Cadence Brings SMOKE By Enid Graham to the Firehouse Theatre

Cadence has announced its spring production, SMOKE by Enid Graham, a deeply dark horror comedy, that encapsulates the meaningless preoccupation and capitalistic gaslighting as our country becomes further divided. SMOKE will be engaged at Firehouse Theatre May 22 through June 7 for 12 performances.

In a world where consumerism is king, distraction is everywhere and public discourse is shot, a couple from New York City arrive at a rented McMansion on a hill to attend a family wedding. SMOKE is a darkly humorous play about what happens when we are all overwhelmed by the noisy echo chamber of the internet and social media. Soon we are arguing over meaningless things instead of focusing on actual problems until, finally, even the truth is up for grabs.

Graham observes, “Social media makes you feel like you're saying something, when you're really not and it is ultimately fruitless.” Graham eventually had to get off Facebook and Twitter, which had become battlegrounds for political discourse with people from high school. Graham adds, "Beliefs we used to take for granted – the basic premise of our country, for example – are now shifting. I, like the characters in the play, feel alienated from people that I love because, although we are looking at the same things, we don't seem to see the same world in front of us."

Graham wrote SMOKE three years ago as a graduate playwriting student at Julliard. What began as inspiration around a specific location (a mountain McMansion) turned into a dark comedy about the polarization of our modern world. “I had the idea of a bunch of people in a mansion on top of a mountain who are all distracted and preoccupied by the gorgeous amenities of the house and don't notice the nightmarish things going on at the bottom of the hill. Then I thought, ‘huh, that sounds like America right now.'”

Having made her professional acting debut in Richmond, Graham is thrilled to return for SMOKE, which is directed by Anna Senechal Johnson, their first collaboration. Senechal Johnson stated, "We (Cadence) decided to hold off on selecting a title for our spring show until after the November elections. I'm so grateful that David Lindsay-Abaire suggested we reach out to Enid Graham about her new play, SMOKE. I can't imagine a more important story to share right now. SMOKE has everything I love in a play...family, suspense, drama, horror, humor, and authentic, honest storytelling."

SMOKE is made possible through the generosity and support of Byrne Canaan Law, Creasy Woolfolk Concepts, the Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

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