For the past 36 years, the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre has been dedicated to presenting theatre of the highest quality to enrich the region.  SART presents four to six plays each summer season in historic Owen Theatre on the Mars Hill College campus.  From uplifting family dramas to uproarious comedy, from stunning musicals to the Heritage Plays Series- focusing on Southern Appalachian history- SART is award winning theatre at it’s finest right here in western North Carolina.

In the 2011 season, SART will be presenting:

First Baptist of Ivy Gap
by Ron Osborne  June 16-June26
Six women gather at church during Warld War II to roll bandages and plan the church’s 75th anniversary.  Twenty-five years later, the women reunite and reveal things that couldn’t be said earlier.  These six very different women find comfort, redemption and forgiveness in each other.  This play has won multiple play-writing awards.

Nocturne
by C. Robert Jones  July 7-July 17
This critically acclaimed, two character play by C. Robert Jones tells the story of a famous artist who is blinded and can no longer paint.  This transplanted southerner hires a street-wise young black man to come and read to her for two hours a day.  The friction is immediate as layers are peeled away, and surprising truths emerge.

Cheaper by the Dozen
Adapted by Christopher Sergel  July 28-August 7
Based on the autobiographical novel by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Earnestine Gilbreth Carey about a real-life family with a father who is a pioneer of industrial efficiency, this perennial faveorite always amuses and delights audiences.  The children go along with their father’s efficiaency pratices until his daughter, Anne, rebels and wants more freedom.  Dad has his reason for teahcing the children to help organize the household, but it’s a secret from the children.

Zeb Vance, Civil War Governor
by David Hopes  August 18-August 28  **SART’s 59th World Premier
David Hopes has been commissioned to create a play about Zebulon Vance, who was born on Reems Creek Road near Weaverville, and who served as governor of North Carolina, in the U.S. Senate and as a Confederate millitary officer.  An interesting man, Vance will be presented in his very human complexity.