SILER CITY, N.C. — Free performances of “The Lottery” will be offered in March as part of the second-annual spring theater workshop at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City.
“The Lottery” is a 30-minute, one-act play based on the short story by Shirley Jackson and dramatized by Brainerd Duffield. It will be performed for students during school on March 26 and then for the public that evening at 7 p.m.
After the short story was published in The New Yorker magazine, “The Lottery” quickly became an internationally known classic. The play follows the original short story, beginning with people assembling for a lottery. But only as the story builds swiftly to its climax do audiences begin to suspect the nature of the lottery. The shattering final scene has brought both the story and play wide acclaim.
The annual spring theater workshop was created by JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, to provide outstanding JM actors with an opportunity for more intensive dramatic work and experience in technical theater. Last year’s inaugural workshop, “Scene X Scene,” featured weekly, two-hour sessions focusing on working “scene by scene” and concluded with a free public showcase performance demonstrating acting exercises used during the workshop.
“The Lottery” and this year’s theater workshop are produced by JMArts with co-producer and technical director Nicholas Guariglia and director Jessica Nunn.
Co-producer and technical director Guariglia is a JM graduate, senior in the UNC Department of Dramatic Art and undergraduate lighting assistant with PlayMakers Repertory Company, the renowned regional theater based in Chapel Hill. He is working on this project through the Carolina Center for Public Service with funding from a MacDonald Community Fellowship.
Director Nunn, also a JM graduate, directs the school’s fall musicals and taught last year’s “Scene X Scene” spring theater workshop. She also is artistic director of The Phoenix Theatre Company, known locally for innovative productions including dinner theater murder mysteries and “Miracle on Hillsboro Street,” an annual holiday benefit performance staged at the historic Chatham County Courthouse.
Auditions for this year’s workshop will be held on February 18 to select the cast of about 13 actors. Rehearsals will be after school, about twice a week during March. A more detailed rehearsal schedule will be announced before auditions.
More information about JMArts and other events scheduled for this season is available at jmarts.org.
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Laci Burt, from left, Natalie Santiago and Hannah Redding work on a dramatic scene during last year’s “Scene X Scene” spring theater workshop at Jordan-Matthews High School.