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About Threads
THREADS is a site-specific folk musical inspired by the true events of the 1929 Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina, and the life of Ella May Wiggins—a mill worker, single mother, songwriter, and fearless labor organizer who brought Black and white workers together across the racial boundaries of the Jim Crow South. Nearly a century later, THREADS brings this history home to Gastonia—and ultimately to the historic Loray Mill, where the story unfolded.
With a book by Nan Nelson-Ewing and music and lyrics by Mark Dillon and Randy Redd, THREADS draws upon archival research, historical accounts, and Ella May’s protest songs. Its score weaves Appalachian folk traditions, Piedmont Blues, labor music, and contemporary musical theatre to illuminate the people and communities at the heart of the strike.
THREADS began as a developmental project at UNC Charlotte in partnership with Wanderlust: Theatre on Location and Nouveau Sud Circus Project, bringing together professional artists, students, historians, and community partners. Led by director/commissioning producer Laura Hope-London and commissioning co-producer Sequina DuBose, the musical continues under their and Wanderlust’s artistic and producing leadership. The project is returning to Gaston County for its next stages of development and eventual world premiere. Continued partners include the Gaston County Museum, Homesteads Events, the African American Museum at the Loray Mill, the Center for Community, Heritage, and the Arts, and the Ella May Wiggins Memorial Committee. Through music, movement, aerial performance, and site-specific storytelling, THREADS reawakens a history of courage, solidarity, and sacrifice in the very place where it was lived.
The Artists
Mark Dillon, Music & Lyrics
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Nan Nelson-Ewing, Book
As an actor Nan-Lynn Nelson, debuted on Broadway creating the role of Nikki Kay Kane in the TONY nominated musical, RUNAWAYS, followed by additional Broadway co-starring roles in OPEN ADMISSIONS as well as the replacement for Angela Bassett in August Wilson’s JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE. VIKKI on the PBS children’s series: THE BLOODHOUND GANG; NBC’s Ensemble cast feature: HOT HERO SANDWICH.
As a playwright, Nan Nelson-Ewing is the 2024 MTA winner of BEST PLAY PRODUCTION for her play “LEAVING WATERMAINE”; which she also directed. She has been a finalist in the Susan Smith Blackburn international women’s playwriting contest for: LEAVING WATERMAINE. GLORY! enjoyed a World Premier at the iconic Dixon Place 2019. A recipient of the North Carolina Arts & Science Council Individual Artist Grant, 2019 and the Jeremy O. Harris/Pet Project Grant-Bushwick Starr Grant 2020-For A TOWN CALLED WITNESS. Ms. Nelson-Ewing is a current member of THE ACTOR’S STUDIO’S PLAYWRIGHTS/DIRECTORS WORKSHOP in NYC.
Randy Redd, Music & Lyrics
RANDY REDD made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical PARADE, appeared as "Jerry Lee Lewis" in MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, and originated roles in the Broadway musical RING OF FIRE, Terrence McNally's SOME MEN, Miller & Tysen's THE BURNT PART BOYS, Max Vernon's THE VIEW UPSTAIRS, Alan Boublil’s MANHATTAN PARISIENNE, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's BY JEEVES. Other NYC credits include Randy Newman’s FAUST, LUCKY STIFF, PUMP BOYS & DINETTES (New York City Center), SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, and ALLEGRO (Classic Stage) directed by John Doyle. He has been seen in the films Beautiful Creatures, After the Storm, Kinsey, and The Last Five Years, and can be heard on numerous original cast albums, as well as the critically- acclaimed album ShowFolk with frequent collaborator Rachel Bay Jones. His first play, MISSISSIPPI SUGAR, was developed and produced at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other original works: SONS OF LEVI, THE BLACK + WHITE, YOU BE YOU, AWFUL/GOOD, TOUCHÉ, FICTION IN PHOTOGRAPHS with Dan Mills, ELKIN DAB, WHAT’S THAT SMELL? with David Pittu, and AMERICAN TUNE. www.randy-redd.com
The Nouveau Sud Circus Project, Movement
The Nouveau Sud Circus Project is a contemporary social circus initiative rooted in the “underground” dance/acrobatic/physical theatre scenes present in the vast array of cultures in the urban regions of Charlotte. Through physical language — dance, movement, and circus — these communities tell stories of their struggles, histories, traditions, transformations, and iconography, as we examine the idea of what it is to be a citizen of the ‘new’ south.
The Nouveau Sud Project strives to create meaningful and thought-provoking dialogue on social issues, that often times are not addressed, through the use of movement, acrobatics, music, spoken word and other various physical art forms.
For more information, visit https://nouveausud.org
Laura Hope-London, Director & Creative Producer
Laura Hope-London (Waringer) is a director, actor, writer, producer, and academic who currently serves as director of the BFA Musical Theatre program at Tulane University in New Orleans. She previously taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she helped establish their Musical Theatre Certificate program with Sequina DuBose. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Research from Florida State University, an MFA in Music Theatre from London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
An accomplished stage and screen performer with credits spanning from New York to London’s West End, Laura pivoted to production, founding Wanderlust: Theatre on Location in 2018 as an immersive company that stages musicals at site-specific venues across the country. For Wanderlust, she has conceived of and directed Musicals on the Move, The Frenchtown Project, Into the Woods, THREADS, and adapted and produced A Christmas Carol. The company is currently developing projects in Georgia, California, and Louisiana.
She is currently developing her dissertation, Triple Threat: A Study of American Musical Theatre Training, into a book project, and her writing appears in the books Queen Mothers, Dance in U.S. Popular Culture, and Hamilton: History and Hip-Hop.
Sequina DuBose, Music Director & Creative Producer
Dr. Sequina DuBose is a crossover vocalist, educator, and producer whose work spans musical theatre, commercial music, and contemporary opera. She has served for more than 13 years as a producer and founding board member with ArtsCentric, a Black led theatre company in Baltimore committed to developing new works and reimagining canonical musicals. Her performance credits include Deena Jones in Dreamgirls, Chloe in the New York Musical Theatre Festival’s 7:32, The Musical, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, and Lady in Blue in Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. She has also appeared with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis and continues to perform with The American Spiritual Ensemble and Chorale Le Chateau.
Dr. DuBose serves as Associate Professor of Classical and Contemporary Voice and Coordinator of the Musical Theatre Certificate Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is also a board member for Wanderlust: Theatre on Location and continues to advocate for accessible, community-driven musical theatre performance and training.
