Barbara Bates Smith as Ivy Rowe

The North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement will host a performance of the acclaimed one-woman play "Ivy Rowe" starring Barbara Bates Smith at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center. The show is free and open to the public.

"Ivy Rowe" recounts the life of the spunky mountain woman at the center of Lee Smith's celebrated novel "Fair and Tender Ladies." Accompanied by traditional Appalachian music, this play follows Ivy over seven decades as she shares the changing story of her life and the hills in which she lives.

"Ivy Rowe" debuted off Broadway in 1991 to stellar reviews. The New York Times called it "a rare and heartfelt performance that pays tribute to the women of Appalachia – and to the heroism of strugglers everywhere." While the Village Voice claims that "Ivy Rowe" is filled with "a lifetime's worth of sass, whoop, hurt and reflection."

Smith has adapted many literary works by Southern writers for the stage. She has taken her one-woman shows across the country and to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In addition to her roles based on literary characters, Smith developed a monologue, "The C-Word: A Cancer Story Wherein Life Imitates Art," following her own cancer diagnosis and treatment. She and her husband live near Clyde.

For more information, call the N.C. Center for Creative Retirement at 828/251-6140.