Photos provided by Laurie Johnston at the Burke County Public Library show William Waightstill Avery (left), Sam Fleming, and the old Burke County Courthouse. The photo of Avery is AI enhanced from the original image submitted to Picture Burke by Mary Lou Avery Furr. Kelly Taylor with the Burke Theater Guild generated the image of Fleming using AI. The image of the courthouse was taken by F.W. Tyler ca 1892 and submitted to Picture Burke by the Burke County Historical Society from the Dr. I.M. Taylor collection.
Sitting (from left) are Burke Theater Guild members William Keith Watts, Martha Watts, Kelly Taylor, Chris Honsaker, and Kathy Cozort Oliver. Standing (from left) are Dennis Buff, Phyllis Garrison, and Mike Chandler.
Photos provided by Laurie Johnston at the Burke County Public Library show William Waightstill Avery (left), Sam Fleming, and the old Burke County Courthouse. The photo of Avery is AI enhanced from the original image submitted to Picture Burke by Mary Lou Avery Furr. Kelly Taylor with the Burke Theater Guild generated the image of Fleming using AI. The image of the courthouse was taken by F.W. Tyler ca 1892 and submitted to Picture Burke by the Burke County Historical Society from the Dr. I.M. Taylor collection.
More than a century after William Waightstill Avery shot and killed Sam Fleming inside the old Burke County Courthouse, the Burke Theater Guild will return audiences to the scene of one of the county’s most infamous crimes with a staged reader’s theater production.
“Murder in the Courthouse” revisits the rivalry between the two prominent lawyers and political figures whose conflict ended in violence. The hourlong performance debuts at 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, inside the old courthouse and will incorporate music, historic photos, and maps provided by Laurie Johnston of the Burke County Public Library. Proceeds from the show will support upgrades to the courthouse auditorium’s sound system.
Kelly S. Taylor, a Valdese native who holds a Ph.D. in communication studies, adapted the original script by Cheryl Oxford, longtime theater instructor at Western Piedmont Community College, into reader’s theater format and will direct the production.
Taylor taught at the University of North Texas for 15 years before moving back to Valdese. Phyllis Garrison said she first saw Taylor’s coaching skills during the guild’s 2017 rehearsal of “Camelot.” After spending time with a few of the actors, Garrison, founder and executive director of the guild, said something changed.
“They did the scene, changed nothing, no dialogue change, no business change, no blocking change. Everything was the same, but there was something about it that was just totally elevated,” Garrison said. “I do not know what she did, but it was magic.”
Taylor will be accompanied by Garrison, Kathy Cozort Oliver, and Martha Watts, who will narrate the performance and sing “The Old North State,” “Yankee Doodle,” and “Just As I Am.”
Sitting (from left) are Burke Theater Guild members William Keith Watts, Martha Watts, Kelly Taylor, Chris Honsaker, and Kathy Cozort Oliver. Standing (from left) are Dennis Buff, Phyllis Garrison, and Mike Chandler.
FOR THE PAPER
“We all love to sing. It’s hard for us to do anything without some music in it,” Garrison said.
William Keith Watts will play two roles, the part of Sam Fleming and a lawyer; Chris Honsaker also has a dual role, serving as the judge and also William Waightstill Avery in some parts; and Dennis Buff and Mike Chandler will switch between different roles as well. Buff has appeared in several local productions, including “From This Day Forward” and Mike Chandler is the pastor at Drexel First Baptist Church.
Brevard’s Charlotte Courtney will give a 15-minute pre-show violin performance for an early audience.
The BTG has staged a variety of performances since its creation in 2013, including “Camelot,” dinner shows at the Community House, reader’s theater shows for Burke County Public Schools, and “In a Spirited State,” which won an award from the North Carolina Society of Historians in November 2025. The show is a collection of eight folk tales from Western North Carolina.
For members of the Historic Burke Foundation, tickets for the show are $10, for nonmembers, tickets are $20. Find tickets online at the Historic Burke Foundation’s website.
The guild’s next show, “Tarheel Ladies of the Revolution: Stories of North Carolina Women of the Revolutionary War Era,” is expected to come just in time for America250, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence.
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