An Evening with Father Tim

June 2 - 4

As part of a fundraiser to kick-off the 2011 season, the Hayes Performing Arts Center stages the world premiere of the reading An Evening with Father Tim, part of the Blowing Rock festival Return to Mitford

BLOWING ROCK, NC – “Thirty million readers can't be wrong,” says noted author Bob Inman, co-playwright of the stage adaptation of celebrated novelist Jan Karon’s popular Mitford. “Jan Karon is a superb storyteller whose characters and their lives resonate with all of us. I'm honored to be invited back to create the staged reading of An Evening with Father Tim, adapted from Ms. Karon's Mitford Noevel Series and I’m also humbled by the challenge.”

An Evening with Father Tim, playing June 2-4 at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock, is part of a fundraiser for the Hayes Performing Arts Center to kick off its 2011 season.  The staged reading focuses on the beloved main character Father Timothy Kavanagh, a simple Episcopalian priest played by Stephen Ware. 

The life of a priest in the sleepy Blue Ridge Mountain town of Mitford, NC (modeled after the town of Blowing Rock) is anything but boring for the warm and witty priest, as he experiences all levels of excitement, tragedy, love and faith. An Evening with Father Tim finds the titular character referencing some of the other popular personalities from the play and novels, but Ware and Inman, the latter of whom serves as the reading’s narrator, are the only people on stage in this intimate production. Of course, notes Inman, the Mitford church is such a large presence that it could almost be considered the reading’s third character. That would suit Karon’s readership just fine, as the sacred structure resonates so largely with her fans that some have even claimed that Jesus Christ, not Father Tim, is the main character.

“That claim strikes me very well,” acknowledges Karon. “At the age of six, I believed I would grow up and be a preacher. At the age of ten, I knew without any doubt that I would be an author. Half a century later, I am an author writing about a preacher. So I guess I am a kind of ‘professional Christian.’ But of course, I’m also a private Christian. In other words, what I am, anyway, just rolls out into the world in a larger sense. So it’s good…it feels safe and comfortable to me. And unless there’s clergy around, I get asked to say the blessing!”

Jan Karon, named Janice Meredith Wilson at birth in 1937, was raised on a farm near Lenoir, NC. With her first novel, At Home in Mitford, she was nominated three times (1996, 1997, 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers, and it was the only book ever nominated for three consecutive years. In addition to this prestigious award, Karon won both the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000 for her fourth Mitford novel, A New Song. Karon has also won Gold Medallion awards for A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherd’s Abiding. Out to Canaan was the first Mitford novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list. Subsequent novels have debuted on the New York Times list, often landing in the number one spot.

An Evening with Father Tim is a simple staged reading, meaning there will be no line memorization and everything will be read from a script. Actor Stephen Ware will command a stage of minimal props and lighting, which will be used to represent different places in Father Tim’s environment — i.e. a leather chair for his study, a bench for a park, a stained glass window for a church. Bob Inman’s narration will help set up each following scene. The staged reading will run approximately 1 hour with no intermission.

*A special Friday, June 3 performance will feature a live interview with Jan Karon.

An Evening With Father Tim will be a central attraction of Return to Mitford, a four-day town-wide celebration in Blowing Rock June 2-5. The main attraction will be Ms. Karon herself. The celebrated author will be making several guest appearances in Blowing Rock during the festival, including lectures at the Hayes Performing Arts Center on June 3 & 4 at 10am. Both lectures will be followed by a 12:30pm luncheon at Chetola Resort. An Evening With Father Tim, Jan Karon’s lectures and the luncheon at Chetola are part of the Hayes Center’s season-opening fundraiser; tickets to all events are separate. To purchase tickets for the Hayes Center-related events, visit www.hayescenter.org. To see a complete list of events for Return to Mitford, visit www.mitforddays.com.

Ticket prices and times for An Evening With Father Tim are: $25, $30, and $40 for June 2 at 7:30pm (HIGH COUNTRY LOCALS NIGHT); $40, $50, and $60 for June 3 at 7:30pm*; and $30, $40, and $50 for June 4 at 7:30pm. (The June 3 performance will feature a live interview with Jan Karon,.) Ticket prices vary by seat location and are available now by calling the Box Office at 828-295-9627. You may pay by credit card or by cash (in person). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.HayesCenter.org by credit card.

Because this is a fundraiser for the Hayes Performing Arts Center, we will not be issuing refunds for this event and will not be able to give group discounts.  We do sincerely appreciate your attendance and support of the arts!