ABOUT FLARE
FLARE follows two mothers and next-door neighbors whose spouses are deployed on opposite sides of a growing national conflict. In the fictional southern town of Concordia, every porch must declare their allegiance through their porch light: green for The Militia and purple-blue for The Resistance.As tensions rise, two kinds of flares begin appearing across the night sky: military flares warning the familes of danger, and the synchronized fireflies of Congaree National Park illuminating another way forward.FLARE is a story about mothers and daughters across generations, and the difficult work of staying connected when the world demands that we choose sides. Rather than defining the political or religious differences between the characters, the musical focuses on the emotional cost of what it takes to find one another again across differences.FLARE will be staged as outdoor theatre on the front porch and lawn of the historic Ensor Keenan House in Columbia, South Carolina in partnership with One Columbia.
ABOUT CAROL BRADY
Hi, I'm Carol Brady, the creator of FLARE. You may know me as a visual artist and abstract painter, but poetry and music have always been part of my creative work.Two years ago, I sat down at the piano and started turning my poetry into songs. I didn't yet realize I was writing a musical about motherhood, division, and the search for connection in a fractured world.A year later, I met NYC director Mahayana "Yana" Landowne and shared a few of the songs, along with early drafts of FLARE. I still remember her telling me: "It's your dream. You have to write it." Since that conversation, FLARE has grown into something far bigger than either of us imagined when it began.
Our director, Yana Landowne, has led two workshops for FLARE over the past year.
FLARE is a piece of art we genuinely believe matters, and we're building it one stage at a time. Thanks to a successful community Kickstarter campaign (over $10,000 raised by 70 backers) we funded our staged reading, continued script development, and a professionally produced music score.Now we're fundraising for the live production in May 2027! Your donation goes directly toward the costs of bringing FLARE to the stage: paying our performers, sound and lighting for an outdoor production, and all the details that make a show feel complete, from playbills to the countless details.Every donor plays a meaningful role in bringing this story to life. We can't wait to show you FLARE!
Contact us below or at [email protected] to get in touch!