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The Second Annual In/Visible Theatre BOLO Fest to be Held in Boone this September

In/Visible Theatre, Boone’s local professional arts group, is holding its second annual festival of solo plays on September 7th, 8th, and 9th. The Boone Solo Festival, known as BOLO, will take place at various evening times in downtown Boone locations.

The BOLO festival is designed as a crawl, meaning all the venues are within walking distance of each other.  Patrons may buy a ticket for one evening and visit different venues for different shows, or stay at one venue to watch all the shows performed there that night. The BOLO festival is based on the fringe festival model, in which performers can showcase work-in-progress, experimental shows, and other types of performances developed outside of mainstream theatres. In/Visible Theatre produced its first show in 2012 for New York International Fringe Festival, and wanted to create a fringe fest in the High Country, a place supportive of the arts.

According to Derek Davidson, who along with Karen Sabo, is a founder of the organization, “The variety of shows makes the festival special. This year, we’re including local artists from Watauga, Ashe, and Johnson Counties, and have artists coming in from other parts of North Carolina, such as Chapel Hill and Charlotte.” Also, some BOLO 2017 pieces have been performed before, and some are world premieres.

On Thursday, the shows start at 7:30pm at Third Place on Appalachian Street, and on Friday and Saturday, shows start at 6:30pm at three different locations: Third Place, Reckless Arts on King Street, and on Saturday, Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall. The shows range from 12 minutes to approximately an hour. Ticket prices are $15/night, or $35 for a weekend pass.

Here are some of the variety of pieces that theatergoers can enjoy:

Savannah Bennett, originally from Asheville, will perform Every Brilliant Thing, last year’s big off-Broadway hit that manages to look at suicide and depression with a lighter heart and a loving gaze.  

Mark Suggs, from Boone, will perform the world premiere of OX, a new play by In/Visible Artistic Director Derek Davidson.  

Janet Boudreau, from Charlotte, will perform He/She and Me, a play about what happens when a woman’s husband of 40 years tells her he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman.  

Spencer Ball, from Boone, is a musician and theatre artist performing his original show about a struggling songwriter trying to make it in the Big Apple.  

For more information, check the In/Visible Theatre website at www.invisibletheatrenc.org.   

The mission of the ​In/Visible Theatre is to give voice to unheard voices through producing work that challenges audiences to see, hear, and experience the world in new ways.  Through education, social engagement, and innovative artistic practices, we encourage participants to try on new perspectives that access deeper truths and create a more engaged, empathetic, introspective populace.