Burning Coal Theatre Announces Four Corners Project

With creative spaces at a premium throughout the Triangle, Burning Coal Theatre Company would like to announce the Four Corners Project, which will begin in its 2020/2021 season. This project will make available the Murphey School space for one week, four times a year to creative individuals or companies with innovative and exciting projects. The projects should be either performance or visual art-related and should not involve a fee for its participants. The projects do not have to include a performance, though they may, but should be focused on exploring issues around performance or the creation of art. Nothing is too 'out there'!

The four weeks that the space will be granted are August 31 - September 6, 2020, September 7 - 13, 2020, November 16 - 22, 2020, and December 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021. To apply, fill out the Google Form found on Burning Coal's website (burningcoal.org). Submissions are due by March 15, 2020. Selected projects will be announced by the end of the month.

The Murphey School was originally built in 1908 and served Raleigh as an elementary school for many years. In 1960, the Raleigh City school board met in the auditorium of the Murphey School, where the motion to begin the desegregation of Raleigh City schools was approved. That fall, William Campbell began classes at the Murphey School, becoming the first African American student to attend a "white" public school in Raleigh. When the Wake County and Raleigh City school systems merged in 1977, the Murphey School was closed. In 1991, the building was almost torn down, but was saved by concerned citizens who raised money to turn the former Murphey School classrooms into low income senior housing. The auditorium, however, stayed empty until Burning Coal Theatre Company and a group of supporters renovated the space into a first-class performance venue. Burning Coal opened the renovated Murphey School space in January, 2008 with a production of Lawrence and Lee's Inherit the Wind.

Burning Coal Theatre Company is an intimate, professional theatre and an incorporated not for 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 global perspective. 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.

Burning Coal Theatre Company would like to announce the Four Corners Project, which will begin in its 2020/2021 season. This project will make available the Murphey School space for one week, four times a year to creative individuals or companies with innovative and exciting projects. The four weeks that the space will be granted are August 31 - September 6, 2020, September 7 - 13, 2020, November 16 - 22, 2020, and December 28, 2020 - January 3, 2021. To apply, fill out the Google Form found on Burning Coal's website (burningcoal.org). Submissions are due by March 15, 2020. Selected projects will be announced by the end of the month.