Festival Stage of Winston-Salem Brings EXACT CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE to the Hanesbrands Theatre

Festival Stage of Winston-Salem opens its second season with Joan Vail Thorne's enchanting comedy, "The Exact Center of the Universe," featuring daily performances, except Mondays, October 21 to November 6 in the Hanesbrands Theatre at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in downtown Winston-Salem.

An off-Broadway hit premiered in New York by the Women's Project in 1999, starring Frances Sternhagen as the central character, "The Exact Center of the Universe" has become a hit production on regional stages across the country. The story revolves around Vada Love Powell, the lovably formidable matriarch of a small town in the Deep South during the 1950s and 1960s. She experiences letting go of her one and only, her cherished son, Apple, who has married without her permission. In response she bakes and entertains, regales and reminisces, confides in and plots with her best friends, Marybell and Enid, and with her new relatives by way of Apple's marriage. Through an engaging turn of events she establishes a new relationship for herself and her grown son.

Joan Vail Thorne says, "The play was written in tribute to a lost breed of women, who in a time when the world accorded them very little control of their destinies, exercised remarkable control over their everyday lives. The source of their ‘power' was surely love. They were indomitable, not destructive; eccentric, not neurotic; but filled with wild and amusing aberrations." She continues recently, "The Exact Center of the Universe" was written as a tribute to the most liberating unliberated women I've ever known."

Joan Vail Thorne has won the Southern Playwrights Festival and Southern Theatre Festival playwriting awards. In addition to being a playwright she is also a director and a librettist, and has taught at The Julliard School and New York University.

Festival Stage of Winston Salem is a fully professional theatre whose actors, directors and designers come from Winston Salem, throughout North Carolina and across the country. "The Exact Center of the Universe" is directed by Resident Director Steve Umberger, who directed acclaimed productions of "The Foreigner" and "Lunch at the Piccadilly" last season. Returning to Festival Stage from Charlotte this season to design "The Exact Center of the Universe" are Bob Croghan, set and costumes; and Fred Story, sound. Jennifer Wynn O'Kelly from Winston-Salem is designing lighting.

Rebecca Koon, from Charlotte, will play the lead role, Vada Love Powell, with Michael Huie, from Winston-Salem, performing the role of Apple Powell; Koon and Huie performed together in "The Foreigner" last season. New to the Festival Stage Acting Company for this show are
Breton Frazier, from St. Augustine, FL, playing Marybell; and from New York, Sarah Peterson, playing Enid, and Kate Rusell, playing the dual roles of twin sisters, Mary Lou and Mary Ann.

Festival Stage invites audience members to meet the artists involved in staging "The Exact Center of the Universe" on several occasions. Playwright Joan Vail Thorne initiates Festival Stage's Visiting Playwright Series, speaking to members of the audience beginning at 1:15 pm prior to the 2:00 pm preview performance on October 23. On each of the following Sundays there will be a 1:15 pm Preshow Talk hosted in the theatre lobby. Immediately following each Friday and Saturday evening performance beginning with opening night on October 28, members of The Acting Company will return to the stage for Postshow Talkbacks with the audience.

The Festival Stage of Winston-Salem season will continue at the Hanesbrands Theatre in 2012 with productions of the off-Broadway musical "Oil City Symphony" (January 27 - February 19) and the new farce "Hatchetman" (May 11 - 27).

The 2011-2012 Festival Stage of Winston-Salem season is sponsored by Kilpatrick Townsend Attorneys at Law. "The Exact Center of the Universe" is sponsored by Hanesbrands, Inc., Wright of Thomasville, and 88.5 WFDD.

All performances take place at the Hanesbrands Theatre, 209 N. Spruce Street, Winston-Salem. Tickets range from $37 to $10 and now include all box office fees. Tickets may be purchased through the Hanesbrands Theatre Box Office, 336-747-1414, Monday - Friday, noon - 6:00 pm, or online at www.hanesbrandstheatre.org. Groups of 10 or more may purchase tickets at a discount by ordering directly through Festival Stage of Winston-Salem administrative offices, at 336-841-2273 or sales@festivalstage.org. To learn more about Festival Stage of Winston-Salem, including special events and best ticket deals, visit www.festivalstage.org.

 

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