Endstation Theatre to Present UNEARTHED World Premiere, 7/26-28

Endstation Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Unearthed: An Appalachian Musical produced in part by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts as part of the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival and runs July 26-28. Unearthed is a new musical written by Nick Lantz, composed by Scott Gendel, and developed/directed by Kelly Bremner. This work began as the brainchild of Endstation resident lighting designer and Amherst native, Daniel Gallagher, and has been specifically developed for Endstation.

Unearthed consists of parallel story lines set in the Blue Ridge foothills in 1900 and 2000. It follows the troubled lives of Alzy (Arielle Basile) and Wade (Taamu Wuya), who in their own time each discover the same strange man (Scott McKenna Campbell) buried in the woods. The mysterious stranger promises to grant wishes to his rescuers, but wishes come at a cost, and Alzy and Wade struggle to set their tumultuous lives right. Unearthed is rooted in stories from traditional mountain folklore.

Devin Altizer (Gaither), Katie Bland (Melia), Matthew Burgos (Henry), Karl Lindevaldsen (Cass), Hilary Sutton (Cora), Jackie Fields (Chorus), Kelly Malone Dudley (Chorus), and Ciji Prosser (Chorus) comprise the cast.

Unearthed encompasses the emotional scope of opera and the intensity of musical theatre while incorporating traditional music unique to the Central Virginia region. In order to combine all of these musical styles, the cast includes opera singers, musical theatre performers, and folk musicians. The orchestra includes piano and strings, as well as acoustic guitar, mandolin, and autoharp. Through this collaboration Unearthed highlights the music and stories of Appalachia while incorporating regional color into a new context. It is brought onto equal footing with classical music and musical theatre, so that the three musical styles coexist in an unusual harmony.

Unearthed comes as part of Endstation's Playwrights Initiative and New Works Program, that seeks to support the creation of new works that have cultural relevance to the Central Virginia community. Other works with a focus on the region created with the support of Endstation include the Bluest Water, In Sweet Remembrance, and My Brother's Knife. In addition to cultivating material that is directly regional, Endstation has produced more than ten other productions that have been reimagined in a local context through the concept of the production.

Unearthed will be performed at the Babcock Fine Arts Center at Sweet Briar College July 26, 27 and 28 at 7 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for students and are available online or by calling 434-826-0391. To purchase tickets online or learn more about the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival visit endstationtheatre.org.