Fire On The Mountain

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, continues its 32nd season with Fire on the Mountain, a poignant musical with authentic dancing and live fiddles and banjo, about the lives of coal miners in the Appalachian Mountains. The production, co-created by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman and directed by Myler, runs May 9 – June 17, 2007, at Northlight Theatre, located in the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., in Skokie.  The production officially opens on Wednesday, May 16, 2007, at 7:30 p.m.

From the acclaimed creators of It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues comes a poignant, passionate musical about the lives of coal miners in the Appalachian Mountains, featuring “Mississippi” Charles Bevel (Jeff Award-winner for Blues).  Alternately exuberant and soulful, joyous and gripping, this celebration of culture, lifestyle, hardships and heroics is gloriously relayed through the captivating rhythms of Appalachian bluegrass – a uniquely American art form that gained widespread popularity following the release O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

“With Fire on the Mountain, we celebrate the return of director Randy Myler and Jeff Award winner ‘Mississippi’ Charles Bevel,” says Artistic Director BJ Jones.  “Fire on the Mountain is in the same tradition as It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues; Randy has researched life in the mines of Appalachia and, through authentic stories and music of the miners and their families, brings us their searing truth.  The music is stirring and thrilling and the veracity of the actors’ work is startling.  Randy is an extraordinary and singular artist whose breadth of experience in so many different styles of music has informed the many brilliant theatre pieces he has created.  And there is simply no one like ‘Mississippi,’ who gets more gifted every year.”

The cast features Molly Andrews, “Mississippi” Charles Bevel, Margaret Bowman, Jason Edwards, Trace Hamilton, Tony Marcus, Lee Morgan, Mike Regan, and Ed Snodderly.

Director and co-creator Randal Myler returns to Northlight where he previously directed It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues and The Immigrant.  He was a Tony Award nominee for Best Book of a Musical for It Ain’t  Nothin’ But the Blues.  He also wrote and directed Love, Janice and Hank Williams:  Lost Highway, for which he won a 2003 Outer Critic’s Circle Award nomination in the Outstanding Director category.  He has directed at theaters throughout the country, including Missouri Rep, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Bay Street Theater.  His writing and directing projects include co-adapting and directing Touch the Names:  Letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the musical version of The Immigrant, and directing Union City.

Dan Wheetman shared a Tony Award nomination for Best Book for It Ain’t Nothin But the Blues, in which he appeared at Seattle Rep.  His play Appalachian Strings, written with Randal Myler, has been performed at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Denver Center Theatre Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, and Virginia Stage Company.  He has composed and served as musical director for the stage versions of John Irving’s The Cider House Rules at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and the Atlantic Theater Company in New York.  He received a DramaLogue Award for Musical Diretion for Hank Williams: Lost Highway at the Taper and an L.A. Critics Award for Blues.  He toured and recorded with Crumb and the Good Tone Banjo Boys, played a fiddle with Itzhak Perlman, worked as an opening actor for Steve Martin, and currently plays in the band Marley’s Ghost.  His solo album House of a Different Color was released on Sage Arts records. 

Click Here to Listen To Sample Music From Fire On The Mountain

To purchase tickets for Fire On The Mountain visit www.northlight.org or call 847-673-6300.