Horan is looking at all sides

Almost every week you can read about a play at Live Arts, or Four County, or the Hamner Theater, or Play On.

Well, this is the story of one play at all four venues.

Adelind Horan, better known as Addie, is making a mini-tour of local theaters with her brand-new one-woman show.

Presented by Whole Theatre, “Cry of the Mountain,” is a documentary play about mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Horan conceived and crafted the work and will perform it every Thursday in July.

“She was in an play by Peter Gunter that I directed last summer called ‘The Garden,’ and she was a fantastic talent,” said Ray Nedzel, who is producing Horan’s new work. “I think she has more talent than anyone I have seen in my 20-some-year career in the theater.”

Horan is no stranger to the local venues. The Tandem graduate has performed in most — many, many times.

“She grew up in the local theater,” Nedzel said. “She has been in Live Arts productions and was in many Four County Players shows as a child. Her parents [Michael and Lydia Horan] are both talented performers here in Charlottesville.”

But this month, Addie Horan takes center stage, or center stages, with her very creative piece.

“The reason that it is a documentary play is because she videotaped people,” Nedzel said. “She interviewed mining company executives, environmentalists who were protesting the mining and people whose family worked in mining for 20 years.

“Then she portrays these people verbatim.”

The dialog seems real because it is. She tells the story of mountaintop removal in the words of the people who are directly involved in the process.

“It is a wonderful piece of performance art,” Nedzel noted. “Adelind portrays those involved with and affected by mountaintop removal in Appalachia.”

Their stories are exactly what she taped last summer while volunteering with iLoveMounations.org.

“She plays all 13 characters,” Nedzel said. “She has the ability to represent each one and the talent to slip in and out of each character with ease. She is truly talented.”

The 22-year-old will be accompanied by a banjo player.

Following the show, Horan and a mining expert will have a “talk back,” in which they will discuss the play, the process and the cause.

Thirty percent of the proceeds will be donated to groups who are trying to stop mountaintop removal, Nedzel said.

“This is not a protest piece,” Nedzel said.

“It is more of an awareness piece. She shows all the sides. I have seen it in rehearsal so many times that I can see myself in so many of the characters.

“It is really interesting. It is really the way people speak.

“Anna Deavere Smith did something like this on Broadway, and she has been an inspiration for Addie and other artists. There is something dedicated and selfless about presenting plays in this manner. The playwrights don’t say ‘I could write something better.’ They take the words of real people verbatim and sculpt them into a play.

“It is an experience, and we a hoping to put it together for a college-town tour of the East Coast.”

Live Arts will host the first show on Thursday, followed by Four County Players on July 8, the Hamner on July 15, Live Arts again on July 22 and Play On on July 29. Show time is 8 p.m. at all four locations.

For more info on “Cry of the Mountain,” visit http://wholetheatre.org/mountain.

AT A GLANCE

Cry of the Mountain

8 p.m. Thursday

Live Arts

977-4177, Ext. 108

$10; part of proceeds benefit efforts to stop mountaintop removal