The Civil War in Western North Carolina,  still captures the attention of scholars,  history buffs and  playwrights , as it did in 2005, for Sean O’Leary.

His   award  winning   play Beneath Shelton Laurel, commissioned by Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in Mars Hill, drew sold out audiences. It is based on an actual massacre that   happened in Madison County  in early 1863,  where 13 men and boys suspected of Unionism were killed by Confederate soldiers.

Set in a decrepit church 30 years after the fact, two former Confederate officers and the widow of one of their victims struggle to come to terms with the defining event of their lives.  
Beneath Shelton Laurel returns to the stage, in a   reader’s theatre production under the direction of Anita Chapman.

It  features well-known ...