Flowers, roses, PSP6

A play by

Sandra Mason

The Occasional Theatre - producer

Michael Lilly and Brenda Lunsford Lilly founded The Occasional Theatre in Los Angeles, California in 1998. Prior to its formation, they were the recipients of Third Century Artist grants which they used to form a small theatre group called The ACT Company in Greensboro, NC. Sponsored by the United Arts Council, they produced avant-garde, contemporary and classic theatre at The Mantleworks in Old Greensborough. Later, when the Arts Council purchased the Carolina Theatre, The Act Company was invited to produce A Streetcar Named Desire. It was the first live theatre at The Carolina in more than fifty years. It was during their tenure as Third Century Artists that they began to produce original material and nurturing new playwrights became a passion for them. Over the years they have produced more than twenty-five original plays including premiere productions of playwrights Sybil Rosen, Ed Simpson, Tom Huey, Joe Besecker and Peter Colley.

The founding of The Occasional Theatre came with a simple goal - to produce theatre on those occasions when a new play that deserved to be heard found its way into their hands and to continue the producer/playwright relationship beyond closing night by encouraging, and whenever possible, participating in subsequent productions. Ed Simpson's play, Elephant Sighs, was The Occasional Theatre's initial production and garnered numerous accolades and awards for both the production and the play, running for nearly six months in Los Angeles. They mounted two additional productions of Elephant Sighs in Greensboro and later to sold-out houses in Asheville at the 2006 Stoneleaf Festival.

Now, after many years in California, they have based The Occasional Theatre in their home state of North Carolina and Brenda's hometown of Asheville where they continue to seek out the most compelling plays they can find in their effort to produce original theatre and support both emerging as well as journeyman playwrights. They are delighted to bring the premiere of Sandra Mason's new play, Return of an Angel to Asheville. "Not only is this a beautiful play, it is important that the legacy of Thomas Wolfe continues to be honored." says Brenda Lilly. "And Michael and I are delighted to be the ones to bring it to Asheville."

Michael and Brenda Lilly - Artistic and Producing Directors for The Occasional Theatre