Ensemble Stage Presents “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground” from July 27 to August 4

By Savannah R. Watts

From July 27 to August 4, Ensemble Stage Company in Banner Elk, NC presents its third show of their series. Slow Dance on the Killing Ground by William Hanley is a dramatic show involving the encounter of three seemingly different people with mystic pasts on a dark night in New York City. Harvard University’s The Crimson said of one production of the show, “Three people with morbid backgrounds use each other for cathartic exposition of their life stories.” This show captures audiences with the unusual and disturbed lives of three characters and their chance encounter.

Slow Dance on the Killing Ground takes place in 1962 in Brooklyn, NY but unveils a powerful, timeless drama. Set in an older German man’s candy store, the German’s night escalates when an interestingly dressed black fugitive enters. Here begins what Mr. Hanley will refer to as Pas de Deux—Dance for Two—as the characters circle each other making threats with guns as ice picks but scarcely make any contact.

As their evening continues to unfold, the dance for two turns into three, Pas de Trois, as eighteen-year-old Rosie stumbles into the store looking for an abortionist. The NYU student recognizes the trouble she has found herself in, yet her situation and homely appearance makes both men forget about their present furies with each other—for a minute.

Throughout the play, tensions mount, judgments are made and secrets are revealed. In the third act, one character will even give a confession that may result in the end of the dance for them on the killing ground.

Slow Dance on the Killing Ground will be on Ensemble Stage from July 27 to August 4 at the Old Historic Banner Elk School. Tickets for this show are already available online at http://www.ensemblestage.com/box_office_2018_summer.html, or you can call the box office to reserve your tickets at (828) 414-1844. For more information about Ensemble Stage and the rest of their productions for the summer visit http://www.ensemblestage.com/index.html.