Original play with music by Sofia Costanzo

When Hurricane Helene hits Asheville, a neighborhood of strangers must unite despite their differences. Without each other, they cannot survive, and with each other, they learn how to live. Inspired by a series of interviews, Raining on Sunny Street is a new play with music recounting and reconciling with the events of the hurricane in our community.

Raining on Sunny Street is not only a performance but a community event in which the people of Asheville can find themselves on stage and connect over a shared past.

"In September of 2024, Hurricane Helene devastated Asheville, North Carolina and the surrounding areas. Being in school in New York, I was not in Asheville when the hurricane hit; rather, I saw it from the outside. My family, my friends, my community was in pain. For three days I could not get in touch with my family. All I saw was the devastation on the news. My home being shown back to me on the television, a place I no longer recognized. The water was out in some places for months, fallen trees had smashed houses and blocked roads. Over 250 lives were lost, hundreds of families were displaced from their homes, and schools were shut down for weeks. Although there was extreme destruction, something beautiful happened: every neighborhood had no choice but to come together and survive. Every neighbor had to open their hearts, their homes, and share their resources. Volunteer groups from all around the country came to help dig out the mud, restaurants served free food on the streets, and people delivered jugs of water, diapers, and soap. This community came together. Our community will be recovering from the long-lasting effects of this traumatic event for years. As I watched this devastation from afar, I felt helpless. I couldn’t go home to help, I couldn’t bring supplies or dig through the mud, but what I could do was make art. So, following a series of community interviews, I started writing Raining on Sunny Street as a way to reckon with the tragedy thrust upon our community and to heal together through the power of theatre."

• Sofia Costanzo, Writer/Director of Raining on Sunny Street, is an Asheville-bred artist currently studying Drama at New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Sponsored by: NYU Tisch, Stillpoint Wellness, Blue Ridge Public Radio, Asheville High School

About Sofia Costanzo:

In September of 2024, Hurricane Helene devastated my hometown, Asheville North Carolina, and the surrounding areas. Being in school in New York, I was not in Asheville when the hurricane hit; rather, I saw it from the outside. My family, my friends, my community was in pain. For three days I could not get in touch with my family. All I saw was the devastation on the news. My home being shown back to me on the television, a place I no longer recognized. The water was out in some places for months, fallen trees had smashed houses and blocked roads. Over 250 lives were lost, hundreds of families were displaced from their homes, and schools were shut down for weeks. Although there was extreme destruction, something beautiful happened: every neighborhood had no choice but to come together and survive. Every neighbor had to open their hearts, their homes, and share their resources. Volunteer groups from all around the country came to help dig out the mud, restaurants served free food on the streets, people delivered jugs of water, diapers, soap. The community came together. My community will be recovering from the long-lasting effects of this traumatic event for years. As I watched this devastation from afar, I felt helpless. I couldn’t go home to help, I couldn’t bring supplies or dig through the mud but what I could do is make art. So I started Raining on Sunny Street as a way to reckon with the tragedy thrust upon my community and to help them heal.

Raining on Sunny Street started with three months of research and interviews after Hurricane Helene, which left me with hours of material to sift through and create out of. From this emerged a musical, or rather a play with music, that tells the story of a neighborhood during the hurricane. Last summer I workshopped this piece with Asheville artists and then held another reading in New York. My biggest discovery with both of these readings was that the weight this story carries for an Asheville audience is much heavier than that of a New York audience. In alignment with Gestalt Therapy principles, I believe that true reflection is one of the most powerful tools for healing, which is why I am passionate about creating a space in which the community can actively address their collective experience and process their trauma through theatre.

On a more specific and logistical level, my goal is to produce two performances of this show for the community by September 1st in partnership with Asheville High School and Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective. I am already in conversation with both organizations, and the high school has agreed to let me use their theatre for the production. Using this theatre space gives high school students the chance to work with me on the production, bringing the community into the process from every angle. I will be casting Asheville artists to work with me not only as actors but as collaborators and community voices. The show is currently on its second draft, and I will complete a third draft by mid-July in order to begin rehearsals at the end of July. Rehearsals will run through July and August, with performances the weekend of August 28th. The rehearsal process will be a co-creative space in which everyone involved has the opportunity to process their experience. While the performance timeline extends slightly beyond the grant’s proposed schedule, this structure allows for a feasible and fully realized process given my availability. I aim to engage at least 10–15 Asheville-based collaborators in the rehearsal and performance process.

My other important goal is to use this show to open a dialogue about each person’s individual experience with the hurricane. I am currently studying abroad in Berlin and have been inspired by the way theatre is used as an avenue for political change and public engagement. In many theatres here, there is a canteen, a bar in the theatre, where audience members, actors, and creators gather after the show and have conversations about the experience they just shared. It is my goal to create a similar post-show space where the community, actors, and creatives can talk to each other about how they were impacted by the performance. After each show, there will be a talkback with the actors, myself, and other creatives to begin these conversations, and I will collect written or recorded audience reflections following each performance to assess the impact of the work. With this project, I hope to engage the people of Asheville in a collective recollection and dialogue of their experience in order to continue their healing process.