News

Museum to stage Sandburg play

By Bill Moss, Published: October 7, 2014

The Henderson County Heritage Museum will present a one-act play by Steve Carlisle called "The Sandburgs of Connemara" Oct. 17-18.

The play contains three original songs written and performed by the author's brother Michael Carlisle. Playing the part of Carl Sandburg will be Brian Evers while Mrs. Sandburg will be played by Kim Cozort. Rounding out the cast will be Carol Duermit and Steve Carlisle.
Connemara was built in the late 1830s (although it was Capt. Ellison Adger Smyth who named it Connemara) and bought by the Sandburgs in 1945. The author, poet and songwriter and his wife brought their three daughters, two grandchildren, 14,000 books and a herd of dairy goats from Michigan to Flat Rock.
The play, which runs about 45 minutes, will be performed in the courtroom of the Historic Courthouse. After the play, interpreters from the National Park Service will display materials on the Sandburgs and answer any questions.
When Sandburg died on July 22, 1967, Chopin played on the hi-fi and a fresh magnolia blossom rested on the mantel over the fire place. When the family headed to a memorial service at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church, Mrs. Sandburg's brother, Edward Steichan, asked that the car be stopped in the driveway at Connemara so he cut a pine bough from one of the trees on the property. He carried it to the church where he placed it upon Mr. Sandburg's coffin. Artist Madison Duran chose the magnolia blossom and the pine bough to grace the print materials for The Sandburgs of Connemara.
Steve Carlisle recently retired as the associate dean of the Honors College at Western Carolina University where he served for eight years. Prior to that he taught in the Theatre Department at WCU. The son of Betty and Steve Carlisle Sr. of Hendersonville, he is a graduate of Hendersonville High School and WCU. He holds a masters in fine arts degree from Florida Atlantic University.

A member of Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Theatrical and Radio Artists, he has enjoyed a career in theatre, film and television spanning more than 30 years. He performed off Broadway in New York, worked with Charles Nelson Reilly and the National Shakespeare Co. and toured and performed in schools and theatres. He has appeared in several soap operas, including "One Life To Live," "Ryan's Hope," "Another World" and "All My Children." Among his prime time TV credits are "Rosanne," "Quantum Leap," "L.A. Law," "Evening Shade" and "Knot's Landing," while his film work includes "Dead Man Walking," "The Curse," "Fled," "Cop and a Half," "Calendar Girl," "My Fellow Americans" and "Air Time."
He has performed with many regional union theaters, including the Burt Reynolds Theater in Jupiter, Florida, and at the Flat Rock Playhouse, where he has appeared in more than 150 professional productions over the past 24 years.