Burning Coal Celebrates 150 Years of the Oakwood Cemetery

Oakwood Cemetery turns 150 years old this Fall and Burning Coal Theatre will celebrate with a compilation of favorite short plays from the past decade written for the Oakwood Series. Performances will take place on October 4th & 5th at 6:30 pm and October 6th at 2:00 pm in the Historic Oakwood Cemetery, 701 Oakwood Avenue, Raleigh. Tickets are $20 for adults [$10 for students] and are available at the Oakwood Cemetery on the date of the performance or by calling 919.834.4001. Parking available inside the cemetery. Find more information at www.burningcoal.org/ourhistory.

Playwright Ian Finley (past North Carolina Piedmont Laureate) will be featured among this year's writers. Each year, Burning Coal and Oakwood Cemetery team up to produce a new series of plays about the inhabitants of Oakwood on the historic site. Burning Coal is Oakwood Cemetery's oldest community partner having collaborated on Oakwood Series for the past 15 years. This anniversary year, we reflect on the cemetery's past and the history of the Oakwood Series by reimagining favorite stories and play adaptations.

This year's production, directed by George Jack, will feature the stories of people from Raleigh's past with interesting tales to tell, including J. Brinton Smith, Anne Wilkerson, Elizabeth Peele, Pullen & Ligon, Rachel Blythe, and Marshall Haywood. This year's featured playwrights include Ian Finley, Rebecca Wyrick, and Brook North. Come revisit some of your favorite characters from the past and see the ghosts of these plays re-awakened in the historic Oakwood Cemetery.

Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1869 near the NC State Capitol in Raleigh's Historic Oakwood neighborhood

Additionally, Oakwood will be commemorating their 150th anniversary with a gala at the NC Museum of History on October 20th. For tickets to the gala, please call Oakwood Cemetery at 919-832-6077.