STARBRIGHT
Written By Sean David Robinson
Directed by Ashleigh Millett-Goff
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Starbright Behind-the-Scenes Video
About the Cast
About the Production Team
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PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE
My journey as a writer has been a circuitous one.
It started in the 5th grade when I won the D.A.R.E. essay contest. That day, my father told me, "Son, you should really be a writer." I believed him. I tried to write my first novel the same year. I made it exactly one page before giving up in tears. But that hope had burrowed into me by then, and it refused to leave.
In college, I went on to study music and journalism. I helped build a literary magazine which exists to this day, then became a waiter, a stand-up comic, an actor… I worked a million odd jobs, became a coder, a photographer, a pool hall junkie, but I still never felt like I had unearthed the real me. All along the way, in the back of my mind, the words echoed: "Son, you should really be a writer."
Then an injury hobbled my knee. I couldn't walk for months without a cane, much less act or perform anymore. So I yielded to that persistent voice and started writing seriously. By then, I had a new champion, someone who believed in me unflinchingly. Someone who challenged me to become the writer I always wanted to be. My wife, Courtney.
And out of that, Starbright was born.
* * *
People will call Starbright a sad play. And that's fair. Starbright, on its face, is a play about grief, trauma, and loss.
But in its bones, Starbright is about hope and belief. Hope for a world where loss isn't permanent, where suffering sometimes gives way to the sublime. Belief that, somewhere between the rigorous scientific analysis of empirical truth and the metaphysical wishes we inherit from ancient mythology, there's a greater meaning to this universe we've yet to discover. It's the idea Carl Sagan explored in his novel Contact. The same one Arthur C. Clark examined in his Space Odyssey quadrilogy. Belief in interconnectivity. The co-existence of faith and science. A unified theory of everything which includes in its calculus the weight and substance of the human soul.
My hope is that, in asking these questions about the nature of the universe, we might all find a greater awe, a greater peace, and a greater kinship with existence as a whole. And if we hope hard enough, believe in our wild theories enough... they might just come to be, even if they seem impossible.
My Father's hope for me and my wife's belief in me manifested this reality within me. They created this version of reality as much as I did. Without their support, this journey would not have been possible.
Here's to the impossible.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Sean David Robinson is an author and playwright from Asheville, North Carolina. As a writer of speculative fiction, he enjoys exploring the intersection of the scientific and the mythical, finding kinship with characters who toil between the boundaries of logic and hope.
STARBRIGHT, his debut stage play, premiered in an Off Broadway Festival in 2018. It was chosen as the winner of the 2018 North Carolina New Play Project, and voted the winner of the 2018 Centre Stage New Play Festival in Greenville, South Carolina. It was also shortlisted as a semi-finalist for the inaugural New Works Festival at the Garry Marshall Theatre in Burbank, California.
BEYOND THE OVERCAST SKY, his debut novel, placed 3rd in the Gutsy Great Novelist First Chapter Contest in March 2022. He lives in Asheville with his brilliant wife and three mischievous cats. You can find him at @SDR_Writer on Twitter.
Watch Starbright behind-the-scenes footage & interviews
ABOUT THE CAST
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Courtney DeGennaro Robinson
Courtney DeGennaro Robinson (Grace) is delighted to return to the Magnetic stage with Starbright. She most recently appeared as Becca in Rabbit Hole (ACT), Grace in the off-Broadway production of Starbright, Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross (DSPAC), and Sam Fried in Coyote on a Fence (DSPAC). She would like to thank her husband, Sean David Robinson, for being her wild genius and writing brilliant roles for women. She also owes endless gratitude to her parents, Paul and Debi, for teaching her firsthand the universe-traversing depths of love between parent and child.
Ivy Rose Voloshin
Ivy Rose Voloshin (Abigail Morrow) has been involved with a good deal of theater in Asheville since moving here 6 years ago. She has performed extensively with Flat Rock Playhouse (Molly in Annie, Lucy in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, and several appearances in A Flat Rock Christmas Show). She is excited to be a part of this production and has loved the journey of bonding with her cast.
Janet Oliver
Janet Oliver (Margaret) has been performing in the Asheville area for many years, and is immensely grateful to be back on stage! She has performed with Different Strokes!! in Best of Enemies, and Eleemosynary. Favorite roles with other local theatres have included: A Raisin In the Sun – Ruth; Miss Evers’ Boys - Eunice Evers; Into the Woods – the Witch, Chicago – Mama Morton, and Fences – Rose.
Scott Voloshin
Scott Voloshin (Calvin Morrow) has been involved in theater for many years. In Asheville, he has performed with The Magnetic Theatre, Different Strokes PAC, Montford Park Players, and Anam Cara Theatre Company. He most recently performed with his own group, Disappearing Man, at Asheville Fringe Festival. Before Asheville, Scott was involved with a lot of theater in New York. There, he was a company member of Brave New World Repertory Theatre. He is delighted and grateful to be part of such a wonderful and empathic cast in this show. He is also very excited to be sharing the stage with his daughter, Ivy Rose Voloshin.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director…………………………..Ashleigh Millett-Goff
Stage Manager/Board Op…………….Tippin
ASM/Board Operator…Eli Hamilton
Set Designer………………….Tippin
Set Builder………………………Tippin
Props Designer…………….Ashleigh Millett-Goff & Tippin
Soundscape Composition………Ross Gentry
Additional Sound Design………….Scott Voloshin
Lighting Designer………..Abby Auman
Costume Designer……….Ashleigh Millett-Goff
Dramaturgy………………….….Skyler Goff & Tippin
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM
ABBY AUMAN (Lighting & Sound Designer) - Abby is the Technical Director of The Magnetic Theatre. She also works as a lighting designer in theaters all over WNC.
SKYLER GOFF (Dramaturgy) - Skyler is a writer at heart and an eBay store owner at everything else. He is proud to be working on this show with dear friends and his fabulous partner in crime, Ashleigh Goff.
ELI HAMILTON (Assistant Stage Manager / Board Operator) - Eli Hamilton is a high school student who has been acting their entire life. They have lived in Asheville forever, and have been participating in youth Shakespeare and other theater productions for nearly nine years. Eli has worked with Anam Cara Theatre Company, the Montford Park Players, the Montford Moppets, The Magnetic Theatre, Mouse House Productions, and backstage at ACT. They also enjoy film production and screen acting. Eli loves making music and writing, and if their theater dreams fall to pieces, they plan on pursuing a musical or film career. They always look forward to seeing and participating in local productions and are thrilled they get to work with The Magnetic again.
ASHLEIGH MILLETT-GOFF (Director / Props Designer / Costume Designer) - Ashleigh has been doing theatre in one way, shape, or form since she was still single digits. After the past two years, she is THRILLED to be returning to live theatre. Ash has been onstage, off stage, backstage, you name it, she's probably done it, but if she's being honest, teaching and directing is her preferred place in the theatre. Some of her favorite director mentions include Coyote on a Fence and Best of Enemies with DSPAC and the first run with Starbright at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival. Ashleigh is the founding Artist Director of the Montford Moppets Youth Shakespeare Company, a youth focused classical theatre company here in Asheville, doing year round programming for kids and she absolutely loves working with such young professionals and passing on the love of ensemble theater! From the bottom of her heart, Ashleigh wants to thank Skyler for being her rock.
TIPPIN (Stage Manager / Board Operator / Set Designer / Set Builder / Props Designer / Dramaturgy) - Since diving into theatre in 2013, Tippin has worked as an actor, stage manager, technical director, assistant director, producer, props master, office manager, collaborative writer, dramaturg, and sound designer for over fifty productions for stage, film, restaurant, hallway, and oversized camera obscura. She has a particular interest in socially progressive, original, experimental, fringe, and immersive theatre, as well as in poetry performance.
PHOTOS by CHEYENNE DANCY
GALLERY
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THE MAGNETIC THEATRE STAFF
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR…….……JESSICA JOHNSON
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR…………..KATIE JONES
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR………….…ABBY AUMAN
BOX OFFICE MANAGER……………TIPPIN
MARKETING MANAGER……………CHEYENNE DANCY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GEORGE AWAD
ERIN MCCARSON
ELIZABETH MCCORVEY
BRETT MURPHY
JASON PHILLIPS
MAX REID
JOSH SULLIVAN
SPECIAL THANKS TO…
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Aaron and Gus Ballard