Violet

Playwright: Brian Crawley
Composer: Jeanine Tesori
Director and Choreographer: Christie Zimmerman
Musical Directors: Michael Rafter and Johnna Tavianini
Acting Coaching: Dee Dee Batteast

Violet tells the story of a young woman on a transformative journey of self-discovery and healing. Set in the 1960s, Violet travels across the American South to meet a televangelist she believes can heal the disfiguring scar on her face. Along the way, she forms unexpected connections with fellow travelers, including a young black soldier and his white friend, who challenge her perceptions of beauty, faith, and acceptance. With a rich and soulful score blending gospel, bluegrass, and country, Violet is a poignant exploration of inner strength and the power of human connection.

For our production of Violet, we encouraged the audience to connect with Violet's story just as much as they enjoied the music. To this end, we focused on transparency of reinforcement, and placed the band onstage, in full view of the audience. This helped to marry the music to the world of the play, and remove some of the sense of transition between song and dialog. Instead of the story taking place fully onstage and reinforcement being delivered to the audience separately by the sound system, our sonic world lived together seemlessly onstage, giving Violet the full narrative focus of her journey.