RALEIGH, NC – Burning Coal Theatre Company announces recipients of the inaugural the Four Corners Project, beginning in its 2020-21 season. This project grants the Murphey School space for one week, four times a year, to creative individuals coming forth with innovative and exciting projects, whether they be a show, a workshop, a class, or so on. The first project in the series will be The Lord Chamberlain’s Men Present: Pericles Prince of Tyre (Rebecca Ashley Jones), which will occupy the space from November 1-6 & 8, 2020. Following will be Other Desert Cities: A Reading and Discussion (David McEwen with OdysseyStage Productions), which will be in the space November 16-22, 2020. Afterwards, Qué gringa, que gringa (Megan Yankee) will have the space from December 21-27, 2020. Tangos Quentos (Nancy Rich) will wrap up the series, utilizing the space December 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021.
About the Projects
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men Present: Pericles Prince of Tyre is an adaptation of Shakespeate’s Pericles by Rebecca Ashley Jones. This production explores how the creative team, actors, and designs respond to in rehearsal, as well as how they interact with one another – all based around the theoretically process and premiere of Pericles during Shakespeare’s time. They will perform on November 5-6 & 8, 2020. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/EmptyChairTheatreProject.
Other Desert Cities: A Reading and Discussion presented by OdysseyStage Productions explores the dynamics of how we handle times of crisis, and how political and personal conflicts overlap with each other. This will include a reading of the play by Jon Robin Baitz, as well as a post-reading discussion about the piece and the relevant themes to our present-day circumstances in the wake of COVID-19. November 16-22, 2020. For more information, visit http://www.odysseystage.org/.
Qué gringa, que gringa – created and performed by Megan Yankee – is an autobiographical solo work exploring her unknown ancestry, adoption, and mixed heritage with America’s current political climate as a backdrop. The piece jumps from the springboard of Yankee’s life while engaging the audience in the dialogue by encouraging them to partake in simple choreographic tasks throughout, creating a bridge between Spanish- and English-speaking audience members. December 21-27, 2020. For more information, visit meganyankee.dance.
Tangos Quentos, choreographed by Nancy Rich, is a presentation of stories told physically, with tango music serving as the prompt for the non-spoken dialogue. The piece would challenge audience members to view story through the framework of tango – its beats and musicality. December 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021. For information, visit https://www.actorscomedylab.com/next.html
About the Participating Artists
Rebecca Ashley Jones is a local theatre actress, sometime director, and high school history teacher. Rebecca focuses mostly on Shakespeare performance and has been seen in the area performing Shakespeare with Sweet Tea Shakespeare (Macbeth), Raleigh Little Theatre (Measure for Measure), and Bare Theatre (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Timon of Athens). Her greatest achievement, however, was getting the opportunity to produce, adapt, direct, design, and act in her dream play, Much Ado, with the Women’s Theatre Festival last summer, presented on Burning Coal’s stage. Rebecca is a co-founder of a new classical theatre organization in the area, The Empty Chair Theatre Project. Along with Bobby Callaway and Nicholas Tycho Reed, they are committed to creating experimental, unique, and memorable classical and classical-inspired theatre.
OdysseyStage is a non-profit community theatre dedicated to entertaining audiences of all ages, educating adults and children through theatrical participation, and empowering local talent. Each year, they produce several shows that feature Triangle-based playwrights and take on powerful themes.
Megan Yankee, M.F.A. is a biracial citizen-artist based in Durham, North Carolina. Megan is happiest when working at the unlikely intersection of anti-racist experimental dancemaking and trauma survivor advocacy. Her choreography has been generously funded by institutions in Texas (2013), Ohio (2014-2016), and North Carolina (2019) and presented across the U.S. and abroad in Belfast, Northern Ireland (2010) and Kampala, Uganda (2014). She is also an award winning trauma-informed movement educator for children and adults of all experience levels.
Nancy Rich is a local director and choreographer with over 20 years of experience in directing and choreographing musical theatre projects for: Raleigh Little Theatre, Cary Players, Justice Theatre Project, Actors Comedy Lab, and Theatre In The Park.
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Burning Coal Theatre Company is an intimate, professional theatre and an incorporated non-profit (501 (c)(3) organization in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Burning Coal’s mission is to produce literate, visceral, affecting theatre that is experienced, not simply seen. It produces explosive reexaminations of overlooked classic and modern plays, as well as new plays whose themes and issues are of immediate concern to our audience, using the best local, national, and international artists available. The company works toward a theatre of high-energy performances and minimalist production values. Race and gender non-specific casting is an integral component of Burning Coal’s perspective, as well as a clear viewpoint. The emphasis is on literate works that are felt and experienced viscerally to create an active role for the audience, unlike more traditional linear plays, at which audiences are most often asked to observe without participating.
