Horse-and-wagon theater arrives in Asheville

Burgaw, North Carolina, a blip near the coast, doesn't seem like much — a correctional institute, a Food Lion, an interstate exit on the outskirts — but it happens to be the horse-drawn theater capital of the United States.

So quipped Gabriel Harrell, who founded the equine-powered enterprise that is the Rural Academy Theatre with his brother, Noah Harrell.

Although Burgaw is the theater company's base, Western North Carolina is its stage.

Every year for the past four years, the brothers have departed their hometown at summer's end with horses, wagons and a small theater company of friends to tour the back roads, pastures and small towns around Asheville, offering accessible, original productions that feature live music, puppetry, vaudeville- and cabaret-inspired sketches, allegories and more.

The Harrells haven't always worked in their home state — they honed their skills throughout the country. New York City's theater scene beckoned, and so did Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont. But the brothers decided they had work to do in the South.

"People from small communities in the South often feel like there's nothing going on, there's no cultural events, that you have to go to big cities, that you have to leave, that the only art coming in worth seeing is in galleries in Asheville or Charlotte or big theaters, and that just seems like such a lie," said Gabriel, who plays a tuxedoed waiter who serves books instead of food in this year's production. "There's so much culture and there's so much art, creativity in those communities, so it's sort of a way to call attention to that. To celebrate it."

Gabriel got to know the Appalachian Mountains while spending summers at Turtle Island Preserve, legendary woodsman Eustace Conway's outpost near Boone. That's also where he learned about horse-drawn wagons. As much as a vehicle for transport, the wagons seemed like vehicles for conversation.

The people the company meets on the road connect with the novelty and the slow pace of the wagon, said Jeff Reinhardt, who joined the Rural Academy Theatre three years ago. Like the other troupe members, he doesn't exactly have a job description — he figures out how to do whatever needs to be done. But his specialties are music — particularly the clarinet — and puppetry.

"We're contradicting modern society, but we're also getting an emotional reaction out of people, which is unusual because we're not protesting; we're doing," he said. "I've been in a hippie school bus. I know what kind of reaction you get when you're driving around in a hippie school bus. But when you're on a wagon with horses, people who would otherwise not listen to anything you have to say are immediately engaged."

Although humor and levity are major components of the Rural Academy Theatre's work, the 10-person troupe doesn't shy away from controversial topics in its sketches, such as fracking and racism. This year, they weren't invited back to perform in Lenoir. Gabriel suspects a fracking sketch last year as part of the larger show was not well-received.

"If it did cause a stir, and those people contacted their local arts council and started talking with their neighbors and other people in the audience about fracking, it did what it was supposed to do," he said. "I don't think it's the job of art to change people's minds about something — I think that happens so rarely — but to start a conversation about something, to start a dialogue. It's a common language, art is, that we all speak."

If this were played upon a stage

On a Monday night in Mars Hill, the Rural Academy Theatre has stationed its crimson and gold wagon, which converts into a stage, on the university's green. They've set up chairs, but those fill quickly, and the audience spreads out on the grass — adults, students, kids and dogs.

There are no microphones, so when the players project their voices into the night, the setting feels like friends around a campfire or a family telling stories. The stage is small but intricate, and the lighting is basic, but the players use it to create shadow puppets and projections.

An atmosphere of enchantment descends as the actors move through the sketches. Two women pantomime the parts of dour Russian beet farmers. Diners feast on books. A garden grows in light and shadow. The actors recruit a volunteer to perform a dance with them in which only their feet are visible, leaving the audience in stitches.

Sometimes, as in a sketch about the coming of winter, the material mixes whimsy and sadness in a way that makes children giggle and adults sigh. The effect of the theater is complicated, but the presentation is not.

"It's not a theater of illusion," Noah says as he prepares for the performance. "It's accessible. We love people to say: 'This is amazing. I could do this.' It's not a big flashy show.'"

A cluster of children huddle at the front of the audience, about six feet from the actors, and laugh throughout the performance. Four-year-old Max Engel is among them. Afterward, he praises the jokes and a dancing ghost character, his favorite part of the show.

His grandmother, Evelyn Baker, traveled with her family from Burnsville to Mars Hill to see the performance. She had never heard of the theater until a few days earlier, when the horse-drawn wagons passed down her street.

Near the "cheap art emporium" as the troupe calls its tent of handmade souvenirs, a group of Mars Hill University students discuss the show. None of them are studying theater, but for a moment, they all wanted to abandon their studies and run off with the Rural Academy Theatre.

The players begin to pack up almost as soon as the show is over. They have horses to care for and wagons to pack before they hit the road the following morning. The trip from Mars Hill to Marshall is comparatively short, but it will still take nearly three hours, and the weather looks like rain.

Hoping for hay

For the six weeks of tour, the theater troupe lives on the road. They plan out their routes to avoid mountainous climbs and busy stretches, but when it comes to accommodation, they rely on strangers. On nights when they have scheduled a performance, the host usually sets them up with a place to graze their horses and pitch their tents. But after a full day spent on the road, they often don't know where they'll sleep.

Four people drive the two wagons. The remaining members ride ahead on bicycles, scouting out possible campsites. When a field or pasture looks promising, they find the owner and ask for a place to stay. It's that simple.

"More often than not, people are hesitant and say, 'Well, I guess it's OK as long as you're out first thing in the morning,'" Noah said. "Then as soon as the wagons and horses pull in, the mood changes. They're calling their grandkids. 'How long can you stay?'"

The horses reach people. There are four: two Percherons (big black draft horses), Happy and Missy, a dappled Appaloosa named Strangely, and Mona, a Saddlebred. They've become a crucial part of the operation, even though they don't take the stage.

"We're not even sure if they like theater," Gabriel said. "They get really good gas mileage. ... They not only pull our wagons from town to town, but they put us traveling at a speed that allows us to connect with the communities through which we travel."

Gabriel remembers a night when the theatre had nowhere to camp. The cyclists asked to use a field, but the woman who rented it turned them away. That is, until she saw the horses. She ran into the yard and flagged the wagons down and explained she had changed her mind. She cooked the players biscuits and sang them shape note music under the stars.

"Those are the interactions that stick with us," Noah said. "The show itself is the reason we're all together, but there's so much more ... You physically can't have those interactions when you're going 70 miles an hour and you're only stopping at gas stations."

Rural Academy Theatre's Asheville area shows

Shows begin at 8 p.m. Admission is donation based, but the troupe suggests $10-20 per adult. For more information, visit theruralacademytheater.com.

Oct. 1, Marshall High Studios, 115 Blannahasset Island in Marshall

Oct. 2, Franny's Farm, 22 Frannys Farm Road, Leicester

Oct. 4, Sparklebark, 180 Stony Knob Road, Weaverville

Oct. 7, Wedge Brewing Company, 37 Paynes Way, Asheville

Oct. 8, UNC Asheville

Oct.10, White Horse Black Mountain - 105 Montreat Road, Black Mountain

Oct. 12, Earthaven Eco Village, 7 Consensus Circle, Black Mountain

Tour on two legs

The Rural Academy Theatre isn't the only group moving differently this week. A quartet of musicians from Nashville, The Walking Guys, will pass through Asheville on a 1,600-mile foot tour.

The 20-somethings departed Portland, Maine, in July, and they'll arrive back home in November.

"In the music industry these days, I feel like you have to do something a little bit different … to at least get your music heard because there's just so much," said Benjamin Butler, who sings and plays guitar. "Going on this walk and playing music isn't going to make me this incredible musician that everybody knows. But I am really good, and if my name gets out there, then people have a chance to hear me."

The Walking Guys will play two shows in the Asheville area. They'll share their blend of pop and roots sounds and tell stories from the road. They play Root Bar, 1410 Tunnel Road, on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. They visit The Town Pump in Black Mountain on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

As in every town, the Walking Guys are looking for somewhere to rest their heads. For more information, visit thewalkingguys.com or send an email to info@thewalkingguys.com.