Triad Stage

The Triad Stage is a regional theatre located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The 2007-2008 season marks Triad Stage's 7th season producing live theatre in downtown Greensboro.

About Triad Stage

Triad Stage began as the dream of creating a professional not-for-profit regional theatre to serve the communities of the Triad. Co-founders Preston Lane and Richard Whittington forged their artistic partnership as graduate students at the Yale School of Drama. After managing a theatre in Connecticut for two years, they undertook the three-year task of opening their own theatre in the heart of historic Greensboro.

In September 1999, Triad Stage purchased the former Montgomery Ward building, which had been built in 1936 and vacant for almost 40 years. Renovations commenced in the spring of 2001, transforming the five-story building into a world class theatre center complete with a 300-seat live performance space, rehearsal hall, offices, two spacious lobbies, special events areas and other audience amenities. Triad Stage also manages an offsite production facility, the Greensboro Scene Shop.

The Grand Opening of the theatre took place in January 2002 with Tennessee Williams’ modern classic "Suddenly Last Summer". Since then, Triad Stage has produced 38 mainstage productions, plus 7 holiday shows and special events, and has sold over 200,000 tickets. Now celebrating its 7th season, Triad Stage has over 3,000 season Passholders and more than 250 annual donors. The theatre has received accolades on the national, state and local levels, including being named “One of the Best Regional Theaters in America” by New York’s Drama League, voted the Triad’s “Best Live Theatre” by the readers of "Go Triad" five years in a row and “Professional Theatre of the Year” by the North Carolina Theatre Conference. Its production of "Tobacco Road" was listed among the “Best of 2007” by The Wall Street Journal. The theatre has been spotlighted in "American Theatre, Southern Living", Playbill Online, "Our State" and UNC-TV’s “North Carolina Weekend”.

Triad Stage has been further honored with the award of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Shubert Organization.

The Pyrle Theater

Triad Stage is very proud of the new name of our theater building, made possible by a generous donation by Tobee & Leonard Kaplan in honor of Tobee’s mother, Pyrle Gibson.

Pyrle Gibson (1909-2000) was a woman with a great sense of humor, who found goodness in all people and beauty in the world around her. Her family always came first in her life and with them she shared her love of theater, music, and the thrill of sports. The theater is named for her in loving memory by the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the Kaplan family with whom she shared her love, wisdom, and joy of life.

The Founders

Preston Lane (Artistic Director/Co-Founder) is in his 7th season at Triad Stage, having directed over 29 productions including: the Grand Opening production "Suddenly Last Summer", the award-winning "Hedda Gabler" and "A Streetcar Named Desire", last season’s acclaimed "Tobacco Road" and the return of "Brother Wolf" for An Appalachian Summer Festival, and this season’s record-breaking reprise of "Beautiful Star". He was formerly Artistic Associate at the Dallas Theater Center where his productions included the US premiere of "Inexpressible Island" ("Dallas Observer" Best of Dallas Awards: Best Director, Best Production) and "The Night of the Iguana" ("Dallas Morning News": 2002 Top Ten Theatre List). Other productions include: "A Tuff Shuffle" (National Black Theatre Festival), "Overruled" (Off Broadway), "Love! Valour! Compassion!" (Stage One), and the world premieres of "If Only" and "Get It While You Can" (Summer Cabaret). As a playwright, he is recipient of a grant from the Fox Foundation to develop "Wondrous Love". Other adaptations and original works include "Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, Julie’s Dance, Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star", and the upcoming "Bloody Blackbeard" (Triad Stage), "A Christmas Carol" (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care), "Three Weeks After Marriage" and "Helen!" (Summer Cabaret). He has taught at UNC Greensboro, N.C. A&T University, NC School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, and the Professional Actors Workshop at the Dallas Theater Center. He is an alumnus of the Drama League of New York’s Director’s Project. A native of Boone, NC, Preston received his BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

Richard Whittington (Managing Director/Co-Founder) has served as Managing Director of Triad Stage since its inception nine years ago. A native of Dallas, Texas, Rich previously served as Managing Director for the Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts (ECPA), as Artistic Administrator for the Dallas Theater Center and Associate Producer of The Big D Festival of the Unexpected. Prior experience also includes work at the Roundabout Theatre in New York and StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts. Rich has a BFA in acting and directing from Marymount Manhattan College and an MFA in theatre management from the Yale School of Drama. He has taught at Greensboro College and N.C. A&T and has been a guest lecturer at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC School of the Arts, Wake Forest University and UNCG. He serves on the board of ArtsNC and was recently appointed by Governor Easley to serve on the NC Arts Council Board.

Latest Production

"Bloody Blackbeard": One Pirate Still Haunts the Carolinas

June 8 - July 6, 2008

by Preston Lane

with Original Music by Laurelyn Dossett

From England to the Caribbean to the Carolina Coast, Edward Teach forged a blazing career as the most dreaded pirate of all time. North Carolina’s infamous adopted son was a daring blend of terror and gallantry. To his victims, he presented an image of the devil incarnate; but he was putty in the hands of a beautiful woman. His high seas adventures, port city romances and deep buried treasure are the stuff of legend. The creators of "Brother Wolf" and "Beautiful Star" turn their attention eastward, weaving tunes and tales together and uncovering the mostly true and totally thrilling history of the pirate called Blackbeard.

External links

* [http://www.triadstage.org Official website]