Festival Stage of Winston-Salem Debuts with Three Plays During 2010-2011 Season

The city has a new professional theater company, Festival Stage of Winston-Salem, with plans to produce a series of plays each season at the new Hanesbrands Theatre.

The company's inaugural 2010-11 season will feature three world?class plays: "The Foreigner," Larry Shue's renowned comedy; "Lunch at the Piccadilly," a new musical comedy by Clyde Edgerton and Mike Craver; and "The Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams' American masterpiece.

Hanesbrands Theatre is a black-box style venue nearing completion as a centerpiece of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County's major renovation of its Downtown Center for The Arts. The black-box format, which began in Europe in the 1920s and became popular in the 1960s, features flexible staging that puts the audience close to the action on stage.

Festival Stage of Winston-Salem will operate in affiliation with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, or NCShakes, which is building on past successful "Twin City Season" of plays at The Sawtooth Center. As affiliates, Festival Stage and NCShakes will share major facilities and other resources, including key management and staff, in order to maximize efficiencies and augment the strength of both companies as they pursue their shared mission of expanding the reach of professional theater throughout the Triad.

"We are pleased that NCShakes has affirmed its commitment to enhancing professional theater offerings in Winston-Salem by launching Festival Stage here to be part of our exciting plans for the new Hanesbrands Theatre," said Milton Rhodes, president and CEO of the Winston?Salem Arts Council. "The caliber of plays that Festival Stage will produce resonates with Winston?Salem as The City of Arts and Innovation. We expect that having Festival Stage here, with its ongoing nexus to NCShakes, will strengthen the bonds of support for professional theater across our region, as well as augment the reception we envision for the Hanesbrands Theatre."

As with NCShakes, the cast of Festival Stage plays will be mostly of members of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Pedro Silva, Festival Stage's managing director and president, said each season will offer an eclectic mix of the world's greatest plays, particularly American classics, award?winning contemporary scripts and new plays with special resonance for the community. Silva, who is also the long?time managing and artistic director of NCShakes, plans to build on the shared vision and ongoing collaboration between NCShakes and Festival Stage and their respective base communities.

"It is exciting to be a part of this unique, regionally collaborative venture, which has immense potential for enhancing the cultural, educational and artistic life of our regional community," said Randy Eaddy, chair of Festival Stage's Board of Directors and member of the NCShakes Board of Trustees. "Festival Stage can be a tipping point for expanding constituencies for professional theatre in the Triad, and that can lead to so much more that would benefit our region."

Festival Stage will launch its website and have tickets for its first season on sale at the Hanesbrands Theatre Box Office by the end of August.

For additional information about Festival Stage of Winston-Salem email pedro.silva@ncshakes.org.

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