ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — This October, The Sublime Theater will explore the twin disasters of the Los Angeles fires and Hurricane Helene flood with a limited run of “Fire & Flood,” a pair of short plays by Western North Carolina playwright Travis Lowe.
Revisiting disaster through theatre
The world-premiere production of “Fire & Flood,” produced by The Sublime Theater & Press, will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., Thursday-Saturday for three weekends, Oct. 2-18, at the BeBe Theatre, 20 Commerce St.
The shows, sporting the tagline “Two separate disasters. One universal truth,” will depict their respective disasters with equal parts humor and profundity.
“Nightlight,” starring Erin McCarson in her Sublime Theater debut, is directed by Steven Samuels, Sublime Theatre Producing Artistic Director.
“In the aftermath of a devastating storm, a lone rescue worker is tasked with guarding a body through the night, in a long, strange vigil filled with introspection, humor, and a series of eerie, seemingly supernatural events,” goes the show synopsis.
“This play is a tribute to our rescue workers as more heroic extensions of ourselves as people who went through the experience of this terrible storm both together and alone,” said Lowe about “Nightlight” in a press release. “Many of us, as a part of dealing with everything going on around us, wanted to help other people, wanted to reach out of this dark isolation, all the while compartmentalizing our own unresolved issues, opening those compartments up, closing them again.”
Meanwhile, the second show, “55 Mount Lee Drive,” stars Glenna Grant, Jon Stockdale and Olivia Stuller and is directed by Dakota Mann, Sublime Theatre Artistic Associate.
The show is described as a tale about “a rugged cowboy, a spirited falafel vendor and a whimsical mermaid” who “find themselves entangled in life’s absurdities amidst the burning hills of Mount Lee Drive.”
“Of course The Sublime hoped for a way to address the disaster. Only Travis Lowe could figure out how to do that by balancing our sense of horror and despair with rich human feeling and a wild sense of humor,” Samuels said, speaking about the shows in a press release. “And then he created an equally absurdly comic companion piece for ‘Nightlife’ in ’55 Mount Lee Drive,’ which addresses the California fires with equal doses of compassion and comedy. In the hands of these very special actors, this ‘double feature’ makes for an extraordinary evening of theater and communion. Don’t miss it!”
Tickets for “Fire & Flood”
Tickets for “Fire & Flood” are available for $20 each here.
For more information, visit The Sublime Theater at www.thesublimetheater.org.
CORRECTION – 5:50 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025 – A previous version of this article listed BeBe Theater as the producer of “Fire & Flood.” The show is produced by The Sublime Theater & Press.