Things are not so great at the great tree. Winter is coming, and aging gray squirrel Scurius refuses to share his stockpile of nuts with the rival fox squirrels. Will his greed trigger a war? Will his hubris blind him to his own family’s machinations?
A boundary-pushing satire about class division and wealth inequality, Robert Askins' THE SQUIRRELS plays in the Firemen's Kitchen from October 18th through November 2nd.
Making a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed return to the Firemen’s Kitchen stage is Kay Award-winner Nathan Ahlgrim as Carolinensis.
A native of Illinois, Ahlgrim originally came to North Carolina to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology/Psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill. (He also holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University in Atlanta.) In time, the love he developed for the state would bring him back to the Hickory area, and his current home in Bethlehem. A lover of dance, nature, and education, Ahlgrim is an Academic Community Manager for The Good Food Institute, and a ballroom dance instructor at Hickory Ballet & Performing Arts.
Ahlgrim made his Hickory Community Theatre debut in THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT, for which he won a 2023 Kay Award for Best Lead Actor. He next appeared at HCT as an Ensemble member in IN THE HEIGHTS, and more recently performed in the Just2Guys production of NUNSENSE A-MEN. In addition to his work on stage at HCT, Ahlgrim is currently serving as a member of its Board of Directors.
"THE SQUIRRELS is such a fabulous mix of ridiculous and resonant," says Ahlgrin, whose natural/educational inclinations lead him to be "the actor most likely to fact-check the behaviors shown during cross-species squirrel aggression." As one does.
Performances of THE SQUIRRELS are Fridays and Saturdays, October 18th through November 2nd at 7:30PM; Sundays, October 20th & 27th at 2:30PM, and, Thursday, October 31st at 7:30PM. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for youth and students.
Tickets are available online at hickorytheatre.org, or by phone at 828-328-2283. The theatre box office is open from 12-5 PM Wednesday through Friday, or one half-hour before a performance.
THE SQUIRRELS is rated R. It contains adult language, squirrel-on-squirrel violence, and yes, nuts. Under 17 requires adult guardian.
THE SQUIRRELS is produced in association with Diane's Shelter. The Hickory Community Theatre’s 76th season is sponsored by Shurtape Technologies, Protection Products, Inc., A Cleaner World, and LifeRootz. HCT is a Funded Affiliate of Arts Culture Catawba and receives additional support from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
(Photo by Eric Seale)
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