'In Some Dark Valley' comes to Floyd
Performances in Floyd will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 10-11, at The June Bug Center (251 Parkway Lane S.). Tickets are $15 for students and $20 for adults.
Best 2025 Solo Performance double winner Robert Bailey will perform "In Some Dark Valley: The Testimony of Reverend Brand" at the The June Bug Center for two shows this Friday and Saturday. New Floyd resident Scott Ainslie, widely regarded as an authority on acoustic Blues, will perform an opening set for both performances.
Directed by Billy Siegenfeld and written by Robert Bailey, the 65-minute play follows Reverend Brand, a fiery post–Civil War Appalachian preacher who delivers a powerful testimony shaped by war, poverty, disease, and religious fervor.
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Through energetic storytelling that interweaves multiple characters and traditional songs passed down through generations, Bailey’s Reverend Brand grapples with the clash between an unyielding vision of moral fervor and the tragic consequences left in its wake, pulling audiences into an experience that is both haunting and illuminating in its relevance to today.
“For 25 years, the June Bug Center has supported arts and education in Floyd and the surrounding communities,” said Joanne Woodward, director of The June Bug Center. “We’re delighted to bring this special showing of “In Some Dark Valley” to our local audiences. The award-winning play not only brings quality theatre to our area, but its setting in the Appalachian communities of our past provides an especially relevant context.”
London critics described 2026 performances of “In Some Dark Valley” as “absolutely brilliant” and “a powerful piece of theatre” that “sends genuine chills through the audience.”
Stage Raw (Los Angeles) characterized the play as “memorable theatre… certainly of our time, and every other time as well,” ultimately awarding the production as a 2025 Best Solo Performance winner. In early 2026, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle similarly awarded Bailey as their choice for 2025 Best Solo Performance.
In 2024, Robert Bailey received the LA Gem Award for Outstanding Dramatic Performer (male) following praise for the play as a “powerful and highly entertaining show…delightfully dark, but there is also humor and outstanding storytelling through finely etched characters.” Recognition in the same year came from the TVO Awards as Best of the 2024 Hollywood Fringe, noting Bailey's “exceptional and exquisite work.”
Performances in Floyd will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 10-11, at The June Bug Center (251 Parkway Lane S.). Tickets are $15 for students and $20 for adults. Learn more here.
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About Robert Bailey
Robert Bailey has been on the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts since 2010. He was awarded a Samuel Arnold Fellowship upon graduation from Brown University to work with renowned theatrical innovator Jerzy Grotowski at the Polish Laboratory Theatre in Wroclaw. He subsequently became a founding member, actor, director and teacher at the Washington Theatre Laboratory. After relocating to New York, he was associated with Circle Repertory Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, American Place Theatre, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Actors Studio, often working on first productions of new plays and garnering praise from the New York Times and the Village Voice. In Los Angeles, he earned critical acclaim for his direction of several contemporary and classical works.
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About Billy Siegenfeld
Billy Siegenfeld is the founder, artistic director, writer, choreographer, and musical arranger of the theatre company Jump Rhythm; a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University; an author of essays, plays, and a forthcoming book titled How to Make Gravity Our New Best Friend by Standing Down (Not Up!) Straight. He received a B.A. in literature from Brown University and an M.A in writing about jazz music and dance from New York University’s Gallatin Division. He received an Emmy Award for his choreography and performance in the documentary, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There. He acted, danced, and sang in off-Broadway shows as well as in the Broadway production of Singin’ in the Rain.
About Scott Ainslie
Scott Ainslie is a new Floyd resident and widely regarded authority on acoustic Blues, playing and singing Piedmont and Delta Blues. He has a long history of presenting programs in educational settings on the African roots of American Music.
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