Church and State

It’s three days before the election in Jason Odell Williams’s 2016 comic drama, and North Carolina junior Republican senator Charles Whitmore is in a dead heat with his Democratic challenger, running on what Whitmore’s wife calls the “faith, family, and football” platform. But moments before he’s supposed to close the deal in a final pre-election speech, a story breaks that could end his political career. That morning, outside a memorial service following a mass shooting, a political blogger heard Whitmore question his faith in God and all those “thoughts and prayers” his fellow conservatives keep offering in lieu of legislation. The blogger’s account has gone online, and CNN and the Associated Press have just picked up the story. Whitmore’s campaign manager is in full spin mode and his wife is livid, as the gun-rights candidate has maybe ten minutes to figure out how he’ll square his change of conscience with his constituents. Yvonne Anderson directs Brian Yandle, Melanie Simmons, and Liz Webb in this North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre production.