Dec 31

Dec 31 The Best of 2023

As the last hours of 2023 tick away, Asheville Stages staffers look back on the year that was and pick their favorite theater performances from the past 12 months.

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Brian Postelle

I am not unfamiliar with Shakespeare. I've seen Shakespeare. I've read Shakespeare. So when I say my "Oh-my-God" Shakespeare moment came just this last year, I'm as surprised as anyone. But that's what happened at the Flat Rock Playhouse production of Macbeth in October. The tragedy, translocated from its noble Scottish origins to the Appalachian Mountains during a fictional (so far) civil war, spit grit and breathed embers. The urgency was enhanced by the in-the-round delivery, with the audience seated onstage and surrounding the players. The no-escape closeness of the action, as treachery and treason snowballed into their unforgiving and unavoidable conclusions, made the entire experience immersive, engrossing, and even shocking — which is a strange thing to say about a centuries-old story.

This was my first time seeing a performance at FRP, and I have since heard that it is a standard bearer for quality theater, so I will surely be back.

Whitley Albury

The Splatter Play at Magnetic Theatre. It was so different from what theater “should be” — at least in the traditional sense. It was the best kind of gross, and I really want it to hit a wider audience at some point.

Daniel Walton

Hats off to the BeBe Theatre for taking chances on new, thought-provoking productions throughout the year. I was delighted by The Sublime Theatre and Press's Ben & Angela this October, in which offstage couple Scott Fisher and Kirby Gibson carried an intimate, hopeful performance with deft character work. And the Nemesis Theatre Company production of Cymbeline restored my faith in the inexhaustibility of Shakespeare's riches.

Edwin Arnaudin

After bogarting the Flat Rock Playhouse beat for the past few years, it was fun sending other writers down to Henderson County to cover the state’s premier theater. While I missed out on some gems there, NC Stage Co. kept me laughing and thinking with such mesmerizing performances as Every Brilliant Thing, What the Constitution Means to Me, and Jeeves Takes a Bow. And over at Asheville Community Theatre, the provocative yet hilarious Native Gardens challenged Rabbit Hole for the most impressive production that the downtown company has staged since this little website launched in 2018.

However, nothing topped To Kill a Mockingbird at the Peace Center on April 19. I sacrificed seeing one of my favorite artists, Caroline Rose, play The Orange Peel in order to drive across state lines and see Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel — and I’d do it again without reservations. Richard Thomas was a revelation as Atticus Finch and the writing’s seamless timeline hopping echoes the book’s approach while incorporating the wonders of the stage to stunning effect. I haven’t left a show that satisfied since the first time I saw Hamilton.

(Photo by Treadshots)