Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 21, 2008 issue
Senator Sam at the Hayes Center March 14
The Blowing Rock Stage Company looks back at one of North Carolina’s favorite sons, Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr., in a return engagement of the popular one-man play Senator Sam. The show, part of BRSC’s Flying Solo Series, plays Friday, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock.
As a result of popular demand, this production—which has made its way to other venues around the country; Florida’s The Times recently praised it as “thoughtful and touching”—marks the fourth time that BRSC has performed North Carolina playwright Steve Bouser’s historical reimagining of an evening in the life of the famous Democratic senator who served his North Carolina constituency from 1954 to 1974, infamously turbulent years in the South.
Awaiting President Nixon’s televised resignation, Senator Sam Ervin, resting on his back porch and reeling with mixed emotions, reflects on his life—from growing up in the mountains, serving in WWI and meeting his wife, to the tragic childhood accident that thrust him into public service and his fights against the monkey bill, Joseph McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and various witnesses in the Watergate hearings. Filled with personal insight, political confrontation and homespun mountain humor, this one-man tour de force draws us into the mind and world of the famous senator.
Reprising in his role as the Southern gentlemen is BRSC regular and audience favorite Gary Lee Smith who has appeared in Camping With Henry and Tom, Chapter Two, Wait Until Dark, ART, Deathtrap, Jan Karon’s Journey to Mitford and The Christmas Bus. A staple of regional television and radio commercials, Smith has also narrated or acted in many industrial and independent films, including the full-length independent film Stealing Elvis, as well as appeared onstage at numerous venues around the country. Smith, raved The Times, “captured the true spirit of a type of Southern gentleman that has now all but disappeared.” For his part, Smith considers Senator Sam one of the country’s greatest individuals.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available now by calling the Box Office at 828-295-9627.
Senator Sam in School
As part of its education outreach, the Blowing Rock Stage Company is performing a condensed 45-minute one-act version of Senator Sam to schools across Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.
For more information or to schedule Senator Sam to come to your school, call Blowing Rock Stage Company Education Director Kim Cozort Kay at 828-295-9168 ext. 3.
Date: Friday, March 14
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hayes Performing Arts Center, Blowing Rock
Cost: $10 adults/$5 students