Can a convicted felon be innocent, even if the trial has passed, the evidence is in, and the accused has been sentenced to die? Asheville’s Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective will address this questions in its latest show of the 2015 season—Bruce Graham’s Coyote on a Fence—beginning June 4 at The Be Be Theatre in Asheville.
Originally produced in the late ’90s by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Coyote on a Fence is based on the true story of two death-row inmates: Bobby Rayburn, an illiterate man convicted of burning down an African-American church, and John Brennan, a man of letters and strong convictions, who is sentenced to be executed after beating a drug dealer to death.
Different Strokes’ Ashleigh Millett, who is directing the production, sees familiarity in the play’s main characters. “The real Bobby Rayburn is every child we turn our backs on, and we see what he could have been had he been nurtured, loved or taught right from wrong,” she says in Different Strokes’ official press release on the upcoming show. “And the real John Brennan believed that everyone deserves some honor and respect after they die. The pain and struggle you watch these characters go through happens to someone every day. We know these people. We are these people.”
DSPAC’s production will run Thursday through Saturday from June 4 – 20, beginning at 7:30 p.m. each night. An audience “talkback” session will follow Friday’s and Saturday’s performances. A portion of ticket sale proceeds will go to the local non-profit organization My Daddy Taught Me That, which works to help young males overcome stereotypes and educational shortcomings while building self-esteem.
Advance tickets for the show are $15, with group rates available online at differentstrokespac.org. Tickets purchased the day of the show are $18 general admission and $15 for students and seniors.
For more information on the performance, ticket sales, and Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective, visit the group’s website differentstrokespac.org. More information on My Daddy Taught Me That and their work in western North Carolina can be found at mydaddytaughtmethat.org.
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