Burning Coal Theatre presents "Mary's Wedding"

Burning Coal Theatre Company continues its second stage series, "Wait Til You See This!," with the Southeastern Premiere of "Mary’s Wedding" by Stephen Massicotte. Directed by Josh Benjamin (Limbo), the play will run from Jan. 12 to 22 at the Murphey School, 224 Polk Street in Raleigh. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 pm. All tickets are $10 apiece and may be obtained by calling (919) 538-1742 or online.

About the play
Mary and Charlie meet as they take shelter in a barn from a gathering thunderstorm. As their relationship begins to blossom, World War I interferes, and Charlie heads off to war with the Canadian Cavalry Division. While Charlie’s dream of glorious warfare is shattered by the reality of day-to-day life in the trenches, Mary is left to hang on to the bits of information she gets from Charlie’s letters. She dreams of the day he makes it home from war and they can be married. As the war drags on, Mary hopes that her dreams will be enough to keep Charlie alive in her heart until their wedding day.

About the director
Joshua Benjamin is a freelance director from Mebane and a Burning Coal Theatre Company member. For Burning Coal, Benjamin has written "Mary’s Wedding," "Limbo" and "Way to Heaven." Area credits are "Love Drunk (J&J Productions)," "Right Place Right Time (Stillwater Theatre)," "Art," "Our Town" and "The Libation Bearers." Other credits include "Antigone," "Lux in Tenebris," "The Elephant Calf," "The Beggar," "The Lady Aoi" and "The Little Match Girl."

About the cast
Caitlin Davis plays Mary in the production. This is her first Burning Coal show. Her credits include an off-broadway production of "Stop the Virgens" at the Creator's Project, directed by Adam Rapp, "Tartuffe" at Triad Stage and "The Ugly Duckling" at Bright Star Theatre. Film appearances are "Karen O - Stop the Virgens," "Zero Sum Game," "The 14th Burning," "Somewhere over Arkansas," "The Importance of Being Honest" and "Break a Home a House." She graduated from UNC-Greensboro in 2011.

Matthew Hager plays Charlie. "Mary’s Wedding" is Matthew’s first full production with Burning Coal. Other credits include Lysander in "Midsummer" at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Finch in "The Collective" for UNC’s LAB! Theatre and Babbs in "Charley’s Aunt" at TIP. Matthew has trained at UNC-Chapel Hill (BA Dramatic Arts, 2011), DePaul University, Shakespeare & Co. and NCSA.

For further information about this lecture or about Burning Coal Theatre Company, contact managing director Simmie Kastner at (919) 834-4001.