Flat Rock Playhouse to Conclude 2017 'Music on the Rock' Series with 'WOMEN OF WOODSTOCK'

From the Greenwich Village folk scene to the psychedelic height of Haight-Ashbury, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Melanie, and Grace Slick sang songs of love, heartache, and social injustice. It seems almost pre-destined that they would come together on a dairy farm in upstate New York for "three days of peace and music" and transform a generation.

The final Music on the Rock of Flat Rock Playhouse's 2017 Season, August 1969: A Tribute to the Women of Woodstock celebrates these four women who remain symbols of the legendary festival, leaving an indelible and provocative mark on popular music, American culture, and the world.

August 1969: A Tribute to the Women of Woodstock will run from October 26th - November 4th at The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown on Main Street in Hendersonville.

This tribute concert will feature Melissa Hammans (Nunsense), Shaleah Adkisson (Beehive), Maddy Wyatt, and Veteran Vagabond favorite, Amy Jones (Director of recent Playhouse hits: 9 to 5, Smokey Joe's Café, Annie, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as Music Director. Hammans, a Nashville based singer, actress (NYC, national & international), teaching artist and producer, is the creator of Soul Picnic Productions. Soul Picnic Productions originally produced August 1969: The Women of Woodstock, as well as other similar concerts of this nature featuring artists ranging from Janis Joplin to Adele. Adkisson, a singer, actress and teaching artist based in New York City, tours with Soul Picnic Productions when she is not performing on-Broadway, on tour, off-Broadway and regionally, working with Bridge Arts Ensemble or cantoring at St. Francis De Sales Roman Catholic Church in NYC. Wyatt, another Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter and musician, gained national notoriety with her solo album "Backdive" and specifically the piece, "Man for Me." She has gone on to debut with her brothers in the indie pop outfit Wyatt, which has toured the U.S. playing at festivals from CMJ to SXSW, and composed the original score & songs for 2016 Cannes Film Festival selection, "Breaking Fast".

These high-level performing artists will bring the famous Woodstock festival to life with hits such as: Joplin's "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" and "Ball and Chain", Baez's "We Shall Overcome" and "Swing Low", Melanie Slick's "Tambourine Man", and Grace Slick's "Eskimo Blue Day". The show will also feature an equally high-performing band including: Amy Jones (Piano/Vocals), Tucker Warwick (Bass), Bill Altman (Guitar), Paul Babelay (Drums), Chris Imhoff (Trumpet). There is no better way to close out Flat Rock Playhouse's 2017 Music on the Rock Season, than with these high-power women and the two very integral aspects of American culture that they will forever represent: peace and music.

Sponsored by The Playhouse's Downtown Series Sponsor, Rug & Home, August 1969: The Women of Woodstock will run October 26th - November 4th at The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown. Performances Thursday evenings at 7:30PM, Friday and Saturday evenings 8:00PM, matinees Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets are $28 and can be purchased by calling the Playhouse box office at 828-693-0731, toll-free at 866-732-8008 or online at www.flatrockplayhouse.org. The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown is located at 125 South Main Street in Hendersonville, NC.

In 1937, a group of struggling performers, led by Robroy Farquhar, organized themselves as the Vagabond Players. The Vagabonds worked in a variety of places over the course of three years, and in 1940 found themselves in the Blue Ridge region of Western North Carolina. The local and tourist community welcomed them with open arms when they presented their first summer season of plays in a 150-year-old grist mill they converted into The Old Mill Playhouse at Highland Lake. So successful was that summer, they returned in 1941. After WWII, the Vagabond Players reorganized, came back to the region and opened a playhouse in nearby Lake Summit. The Lake Summit Playhouse thrived during the post war years and soon the Vagabond Players were looking for a larger and permanent home. In 1952, the troupe of performers, and a newly formed board of directors, made an offer to buy an 8-acre lot in the Village of Flat Rock. This new home made the Vagabonds "locals" and a rented big top gave birth to Flat Rock Playhouse. As the beautiful Western Carolina region continued to grow, so did the Playhouse and in 1961, by Act of the North Carolina General Assembly, Flat Rock Playhouse was officially designated The State Theatre of North Carolina. What began as a few weeks of summer performances in 1940 is now a nine-month season of plays including Broadway musicals, comedy, drama, and theatre for young audiences. The Playhouse's dual mission of producing the performing arts and providing education in the performing arts includes a professional series; a summer and fall college apprentice and intern program; and Studio 52, year-round classes and workshops in theatre and film for students from kindergarten through adults. Flat Rock Playhouse now hosts over 98,000 patrons annually and is a significant contributor to the local economy and the Arts in North Carolina.

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