Explore family friendly events, theatres, galleries, concerts, nightlife, things to do, and more in the Greenville, SC and Upstate areas.

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Sunday, July 28, 2024
Improv Comedy Show with Laughing Stock
Jul 28 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Hoppin' Greenville

Laughing Stock Improv has been performing around Greenville since 2007 and we’re excited to play another full hour of fast and funny improv games. HOPPIN’ GVL July 28th, 7:30-8:30pm $5.00 at the door. (cash or card)

Monday, July 29, 2024
Book-ish Book Club – “Karthik Delivers”
Jul 29 @ 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Headquarters Library, Spartanburg

We’re reading “Karthik Delivers.” The first 20 children, ages 10 -12 to sign up will receive a free copy of the book to keep, along with some fun book swag. Join us in person in the Barrett Room at the Headquarters Library for a live discussion of the book.

Snowden Wright & Leona Sevick In Conversation with George Singleton
Jul 29 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Hub City Bookshop & Press

Join us for a night full of authors and conversations! Snowden Wright and Leona Sevick will be in conversation with Hub City Press author George Singleton about their new books “Queen City Detective Agency” (Wright) and “The Bamboo Wife” (Sevick). Meet us at the Bookshop on August 29th at 6 p.m. This is a free event open for anyone to join.

Save your seat when you RSVP and get a 10% discount on the books when you purchase through Eventbrite.

About Queen City Detective Agency

Following an unforgettable cast of characters and a jaded female P.I. enmeshed in a criminal conspiracy in 1980s Mississippi, The Queen City Detective Agency is a riveting, razor-sharp Southern noir that unravels the greed, corruption, and racism at the heart of the American Dream.

Meridian, Mississippi—once known as the Queen City for its status in the state—has lost much of its royal bearing by 1985. Overshadowed by more prosperous cities such as New Orleans and Atlanta, Meridian attracts less-than-legitimate businesses, including those enforced by the near-mythical Dixie Mafia. The city’s powerbrokers, wealthy white Southerners clinging to their privilege, resent any attempt at change to the old order.

Real-estate developer Randall Hubbard took advantage of Meridian’s economic decline by opening strip malls that catered to low-income families in Black neighborhoods—until he wound up at the business end of a .38 Special. Then a Dixie Mafia affiliate named Lewis “Turnip” Coogan, who claims Hubbard’s wife hired him for the hit, dies under suspicious circumstances while in custody for the murder.

Ex-cop turned private investigator Clementine Baldwin is hired by Coogan’s bereaved mother to find her son’s killer. A woman struggling with her own history growing up in Mississippi, Clem braves the Queen City’s corridors of crime as she digs into the case, opening wounds long forgotten. She soon finds herself in the crosshairs of powerful and dangerous people who manipulate the law for their own ends—and will kill anyone who threatens to reveal their secrets.

About The Bamboo Wife

Leona Sevick’s The Bamboo Wife captures the experiences of an imperfect woman held up against the standard of “good” wife and mother. Sevick is a master of metaphor and imagery, depicting, for example, a mother as a kraken. In the sea creature’s words, “It takes a hard-ass woman to raise her young.” Every poem is wrought with precise description and emotion. We get nature as well as some location-based poems orienting us in Korea. There is anger and sadness, “the animal need to run in all directions at once,” and family trauma both past and present. This trauma is inflicted on the speaker as a child and to some degree perpetuated through her own parenting. The collection asks the reader to provide space in poetry for a woman trying to do her best for her own and others’ sake, for one who has “made bad decisions and lived.” Every poem is necessary, and Sevick makes each word count. Honesty carries this collection through her speaker’s good, bad, and ugly moments. It takes courage for someone to say, “there’s no mistake I haven’t made.”

About Snowden Wright

Born and raised in Mississippi, Snowden Wright is the author of American Pop, a Wall Street
Journal WSJ+ Book of the Month and NPR Best Book of the Year. He has written for The
Atlantic, Salon, Esquire, The Millions, and the New York Daily News, among other publications,
and previously worked as a fiction reader at The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Paris Review.
Wright was a Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellow at the Carson McCullers Center, and his
small-press debut, Play Pretty Blues, received the Summer Literary Seminar’s Graywolf Prize.
He lives in Yazoo County, Mississippi.

About Leona Sevick

Leona Sevick’s recent work appears in Orion, Birmingham Poetry Review, Blackbird, The Southern Review, and The Sun. Leona serves on the advisory board of the Furious Flower Black Poetry Center and is provost and professor of English at Bridgewater College in Virginia, where she teaches Asian American literature. She is the 2017 Press 53 Poetry Award Winner for her first full-length book of poems, Lion Brothers. The Bamboo Wife is her second book of poems.

About George Singleton

George Singleton has published ten collections of stories, two novels, a book of writing advice,
and a collection of essays. His stories have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Story,
One Story, Playboy, the Georgia Review, Zoetrope, Subtropics, and elsewhere. His personal
essays have appeared in Garden and Gun, Bark, Best American Food Writing, Oxford American, and elsewhere He’s received a Pushcart, and a Guggenheim fellowship. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, he lives in South Carolina.

Thursday, August 1, 2024
Ron Rash: The Caretaker Book Signing
Aug 1 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Hub City Bookshop

Celebrate the paperback release of “The Caretaker” with a book signing! Ron Rash will be at Hub City Bookshop on Thursday, August 1st and sigining books from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Stop by, meet the author and have your books signed! You are welcome to bring any copies you already own. Though purchase is not required to attend the event, book sales support our operations and allow us to bring authors to Spartanburg. Please consider buying a book if you attend the appearance. Ron will sign up to 3 books per person.

We would love to know you are coming! Please consider RSVP-ing.

About the Book:

From award-winning author Ron Rash (“One of the great American authors at work today” —The New York Times) comes a breathtaking love story and a searing examination of the acts we seek to justify in the name of duty, family, honor, and love.

“With each Ron Rash story, you expect flawed people trying desperately to survive against the odds, and a rich sense of place…What you don’t always expect is a wicked plot. The Caretaker delivers all of the above in a story that becomes a race to the finish.” —John Grisham

Blowing Rock, North Carolina, 1951. Blackburn Gant, his life irrevocably altered by a childhood case of polio, seems condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery. It suits his withdrawn personality, and the inexplicable occurrences that happen from time to time rattle him less than interactions with the living. But when his only friend, the kind but impulsive Jacob Hampton, is conscripted to serve overseas, Blackburn is charged with caring for Jacob’s wife, Naomi, as well.

Jacob and Naomi’s elopement has scandalized the community and angered Jacob’s parents. Shunned by the townsfolk for their differences and equally fearful that Jacob may never come home from the war, Blackburn and Naomi grow closer, even as a stunning betrayal shatters familial bonds.

A profound examination of friendship and rivalry as well as a riveting story of unfolding deceit, The Caretaker brilliantly depicts the human capacity for empathetic compassion and selfish destruction, all justified as acts of love.

About the Author:

RON RASH is the author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to the critically acclaimed novels The RisenAbove the WaterfallThe CoveOne Foot in EdenSaints at the River, and The World Made Straight; five collections of poems; and seven collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, Nothing Gold Can Stay, a New York Times bestseller, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Three times the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, his books have been translated into seventeen languages. He teaches at Western Carolina University.

House Party: Local Improv Teams
Aug 1 @ 9:00 pm
Alchemy Comedy Theater at Coffee Underground

Here is the schedule for opening teams:

4/4: Improv 201 showcase featuring Elemental, former 501 class team

4/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

4/18: Mel, a Harold

4/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/2: Elemental, a Deconstruction

5/9: Round Trip, a Bruise

5/16: Mel, a Harold

5/23: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/30: Elemental, a Deconstruction

6/6: Round Trip, a Bruise

6/13: Mel, a Harold

6/20: Sketch, scripted comedy

6/27: Elemental, a Deconstruction

7/4: NO SHOWS FOR JULY 4TH

7/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

7/18: Mel, a Harold

7/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

8/1: Elemental, a Deconstruction

8/8: Round Trip, a Bruise

8/15: Mel, a Harold

8/22: Sketch, scripted comedy

Since 2011, the Alchemy Comedy Theater has been running weekly improv shows in Downtown Greenville, SC. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:00 pm there is a completely new comedy show that has never been seen before and will never be seen again. Greenville has street parking available as well as several nearby parking garages.

 

Saturday, August 3, 2024
Dinner Detective Interactive True Crime Dinner Show!
Aug 3 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Greenville Hilton

Immerse yourself in a captivating True Crime Mystery Dinner Theatre – a national sensation since our Los Angeles opening in 2004! Surrender to an evening brimming with suspense, laughter, and spontaneous moments that are genuinely one-of-a-kind.Say goodbye to predictable, scripted performances and hello to a dynamic, interactive experience that shatters the traditional mold of Mystery Dinner Theatre. Our stage is not confined to a platform in front of the room – it’s the entire space, and you’re not just a spectator – you’re a potential part of the show!As the night unfurls, you’ll question the line between reality and performance. Is it scripted, or is it real? Only one way to find out. Step into the unpredictable world of our True Crime Mystery Dinner Theatre with The Dinner Detective and become a part of the story that’s still being written. Will YOU be the one to solve the mystery?
This is a Weekly Recurring Event
Runs from Jan 6, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024 and happens every:
Saturdays: 6:00pm – 9:00pm CST

Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Asheville Comedy Festival: Tom Segura: Come Together
Aug 7 @ 7:30 pm
Harrah's Cherokee Center- Asheville

The Asheville Comedy Festival presents comedian, actor, and writer Tom Segura, one of the biggest names in the comedy business. He recently toured the world with more than 300 shows on his “I’m Coming Everywhere” tour. He is best known for his Netflix specials “Ball Hog” (2020), “Disgraceful” (2018), “Mostly Stories” (2016), and “Completely Normal” (2014). His fifth Netflix special “Sledgehammer,” was released in July 2023 and debuted at No. 1 on the
streamer. In July 2022, Segura released his New York Times Bestselling book, “I’d Like to Play Alone, Please,” to wide praise with Forbes calling it “laugh-out-loud funny.” Paste Magazine described him as, “… having a natural and capable storytelling ability, one that lifts his narratives out of average anecdote fare and plants them firmly in
hilarious ground.”

Segura’s, Your Mom’s House (YMH) Studios is home to his hit podcasts “Your Mom’s House,” which he co-hosts with his wife, comedian Christina Pazsitzky, “2 Bears, 1 Cave,” which he co-hosts with Bert Kreischer, and many more podcasts that draw millions of listeners each week. Additionally, YMH Studios was one of the first networks
to create wildly successful Livestream Podcast Events as an outcome of the pandemic.

Segura will open the annual festival as the headlining act on August 7th, 2024, at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena. The laughter-inducing extravaganza kicks off at 7:30 PM, promising an evening of unforgettable comedy.

The Asheville Comedy Festival, renowned for showcasing the nation’s fastest-rising stars in comedy, will run from August 7th to 10th, featuring multiple shows that spotlight over 30 of the country’s most promising comedic talents.

Known for his sharp wit, irreverent humor, and smooth stage presence, TOM SEGURA has solidified his status as a comedy superstar. His unique perspective and fearless approach to comedy have earned him a dedicated fanbase and critical acclaim.

Thursday, August 8, 2024
House Party: Local Improv Teams
Aug 8 @ 9:00 pm
Alchemy Comedy Theater at Coffee Underground

Here is the schedule for opening teams:

4/4: Improv 201 showcase featuring Elemental, former 501 class team

4/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

4/18: Mel, a Harold

4/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/2: Elemental, a Deconstruction

5/9: Round Trip, a Bruise

5/16: Mel, a Harold

5/23: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/30: Elemental, a Deconstruction

6/6: Round Trip, a Bruise

6/13: Mel, a Harold

6/20: Sketch, scripted comedy

6/27: Elemental, a Deconstruction

7/4: NO SHOWS FOR JULY 4TH

7/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

7/18: Mel, a Harold

7/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

8/1: Elemental, a Deconstruction

8/8: Round Trip, a Bruise

8/15: Mel, a Harold

8/22: Sketch, scripted comedy

Since 2011, the Alchemy Comedy Theater has been running weekly improv shows in Downtown Greenville, SC. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:00 pm there is a completely new comedy show that has never been seen before and will never be seen again. Greenville has street parking available as well as several nearby parking garages.

 

Friday, August 9, 2024
Boeing-Boeing
Aug 9 @ 7:30 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Saturday, August 10, 2024
A. C. Hobbs Author Pop-up
Aug 10 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Hub City Writers Project

Introducing Local Author Pop-up! Meet a local author at our bookshop on Saturday, ask them questions about their books and get your copy signed. A.C. Hobbs will be at Hub City Bookshop on August 10th from 11 AM – 1 PM showcasing her book Scythe and Pen — a dark fantasy novel set in the Jazz Age.

About the Book:

Demetrius Raske strikes a deal with the Devil to stop a monster stalking the city, but he may have unleashed another villain entirely…

The Capital of the United League of Nations glitters like jewels on a dame’s neck-a city of wicked splendor and possibility. The deals struck in the Senate are as ruthless as the ones struck in the city’s criminal underbelly. No one knows this better than vampire politician Demetrius Raske, who walks both worlds.

Demetrius fights for a bill that will grant humans and vampires equal civil liberties. But many citizens don’t share his sentiment, especially after the murders begin. Body after body, drained of blood, appear throughout the city, threatening the League’s tenuous peace treaty between humans and vampires. If Demetrius’s bill doesn’t pass the Senate, his campaign for a united future will be crushed. Only one man has the ability to apprehend the bloodthirsty monster-a man known simply as the Devil. And rumor has it, he isn’t a man at all. Together, they strike a deal to catch the murderer before Demetrius’s bill fails-a disaster that would push the League to the brink of civil war.

But Demetrius’s calculated moves don’t go unnoticed. He catches the attention of Gabriella Rose, a journalist whose hunt for her next big headline pushes her right into the murderer’s path, costing her everything she holds dear. Now something dark grows within Gabriella-a power her allies wish to control and her enemies want to exploit.

The only way Demetrius and Gabriella can save themselves-and the city they love-is to strike another deal with the Devil. But their villainous partner is playing his own game. And soon they will learn how the Devil earned his name.

About the Author

A.C. Hobbs scribbles dark stories from her home in the sweltering Southeast. She holds a B.A. in English from Piedmont University and further studied education at Mount St. Mary’s University. She received several collegiate writing awards, including a National Academy of Poets University Prize. When she isn’t writing, you can find her hiking, bouldering, or camping with her family and pitbull rescue.

Boeing-Boeing
Aug 10 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Improv 000: Open Practice
Aug 10 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Alchemy Comedy Theater at Coffee Underground

This is not a show and not a typical Alchemy class. Although it requires no comedy or theater experience, it is best used for current students or performers to get extra practice time on the Alchemy stage. There is no audience for Improv 000’s.

These practices are free for current Alchemy Performers and Students (though they must pre-register). However, anyone interested can also register online for $10. All participants must pre-register online (registration closes at 4:00 PM). However, if you arrive more than 5 minutes late you may lose your reservation.

Since 2011, the Alchemy Comedy Theater has been running weekly improv shows in Downtown Greenville, SC. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:00 pm there is a completely new comedy show that has never been seen before and will never be seen again. Greenville has street parking available as well as several nearby parking garages.

http://www.AlchemyComedy.com

Dinner Detective Interactive True Crime Dinner Show!
Aug 10 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Greenville Hilton

Immerse yourself in a captivating True Crime Mystery Dinner Theatre – a national sensation since our Los Angeles opening in 2004! Surrender to an evening brimming with suspense, laughter, and spontaneous moments that are genuinely one-of-a-kind.Say goodbye to predictable, scripted performances and hello to a dynamic, interactive experience that shatters the traditional mold of Mystery Dinner Theatre. Our stage is not confined to a platform in front of the room – it’s the entire space, and you’re not just a spectator – you’re a potential part of the show!As the night unfurls, you’ll question the line between reality and performance. Is it scripted, or is it real? Only one way to find out. Step into the unpredictable world of our True Crime Mystery Dinner Theatre with The Dinner Detective and become a part of the story that’s still being written. Will YOU be the one to solve the mystery?
This is a Weekly Recurring Event
Runs from Jan 6, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024 and happens every:
Saturdays: 6:00pm – 9:00pm CST

Boeing-Boeing
Aug 10 @ 7:30 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Sunday, August 11, 2024
Boeing-Boeing
Aug 11 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Boeing-Boeing
Aug 14 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Boeing-Boeing
Aug 14 @ 7:30 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Thursday, August 15, 2024
Boeing-Boeing
Aug 15 @ 2:00 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

Boeing-Boeing
Aug 15 @ 7:30 pm
Flat Rock Playhouse

The comedy of the season has landed! Fasten your seatbelts–there’s turbulence ahead in this laugh-out-loud tour-de-farce! It’s the 1960’s and Bernard, an American living in Paris, has the perfect setup: three international fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down, and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time.  Prepare yourself for the most deliriously funny flight of your life.

House Party: Local Improv Teams
Aug 15 @ 9:00 pm
Alchemy Comedy Theater at Coffee Underground

Here is the schedule for opening teams:

4/4: Improv 201 showcase featuring Elemental, former 501 class team

4/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

4/18: Mel, a Harold

4/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/2: Elemental, a Deconstruction

5/9: Round Trip, a Bruise

5/16: Mel, a Harold

5/23: Sketch, scripted comedy

5/30: Elemental, a Deconstruction

6/6: Round Trip, a Bruise

6/13: Mel, a Harold

6/20: Sketch, scripted comedy

6/27: Elemental, a Deconstruction

7/4: NO SHOWS FOR JULY 4TH

7/11: Round Trip, a Bruise

7/18: Mel, a Harold

7/25: Sketch, scripted comedy

8/1: Elemental, a Deconstruction

8/8: Round Trip, a Bruise

8/15: Mel, a Harold

8/22: Sketch, scripted comedy

Since 2011, the Alchemy Comedy Theater has been running weekly improv shows in Downtown Greenville, SC. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 and 9:00 pm there is a completely new comedy show that has never been seen before and will never be seen again. Greenville has street parking available as well as several nearby parking garages.