Up & Coming Weekly

March 15, 2022

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 22 UCW MARCH 16 - 22, 2022 Sweet Tea Shakespeare, Fayetteville's traveling theater company, will be pre- senting an impromptu performance of the magical and whimsy musical "Into the Woods." Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" has won three Tony Awards and was made into a full-length Disney film in 2014. e story follows several well- known fairytale characters — Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and a Baker and his wife. All have wishes and hope a witch will grant them, bringing the old adage be careful of what you wish to mind as their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results. Artistic Director Jeremy Fiebig said this performance promises to be an evening full of magic and fairytales. However, the idea for the musical to be performed came very late into the game. "We signed paperwork to do 'Into the Woods' in January," Fiebig said. e idea came to Sweet Tea Shake- speare after the new owners of Fayetteville Pie Company, Kerry and Jen Washburn, approached Sweet Tea Shakespeare after their annual Christmas concerts. e new Fayetville Pie Compa- ny owners heard about the theater com- pany's 2019 performance of "Sweeney Todd: e Demon Barber of Fleet Street" at the restaurant and how successful it was. ey wanted to do it again. Shortly after that meeting, the idea of doing another Sondheim classic came about. Sweet Tea Shakespeare rose to the challenge and ambitiously put this musical performance together in under three months. However, Fiebig says it's been easy to do with the support from Fayetteville Pie Company. "ey have been so extremely support- ive. It was the case for Sweeney Todd, and it's the case now," Fiebig said. e tickets at the Fayetteville Pie Company will include a themed dinner with live music an hour before the show starts. en attendees can make their way downstairs to see the small perfor- mance. "at's one thing unique about the Fayetteville Pie Company experience is that there are less than 50 seats a night, so you get that experience of seeing a play in your living room," Fiebig said. "What's different between Sweet Tea and anywhere else is how familiar, and close and interactive the performances are. It feels like we are doing a production in your living room. It's that intimate. It involves you that much." With having a small "stage," there's not much room for a large set — which for Fiebig is another thing he loves about their performances. "One of the things that excite me about this performance is all of the ways we find to create that magic with little, everyday household items." One big difference with this perfor- mance behind-the-scenes is that there will be two entirely separate casts for all the actors. "When we were planning this, it was still in the height of the omicron surge. We knew from our experiences from the last few months; we needed to have a cover plan for actors," Fiebig explained. "Every person in this play has a cover. We have this whole team of folks to es- sentially come to rehearsals, watch, step in occasionally, and they will get a small handful of performances of their own." e run of "Into the Woods" will kick off on March 17 and will run through April 10 at the Fayetteville Pie Company. e production will move and continue at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church from April 21 through May 8. e ticket price for the Fayetteville Pie Company show includes a savory pie, a sweet pie and a soft drink or tea. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. e total price is $47.50 per ticket. At the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church shows, tickets range from $10 to $30. e performances will take place outside unless it rains. Tickets for the performances can be bought at sweetteashakespeare.com/ into-the-woods-fayetteville-nc-events/. HANNAH LEE, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. EVENT Turning fairytales on their heads at Fayetteville Pie Company by HANNAH LEE The cast of Sweet Tea Shakespeare's "Into The Woods" pose for a photo in costume. (Photo courtesy of Sweet Tea Shakespeare.) FREE HEALTH CARE • for Eligible uninsured Adults call 910.485.0555

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