BlueAlien.org

The Contemporary Youth Arts Company will be preforming Dan Kehde's new work Dancing With Grace. If you'd like to read an overview of the story click "Read More" at the bottom.

Performances:

8PM
Thursday February 16
Friday Feb.17
Saturday Feb.18
and
Thursday Feb. 23
Friday Feb. 24
Saturday Feb. 25

WVSU Capitol Center Theater
123 Summers Street, Charleston

Tickets are $9.50 for adults, $5.50 for students and seniors and may be
purchased at the door on the evenings of the performances.

WVSU Capitol Center Theater
123 Summers Street, Charleston.

The Story:
John O'Connor's latest play is a mess. His leading man despises his
leading lady who?s in love with the playwright, who?s ex-wife is the
second lead. The rewrites aren?t going well and the entire cast prefers
to spend rehearsal time in Bert?s bar across the street rather than on
stage. When the cast leaves for Bert?s after a particularly bad
rehearsal, John stays behind to rewrite the love scene one more time.
Enter Grace, a lively and beautiful young actress who, unfortunately, was
killed by a falling light in 1939. Frustrated by John?s apparent
inability to write a passionate love scene, Grace fairly overwhelms the
shocked, but desperate, playwright with her intelligence and
vivaciousness and coaches the writer into creating a new and quite
touching moment between his two main characters.

However, the characters are unable to perform it. As the rewrites
continue, Grace and John fall impossibly in love, despite the attempts by
John?s leading lady, Savannah, to have John fall in love with her. This,
of course, leads Grace to moments of jealous mayhem--kicking, hair
pulling, screaming?which thoroughly spook the cast and drive them back to
Bert?s on an almost permanent basis.

As a solution, John and Grace concoct a truly weird rite of exorcisim,
using Madame Lafarge, an aging drag queen/magician/spiritualist, to
convince the actors that the spirit of Grace has been cast out of theater
for good. After much mumbo jumbo: ?Help me, I?m melting?? Grace
disappears and the warring members of the cast are finally at peace.

Having heard John and Grace conspiring earlier, Savannah sneaks into the
theater after the cast has retired to Berts for a celebratory round, and
convinces Grace that, ?for John?s own good?, she should stay exorcised
forever and let Savannah lead him to the success that they both know he
deserves. When John returns later that night, Grace appears to be gone
for good.

Following a triumphant opening night performance, Savannah announces
that John, who has been depressed and sulking for weeks, is going to
propose to her that night at the cast party. John enters, still missing
Grace, and resigned to the fact that the impending engagement with
Savannah is only show business. After Savannah and the cast leave for
the party across town, John confesses to Marie, his ex-wife, that he
loves Grace more than he?d ever loved anyone in his life, living or dead
and that he?d gladly give up everything, if need be, just to be with her
again.

The cast includes Brittany Means as Grace, with Shawn Price, Madeleine
Gourevitch, James Sheridan, Rose Streit, Jon Straub, Brian Edelman, Tiana
Dixon and a supporting cast of 7.