The Cigar Factory Play

Please help bring The Cigar Factory novel to the stage! We are seeking small donations ($10-$250) to fund two performance readings of the script adapted from this award-winning novel.

The Cigar Factory tells the story of two working class Catholic women in Charleston from 1917 to 1946: Meliah Amey Ravenel is African American, and Cassie McGonegal is Irish American. For a brief yet historical moment, they will come together at a time when society was determined to keep them apart. And in the process, they give rise to an old field song, a song of promise, which was attributed in 1900 to Charles Tindley as “I’ll Overcome Someday.” Years later, the song was adapted to become the Civil Rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”

Noted for its skillful use of the Gullah-Geechee language, Michele Moore’s novel celebrates West African culture and its tremendous influence on the people of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, regardless of race or class. Several Gullah-Geechee performing artists, and those working to preserve Gullah-Geechee Heritage, have embraced this project and are helping with script development. The story has found enthusiastic support from people who are descendants of former tobacco workers, many of whom still live near the factory.

The author’s vision for this play is that it will fully and fairly portray the lives and language of Charleston’s working poor, black and white. And in doing so, that it might someday become the bookend to Porgy & Bess.

Please help bring this story of Charleston’s working women and men to the stage!

The Cigar Factory novel won the Langum Trust Prize for Best American Historical Fiction, and now, Michele has completed a script adapting the book into a two-act play scheduled for two performance readings at Queen Street Playhouse in Charleston, SC on February 21st at 7:30 PM and again on Saturday February 22nd at 3:30.

The Ask:

With your help, we can reach our initial goal of raising $5000 to cover the remaining cost of the February performance readings.

Our Goal for this performance reading:

To secure a producer/producing theater company to mount a fully staged play by the year 2021. Our dream is for this play to have its world premiere in Charleston in 2021 as part of Spoleto USA.

Earlier excerpts from Part One of the novel have been performed in dramatic readings for 2016 Piccolo Spoleto Festival (sold out and well-reviewed), The Pat Conroy Literary Festival, Kiawah Island for a private gathering which included descendants of many former cigar factory workers, as well as the initial reading for Trident Technical College’s Eastside Day Celebration in 2015.

So, for the very first time, we are turning to you, our supporters, to ask for your help with a donation to fund some very important aspects of the upcoming performance reading:

Thank you in advance for your contribution.

With Gratitude,

Charlotte Tiencken, Director
Michele Moore, Author
www.thecigarfactorynovel.com
See excerpts from 2016 Piccolo Spoleto Reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkMTzMdvm8&t=29s