PELT

PIG PEN

FRIEDA

SCHROEDER

VIOLET

SALLY BROWN

PATTY

SHERMY

WOODSTOCK

ENSEMBLE (will also understudy named roles)

Interactive workshop for adult beginners wishing for a stage to shine on (or behind), with a scriptwriting lesson and mock auditions using scenes from the feature script ‘BILLIE’S SONG, AN URBAN FAIRY TALE’.

This fun lesson and opportunity to get up perform is an introduction to the ‘BILLIE’S SONG’ Theatrical Readings Project being planned for Spring 2023. The script has half Black characters and half White (with a few roles that can be other). For the theatrical readings we will be recruiting community members from diverse neighborhoods to be both cast and creative team, with 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.

Script 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 (for Billie physical survival, for Ben spiritual vs face-saving survival).

“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, formerly Creative Director of the Austin Film Festival and its Writer Conference

Led by Trayce Gardner (Writer/Teacher/Guerilla Filmmaker/Community Organizer) and recent refugee from Brooklyn, NY, where she taught beginning scriptwriting and short filmmaking classes for seven years at New York City College of Technology’s Continuing Ed.

Join us for our monthly poetry event featuring three poets and coordinated by Mildred Barya. This month, we welcome Sarah Cooper, Barbara Costas-Biggs, and AE Hines. This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited amount of seats available to attend the event in-store. The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.

Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.

Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event.

This event includes a book signing. If you are not attending in person but would like a signed book you may request one using the comments field when you order online or by call the store at 828-254-6734 during store hours.

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! Feel free to email [email protected] with questions. We look forward to seeing you, whether in-person or online!

Sarah Cooper is the author of two poetry collections: Permanent Marker (Paper Nautilus, 2020) and most recently, 89% (Clemson University Press 2022).  Her poems also appear in Lunch, Sinister Wisdom, Iron Horse and other anthologies and literary journals.  Currently, Sarah is a PhD candidate in Rhetorics, Communication and Informational Design at Clemson University. Her dissertation project explores how spatial practices intersect with lesbian identity. She is a professor of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies at Clemson University where she received the Holman Award for teaching, was a 2021 LGBTQ+ Faculty Excellence Award winner, a 2022 Gentry Award winner for teaching excellence and the 2022 Tee A. Corrine Fellow at the University of Oregon. For more, visit https://www.sarahcooperpoet.com/poetry

Sometimes, a poem can show us a map of the human heart and all its pumping valves, all the blood it welcomes and lets go. In 89%, Sarah Cooper gives us that map from all angles-the love and loss of a mother, the loss and love of self, the way romantic love can scare us into silence. In this stunning debut collection, Cooper splays open these moments of tenderness with precision and skill. This book is both the carving knife and the soothing balm. These poems have an unflinching eye-they see all the way through us and then swaddle us in whole, critical heartbeat of truth. 89% won the poetry prize for the Clemson-Converse Literature Series.

—

Barbara Costas-Biggs is a poet and librarian from Southern Ohio. Her work has appeared in Appalachian Review, Northern Appalachian Review, The Pikeville Review, 8Poems, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, The Other Shore, was a finalist for the Washburn Prize from Harbor Review. She holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and an MLIS from Kent State University. For more, visit http://stilljournal.net/interview-barbara-costas-biggs.php

“Things can be idyllic and then ugly,” Barbara Costas-Biggs writes. “A basket of pears in ochre, then piss the same color.” In Broken On the Wheel, the familiar is made strange, as it is in dreams. The speaker of these poems is a mother, a griever, a “hope-against-hoper,” so it’s no wonder this collection is packed with epiphanies and memories and crapshoots—“That in-between stuff./ What we, I hope, are mostly made of.” Broken On the Wheel is a perceptive, masterful debut.

—

AE Hines’s debut collection, Any Dumb Animal, received Honorable Mention in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s 2022 Brockman-Campbell Book contest, and was also a daVinci Eye finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book award. His work has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, Rhino, American Poetry Review, Poet Lore, The Greensboro Review, Ninth Letter, The Missouri Review, Tar River Poetry and elsewhere. Born and raised in rural North Carolina, AE resides in Charlotte and Medellín, Colombia. For more, visit https://www.aehines.net

Any Dumb Animal (Main Street Rag, 2021), AE Hines’s poetry collection, presents a memoir-in-verse as told by a gay man raised in the rural South who comes of age during the AIDS crisis. Flashing back and forth in time, a cast of recurring characters and circumstances are woven into a rich tale of survival and redemption, exploring one man’s life as a queer son, father, and husband, over a span of more than thirty years.

Inspired by nature and following the self-published released of How to Heal the Planet from Wherever You Are, Cortina Jenelle introduces Oshanna Church of Spiritual Activism, with Oshanna debuting as a dynamic experience rooted in ceremony and inviting nature as a co-facilitator through theater, art and spoken word. After each production, all ticket proceeds are donated to a mission partner who is doing work in service to Mother Earth while also furthering truth, healing and reconciliation across race, gender and class.

Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception is the second installment of the Black Starseed series, which goes back in time as a prelude to Black Starseed: Revolutionary Reimagination (2020) – a debut partnership between adé PROJECT and PechaKucha Asheville co-creating a storytelling experience in voice of Black women at the intersection of creativity x spirituality. In this prelude, the life story of Cortina Jenelle becomes a moving memoir and an embodiment of a shared story from the matriarchs of Black, indigenous descent in a world where femininity, Blackness, sovereignty and indigeneity were not just criminal, but a threat to society. Black Starseed: Immaculate Conception may appear to just tell the story of one, yet is actually one version of the same story that constantly loops through time. Do you know how purposeful, brilliant and divine you already are, Starseed? This is heart song of the black sheep generation + millennials, and those born torn between ancestral remembrance and playing the game of life to win. Join us in a gathering of art, theater, ceremony (with a bonus book signing post-show) and storytelling and leave reminded of how to heal the planet from wherever you are.

Ticket proceeds benefit cleanup of the French Broad River with our mission partner for this show, Asheville Greenworks.

Auditions taking place on November 22, 2022 from 7pm to 10pm. Please sign up for an appointment here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040945a8a62da4fb6-auditions

The Magnetic Theatre is developing a new folk musical, Riveted, by local playwright and musician Deborah Silverstein. We’ll be presenting a reading on Saturday, January 21st, 2023. These auditions are for the reading only. The full production is tentatively scheduled for April, 2024.

Please prepare a 60 second monologue and 16 bars of a song. An accompanist will be provided – please bring your sheet music!

Synopsis: Riveted is a folk musical exploration of generations of women and how each woman learns from or bucks against the traditions of her mother, and her mother before her. As a family packs up all of the memories in the matriarch’s attic, secrets and history unfold to change their lives and relationships forever.

Character Breakdown:

Rosie – Matriarch of the family, about to move into assisted living. 70s-80s

Betty – Rosie’s daughter. Rebellious spirit. 50s-60s

Emma – Betty’s daughter. Level-headed and smart. 30s

Young Rosie – Rosie as a young woman. 20s

Beatrice Gretzer – Rosie’s best friend. In love with Rosie. 20s

Frank Brennan – Rosie’s husband. Demanding, stoic, in a typical 1950s mindset. 20s

Billy / Will – Billy is Rosie’s brother. 20s. / Will is Rosie’s son. 20s. Both are sent to war, scared, but doing their civic duty as they see it necessary.

Young Betty – Betty as a young woman. Hippie / Protestor type. 20s.

Elliot – Betty’s husband. Hippie / Protestor type. Very strong willed. 20s.

June / Heinz Girl / Receptionist – Young Rosie’s friends and coworkers. 20s

Martha / Heinz Girl – Young Rosie’s friends and coworkers. 20s

Date: 11/22/2022 (Tue.) Location: 375 Depot St.

For more information about The Magnetic Theatre, please visit www.themagnetictheatre.org

callbacks Thursday, December 1 5:30 – 7:30 pm MAINSTAGE Native Gardens PLAY By Karen Zacarías Directed by: Candace Taylor AUDITION DATES: UPDATED: Monday, November 28 and Tuesday, November 29 from 5:30 pm- 7:30 pm, callbacks Thursday, December 1 5:30 – 7:30 pm PRODUCTION DATES: February 10 – February 26, 2023; Performances: Fridays February 10, 17, 24 and Saturdays February 11, 18, 25 at 7:30pm and Sundays February 5, 12, and 19 at 2:30pm. Cast must plan to arrive at least 1 hour prior to show time. DIRECTOR SEEKS: TBA – check back for more information closer to audition dates! ABOUT THE SHOW: Tania, a very pregnant PHD candidate, and Pablo, her high-powered lawyer husband, realize the American dream when they buy a house with a backyard in Washington, DC. Living next door to community stalwarts Virginia and Frank is great – until a disagreement arises over a long-standing fence line between their homes. The conflict spirals into an all-out war of taste, class, privilege, and entitlement. With witty humor and engaging real-life drama, Native Gardens showcases conflict – and the worst and best ways to work it out! Director Candance Taylor seeks a cast of four for this quick-witted and engaging real-life drama. Characters include Tania, a doctoral candidate, her husband Pablo, a rising attorney, and Frank and Virginia, their neighbors – a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden.

callbacks Thursday, December 1 5:30 – 7:30 pm MAINSTAGE Native Gardens PLAY By Karen Zacarías Directed by: Candace Taylor AUDITION DATES: UPDATED: Monday, November 28 and Tuesday, November 29 from 5:30 pm- 7:30 pm, callbacks Thursday, December 1 5:30 – 7:30 pm PRODUCTION DATES: February 10 – February 26, 2023; Performances: Fridays February 10, 17, 24 and Saturdays February 11, 18, 25 at 7:30pm and Sundays February 5, 12, and 19 at 2:30pm. Cast must plan to arrive at least 1 hour prior to show time. DIRECTOR SEEKS: TBA – check back for more information closer to audition dates! ABOUT THE SHOW: Tania, a very pregnant PHD candidate, and Pablo, her high-powered lawyer husband, realize the American dream when they buy a house with a backyard in Washington, DC. Living next door to community stalwarts Virginia and Frank is great – until a disagreement arises over a long-standing fence line between their homes. The conflict spirals into an all-out war of taste, class, privilege, and entitlement. With witty humor and engaging real-life drama, Native Gardens showcases conflict – and the worst and best ways to work it out! Director Candance Taylor seeks a cast of four for this quick-witted and engaging real-life drama. Characters include Tania, a doctoral candidate, her husband Pablo, a rising attorney, and Frank and Virginia, their neighbors – a well-established D.C. couple with a prize-worthy English garden.

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

We are grateful to offer a benefit event again this December, the first since 2019.

This year’s performance will feature Chautauqua performer Carol Kessler, as Emily Dickinson, and the Asheville Flute Choir lending their talents to benefit Our Voice.

In the spirit of inclusivity and equity, PAN HARMONIA offers donation-based, pay-as-you-can community concerts. All are welcome.

Our VOICE serves all individuals in Buncombe County affected by sexual assault and abuse, through counseling, advocacy and education. https://www.ourvoicenc.org/

Advanced reservations are encouraged, as seating is limited. Those planning to attend are expected to be fully vaccinated for the safety of our community.
Email [email protected] or call the office at (828) 254-7123, if you have questions.
panharmonia.org

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

Punch Bucket Lit, West Asheville’s reading series at Cellarest Beer Project is back for more live readings in our taproom featuring authors Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn and Emily Paige Wilson. While the authors vary month-to-month you can always count on inspiring poetry, moving essays and heartfelt original literary works read aloud in the contemplative company of other lit nerds and creative types alike. We’ll booze, we’ll listen, we’ll feel feelings and we’ll see the world through a different lens for an evening.

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

– FULLY SEATED SHOW

THE MOTH resumes their recurring monthly Asheville StorySLAM at The Grey Eagle on the third Thursday of each month through December at 7:30pm! This month’s theme is….

ANNIVERSARY: Prepare a five-minute story about milestones. Enduring love or loss. The fondness of nostalgia and the lessons of growth. Seconds, minutes, hours, or when time stood still. Paper or silver…extra points if you make it to platinum. Rejoice or reflect on the past while plotting the course ahead. Cheers to many more years!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

The Casting Office, Inc. www.thecastingofficeinc.com is very excited to announce that we are NOW CASTING for Background Performers/Extras for an upcoming Made for Television Movie filming in the Asheville North Carolina area starting January 9, 2023. We are casting all people, all ethnicities, all ages! If you are local to Asheville NC, available, and interested, please send your information and photos via our Website ASAP. We will be booking people immediately. We want to see your face on the big screen!

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.

This virtual event is free but registration is required.

Jameka Williams holds an MFA in poetry from Northwestern University. Her poetry has been published in Prelude Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, and Gulf Coast, among others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Diamond Forde’s debut collection, Mother Body, is the winner of the 2019 Saturnalia Poetry Prize. Forde has received numerous awards and prizes, including a Pink Poetry Prize, a Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2022 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. You can find more at her website, www.diamondforde.com.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Kendra Allen is the author of The Collection Plate and When You Learn the Alphabet, an essay collection that won the 2018 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. She writes the music column Make Love in My Car for Southwest Review, and her memoir, Fruit Punch, is out now. You can keep up with her work at KendraCanYou.com.

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.

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

Directed by: Mark Jones

DIRECTOR SEEKS: A large cast ages 20s-60s. All races and ethnicities are encouraged to audition.

-Please sign up for an audition time slot on this Audition Form. (Walk-ups are welcome but will be asked to fill out the audition form on-site and will need to wait until the next available time slot.)

AUDITION MATERIAL: Prepare 90 seconds of a song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided. Please note that sheet music is required. Bring or wear comfortable clothing and shoes as you may be taught a short dance combination. You may be asked to read from the script (see website for sides).

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

Directed by: Mark Jones

DIRECTOR SEEKS: A large cast ages 20s-60s. All races and ethnicities are encouraged to audition.

-Please sign up for an audition time slot on this Audition Form. (Walk-ups are welcome but will be asked to fill out the audition form on-site and will need to wait until the next available time slot.)

AUDITION MATERIAL: Prepare 90 seconds of a song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided. Please note that sheet music is required. Bring or wear comfortable clothing and shoes as you may be taught a short dance combination. You may be asked to read from the script (see website for sides).

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.

Poetry Open Mic Hendo is the all-new sister event of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, the longest-running open mic in Western North Carolina, this weekly event welcomes all people and all forms of creative expression at Hendersonville’s only Kava lounge.

Black Diamond Enterprise presents Black Poetry Theatre* for Black History Month @ The Foundry (*along with other happenings), Feb. 3rd, 5pm. This is a FREE event. Come join us as we explore the Joy, Pain, Sunshine & Rain of life. Enjoy the encouragement and singing with us!

Check for other dates as well.