FOUND

North Carolina Stage Company (Asheville) is hidden away, tucked beneath a retail building…a block and a half from Haywood Street and the fantastic Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café.

The lobby is makeshift...a found space that may be too large or too small. Can’t decide which. The décor is found, too. Yard sale chairs, threadbare carpet, and a weird little concession stand crammed into the corner.

In the theater, the ceiling is low…too low. The audience sits in banquet chairs that line three sides of a thrust stage. The floor is slab concrete. No trap doors or proper boards to trod upon.

There are black curtains in the room. And one gets the impression that actors are standing behind them and can hear your conversation.

This is the kind of theater I think of when I imagine creating plays for an audience. Something found, crusty, and a little uncomfortable for all involved.