Esteemed director, actor, and educator Anne Tromsness will direct Proud Mary Theatre Company’s next production, The Pink Unicorn, the hit one-woman show starring Upstate actor Kelly Davis.
The remaining performances will take place February 14-16 at Artists Collective Spartanburg, 578 West Main St. (formerly the West Main Artists Co-Op).
In this heart-wrenching play by Elise Forier Edie that was recently produced Off-Broadway with Tony-winner Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Trisha Lee’s life and faith as a Christian widow in a conservative Southern town is suddenly upended when her 14-year-old daughter Jolene announces she is “gender queer” and starting a chapter of the Gay and Straight Alliance at Spartan High School.
Tromsness – a frequent actor and director at The Warehouse Theatre and faculty member at The Fine Arts Center of Greenville County Schools – has been a Proud Mary fan since its founding (she consulted on our very first production) and a passionate, longtime ally and advocate for LGBTQI rights. In 2014 she was awarded the SC Equality Community Champions Award for the Upstate.
“When I watched the video of Elise’s show, I just burst into tears – that fierce and unconditional mama love and support, those Southern voices standing up for equality in their conservative community,” said Tromsness, who also serves on the board of directors for the SC Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“This is a play that I think will resonate in our community, prompt conversation, and perhaps remind us that no matter how futile things may seem, love contains boundless power, and that our children, if we listen to them, accept them, and love them, can elevate our understanding of the world beyond our own imaginings and create the capacity for change,” she added.
Originally from New York, Davis (Helen Bechdel in Proud Mary Theatre’s musical Fun Home in June 2019) has worked with companies such as Theatre for the New City, NYC Fringe Festival, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Rising Sun Theatre Company, and Emerging Artists Theatre, and locally with the Mill Town Players (where she is currently rehearsing Smoky Mountain Christmas), Centre Stage, and Upstate Shakespeare Festival.
“I am so honored to embody Elise Forier Edie’s words and to tell this story of a mother’s struggle to honor her own faith while supporting her child’s coming out as gender queer,” said Davis, who currently serves as a teaching artist in Greenville Schools through both the Warehouse Theatre and SmartARTS, and teaches musical theatre at Upstate Carolina Dance Center.
“So many of us are struggling to find some common ground in our families. Diversity is hard, and I hope that this play sparks a conversation about how we can all do better by each other, as fellow Americans and as people of faith,” she said.
Though The Pink Unicorn made its Off-Broadway debut in 2019, the play was originally produced in Ellensburg, Washington by DogTown Theatre in 2013 and has been performed throughout the U.S. and Canada including a run at United Solo Theatre Festival in New York, where Edie won Best Storyteller.
The Pink Unicorn Performance Dates
SPARTANBURG:
Artists Collective Spartanburg, 578 West Main St. (formerly the West Main Artists Co-Op)
Friday – Saturday, February 7-8 & 14-15 @ 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 9 & 16, 2020 @ 3 p.m.
GREENVILLE:
Coffee Underground, 1 East Coffee St.
Tuesday – Wednesday February 11-12 @ 8 p.m.
Tickets for all shows are $15 for general admission and $12 for students. Doors open 30 minutes prior to performance and galleries at Artists Collective open one hour before performances.
For tickets or more information, visit www.proudmarytheatre.com/tickets or call (864) 580-8385.