JUNE 11, 2009 ISSUE
Scissor-Stabbing Laughs
Blowing Rock Stage Presents Shear Madness through June 28
The cast of Shear Madness features (front row, from left) Tom Wahl, Jack Dillon and Joseph Klosek, and (back row) Juliana Black, Martin Thompson and Linda Edwards.
Like the ill-fated Isabel Czerny, you’ll feel like you too have been stabbed after a night at Shear Madness, a hilarious murder mystery comedy guaranteed to leave you in stitches. The hit show opened at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock June 10 and continues through Sunday, June 28.
The production is the first show in the Blowing Rock Stage Company’s 2009 season and is a collaboration between the Stage Company and the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte.
Show times are 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays and 8:00 p.m. on Fridays. Saturday shows are at 8:00 p.m. on June 13 and at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. on June 20 and 27. Sunday shows are at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. on June 14 and 2:00 p.m. only on June 21 and 28.
Shear Madness, created by Bruce Jordan and Marilyn Abrams, is the longest running nonmusical play in American theatre history. Jordan was also the original director and is serving as the director of the Blowing Rock production.
“We were looking for a great comedy to kick off our 24th season,” said Kenneth Kay, producing artistic director of the Stage Company, in a press release. “And with Shear Madness we found one of the funniest plays anywhere.”
Shear Madness has already been showing at the Blumenthal in Charlotte. In collaboration with the Blowing Rock Stage Company, the Blumenthal will bring the same actors, designers and sets to the Hayes Center stage.
The play combines a murder mystery with physical comedy, improvisation, references to the local area and audience participation. Set in present-day Blowing Rock, Shear Madness engages the audiences in the mystery of a scissor-stabbing murder of a famous concert pianist who lives above the Shear Madness unisex hair salon. Instead of watching the mystery play out, the audience is invited to help two inquisitive detectives question suspects and trap the characters in deceptions.
Juliana Black plays Barbara Jean Deveraux, a stylist at the salon. Black is a professional actor who graduated from Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk in 2000.
“The audience participation is an entirely new element,” Black said. “With most shows, comedy or drama, the show is pretty consistent every night, but this is so different because every show every night is different because of audience participation.
“It’s so much fun. As an actor it’s so addictive,” she added. “You never know what’s going to happen. It keeps us on our toes constantly.”
Shear Madness is always set in the area where it is being performed, “and nothing or no one local will be sacred from being referenced,” a Blowing Rock Stage press release said. The cast spent a couple of rehearsals in Blowing Rock learning the local references.
“It’s fun for the audience [because] they can relate to it,” Black said.
Other cast members include Joseph Klosek as Mike Thomas, Tom Wahl as Tony Whitcomb, Martin Thompson as Eddie Lawrence, Jack Dillon as Nick O’Brien and Linda Edwards as Mrs. Shubert. Lynn Terry, Jr. is the stage manager and Elizabeth Simpson is the assistant stage manager.
“I’m so excited to come to Blowing Rock. It’s like coming home,” Black said.
Shear Madness currently has three permanent productions in the United States in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, as well as franchised international productions running in Calgary, Budapest, Seoul, Tel Aviv and Poland. In all, the play has been produced in 37 U.S. cities and has had 36 international productions. The Washington, D.C. production at the Kennedy Center alone has gone through nine barber chairs, 58 blow dryers, 127 bottles of stage blood, 233 hairbrushes, 813 cans of hairspray, 1,298 bottles of nail polish and more than 8,700 cans of shaving cream.
Tickets to the Blowing Rock performance of Shear Madness are $26 for adults and $14 for students. Because of suggestive language, the show is recommended for ages 13 and up.
To ring in its 24th season, the Stage Company will offer heavy hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Glidewell’s restaurant in the outside courtyard at the Hayes Center on Friday, June 19, and Friday, June 26, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Cost is $10 per person in advance. Additional dinner and show packages starting at $82 per couple are also available at Glidewell’s, Bistro Roca, Crippen’s and the Manor House at Chetola.
Purchase tickets online by clicking to www.HayesCenter.org or in person at the Hayes Center box office. Special group rates are also available. Season and Flex Passes can be purchased and used throughout the entire 2009 season. The Hayes Center is located at 152 Jamie Fort Road off of Highway 321 in Blowing Rock. For more information, call 828-295-9627 or click to www.HayesCenter.org.
Want To Go?
Dates: Thursday, June 11, through Sunday, June 28
Times: vary by date
Location: Hayes Performing Arts Center, Blowing Rock
Cost: $26 adults/$14 students
Blowing Rock Stage Company’s 24th Season
The Blowing Rock Stage Company, in residence at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock, presents eight productions as part of its 24th season. Purchase a Full Season Pass for $195 or a Summer Season Pass for $135. A Flex 10 Pass, available for $265, is good for 10 tickets to use for Stage Company and Hayes Center shows. A Flex 6 Pass, at $159, is good for six tickets to Hayes Center and Stage Company shows.
For more info, call 828-295-9627 or click to www.HayesCenter.org.
SUMMER SEASON
Shear Madness—June 10 to 28
Suite Surrender—July 3 to 12
Bye Bye Birdie—July 17 to August 2
Angel Street—August 7 to 16
Hank Williams: Lost Highway—August 21 to September 6
LEAF SEASON
The Scarlet Letter—October 8 to 18
Dracula—October 22 to November 1
It’s a Wonderful Life—December 3 to 13
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