"Nine Parts of Desire" Feb. 17-21 at Davidson College.

Auditions are planned Saturday for youth interested in performing in “Charlotte’s Web” this spring or participating this summer in the teen and junior companies at Davidson Community Players. Also in this column:

• Preview of “Nine Parts of Desire” at Davidson College Feb. 17-21.
• Preview of “Violet,” coming to Davidson Community Players’ Armour Street Theater in March.
• A note about an upcoming production at Lee Street Theater in Salisbury that focuses on the legend of Marshal Michel Ney, a man with an intriguing Davidson College connection.

SATURDAY AUDITIONS

Davidson Community Players’ Connie Co. youth theater will conduct auditions for children and youth this Saturday for a spring production of “Charlotte’s Web” and the 2010 Rupert T. Barber Summer Workshop teen and junior companies. Auditions will be Saturday, Feb. 13, from either 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Armour Street Theatre, 307 Armour St.

“Charlotte’s Web” is an adaptation of the classic children’s story of friendship and loyalty. The production will open April 17 at Armour Street Theatre. The summer workshop theme is “Connie Company, Wild, Wooly and Wonderful.” The teen workshop will run July 5-18. The junior workshop will run July 12-18.

Both workshops culminate in public performances in Cornelius, Sherrill’s Ford and Davidson over the weekend of July 16-18.

DCP’s Connie Company is seeking energetic and imaginative youth ages 7-18 for acting positions in these projects. Auditioners on Saturday should plan to arrive at either 11:30 or 1:30 and stay for the entire session. Auditions will consist of theatre games, improvisation and cold readings from the Charlotte’s Web script. Please bring a recent picture. If auditioning for Charlotte’s Web, bring a list of conflicts for the February-April time period. Young actors of all levels of experience are encouraged to audition.

The Connie Co. also will offer a variety of non-audition summer drama camps for children ages 4-18. Camps offer 15 hours of instruction in an authentic theatre environment at the Armour Street Theatre. Campers will be grouped by age and will explore a variety of theatre games, stories, and improvisations based on this theme as learn basic acting techniques and stage production. Snack is included in the low $80 per week camp fee. Each camp culminates in a sharing for family and friends. Scholarships are available.

Register online at Davidson Parks & Rec, www.d-recs.org. For scholarship information, contact Davidson Community Players at 704 892-7953.

‘NINE PARTS OF DESIRE’

‘NINE PARTS OF DESIRE’

Davidosn College’s theater department presents “Nine Parts of Desire” by Heather Raffo Feb. 17-21 at Barber Theater in Cunningham Theatre Center on the Davidson campus. The play, directed by Sharon Green, uses a series of interwoven monologues to explore the struggles, triumphs, and passions of a cross section of Iraqi women.

Performances are Feb. 17-20 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 21 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are: $8 general admission, Faculty/Staff/Seniors: $5, Students: $4. For ticket information visit the college arts ticket website.

In connection with this play, the college and various departments and programs are producing a series of related events called “Voices of Middle Eastern Women: Women’s Lives in Arts and Culture.” They include a Feb. 11 discussion with faculty about women in the Middle East, and a post-play discussion on Feb. 18. For details, see the college website.

‘BOYCOTT’ SCREENING FULL

Davidson Community Players says all reservations for the Thursday, Feb. 11 screening of the movie “Boycott” at Our Town Cinemas were gone within 24 hours of the announcement. If you were unable to get tickets, you may call the Davidson Community Players and be added to the waiting list. The movie, which depicts the early years of the Civil Rights era, is being shown in conjunction with the company’s March production of “Violet,” at Armour Street Theatre.

‘VIOLET’ COMING IN MARCH

Davidson Community Players will produce 15 performances of the award-winning musical “Violet” March 11-28 at Armour Street Theater.

With a score that includes bluegrass, gospel, the Memphis blues, and other familiar styles, “this powerful musical swells with a truly Southern spirit and soul,” according to Davidson Community Players. Both heart-breaking and hopeful in its message, “Violet” shows us the need to look beneath the surface to find the true beauty within us all.

Based on the short story “The Ugliest Pilgrim” by Statesville author Doris Betts, the musical follows the journey of Violet, a 25-year-old whose face has been horribly scarred by a childhood accident. As she journeys from Spruce Pine, N.C., to Tulsa, Okla., seeking the aid of a televangelist faith-healer to remove the scar, she befriends two soldiers, Flick and Monty. The pair have their own experiences with prejudice and unfair judgment based on appearance. She also communicates with her late father, the man responsible for the scar-inducing accident, as she begins to understand the difference between love and beauty. By the time she reaches Tulsa, Violet has gained far more than the outward beauty she so desperately sought.

Dennis Delamar joins the cast in a reprisal of his highly-praised performance as the father at Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte a few years ago. Cassandra Wood of Mooresville will portray Violet, while Timothy Thomas of Charlotte and Jack Stevenson of Rock Hill play the two young soldiers Flick and Monty, respectively. Young Violet will be played by Hannah Roberge.

A large ensemble and choir of local favorites and new faces fill out the cast. Director Melissa Ohlman-Roberge and Musical Director John Smith team up again after their award-winning collaboration on “West Side Story” last summer.

“Violet” will be performed at the Armour Street Theatre in Davidson, NC on March 11-13, 18-20, and 25-27 at 8 p.m., with additional performances on March 14 and 21 at 7 p.m. Matinees will be March 14, 21, 27, and 28 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15-$18. For reservations, call 704-892-7918 or go to www.carolinatix.org. Recommended for ages 12 and up

LEGEND OF MICHEL NEY

Lee Street Theatre in Salisbury will produce “Nay! Ney (Double Ney),” a comedy written and directed by Catawba College Professor Emeritus James Epperson about the legend of the mysterious and fascinating Marshal Michel Ney.

The show runs Feb. 17-20 at 7:30 p.m. at Looking Glass Artists Collective, 404 N. Lee St., Salisbury. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 senior citizens.

“Nay! Ney (Double Ney)” is based on the true story and legend of a North Carolina school teacher who claimed while dying to be Marshal Michel Ney, Napoleon’s most famous general, supposedly executed in France.

On a November night in 1846, three rising stars of the American stage, Joseph Jefferson, Charles Burke, and Margaret Burke, are gathered around an isolated North Carolina campfire rehearsing a play they plan to present in Philadelphia. Having been forced by bad weather from their preferred means of travel, via riverboat, they are making the best of their inland trek when a drunken old man in a military style coat and waving a broken sword comes roaring out of the surrounding woods and challenges them to “do battle.”

The night-long struggle that ensues brings to the surface numerous events out of the old man’s past…or does it? As the actors join in the old man’s quest to find a personal peace, the mystery of his true identity plagues them as the characters become entangled in numerous real -life, as well as theatrical, role playing actions.

Ney has a Davidson College connection. A resident of the Davidson area and an erudite schoolteacher, he was approached by Davidson College trustees to design a new seal for the college in 1840.

More information: Robert Jones, 704-636-6612 or leestreettheatre@gmail.com or www.leestreet.org.