Local actress Barbara Bates Smith performs her show, “Ive Rowe,” at White Horse Black Mountain on Saturday, June 13. This is the 25th anniversary of the production, based on Lee Smith’s bestselling novel, Fair and Tender Ladies.
Press release from Smith:
Actress Barbara Bates Smith, noted for her Off-Broadway debut with “Ivy Rowe,” adapted from Lee Smith’s bestselling novel Fair and Tender Ladies, now celebrates her 25th year of touring with a performance on Saturday, June 13 at White Horse Black Mountain at 8 p.m. Musical accompaniment is by Jeff Sebens. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door; online at www.whitehorseblackmountain.com or at 828-669-0816.
“I used to be a scandal; now I’m an institution!” This quote from the novel, says Barbara, aptly describes her more than 700 times of portraying this feisty mountain woman’s life of “livin’ on love,” even as she takes a stand against the coal company’s bulldozer. Author Lee Smith has said, “Barbara IS Ivy Rowe! I am her most avid fan!” Of its Off-Broadway debut, The Village Voice said “A lifetime’s worth of sass, whoop, hurt, and reflection;” WOR Radio: “We are captivated and enthralled;” Variety: “Both funny and heartbreaking.”
Other stage adaptations of Lee Smith’s works are part of Barbara’s touring repertoire, with recent additions from those of Allan Gurganus and Ron Rash. “Go, Granny D!” from the memoir of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, who at age 90 walked across the U.S. for election reform, is also now touring nationwide.
A Southeastern Theatre Best Actress award winner, Barbara has recently played leading roles in regional productions of “Wit,” “Hamlet,” “Doubt” and “August: Osage County.”
Prizewinning North Carolina author Lee Smith has written sixteen books of fiction, including another bestseller novel The Last Girls, the ever-popular Oral History, and the recently published Guests on Earth, set in Asheville.
More information is on the actress’s website: www.barbarabatessmith.com.
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