The Sad Truth About Country Songs, a new play with songs by Stephen Gracia, gets a single staged reading at the Tom Kane Theatre in Brooklyn on Saturday, November 14 at 8 p.m. Ashlie Atkinson and Daniel Jameson lead the cast.
It is one night only, presented by brooklynONE productions with Dialogue with Three Chords, the company Gracia runs with director Michael LoPorto. LoPorto directs the reading. Tickets are $25.
The play is set in a house just outside Coalmont, Tennessee. Amos Bartow, a man in his late 20s, has escaped custody to see his dying mother, Darla, one last time. Over a single night the two of them work through family, faith, addiction, poverty and regret, and when plain talk fails them they fall back on the country songs they both love.
The company is clear that this is not a musical but a play with songs. The original music is by Gracia, LoPorto and Joseph Millazzo of the dark-folk trio GreenLady, and Millazzo plays with the live band on the night.
Atkinson won a Theatre World Award for Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig Off-Broadway, and plays Mamie Fish on HBO’s The Gilded Age.
The Tom Kane Theatre is brooklynONE’s home in Industry City, at 51 35th Street in Brooklyn. Tickets are sold through brooklynONE.
