Triad Stage
About Us
Our History
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 theater in Connecticut for two years, they undertook the three-year task of opening their own theater in the heart of historic Greensboro.
In September 1999, Triad Stage purchased the former Montgomery Ward building, which had been built in 1936 and sat vacant for almost 40 years. Renovations commenced in the spring of 2001, transforming the five-story building into a world class theater center now called the Pyrle Theater, complete with a 300-seat theater and thrust stage, rehearsal hall, offices, two spacious lobbies, special events areas and other audience amenities. Triad Stage also assumed the management an offsite production facility, the Greensboro Scene Shop.
The Grand Opening of the theater took place in January 2002 with Tennessee Williams' modern classic Suddenly Last Summer. Since then, Triad Stage has produced more than 75 productions, holiday shows and special events, and has sold over 350,000 tickets.
In 2008, Triad Stage finished a second round of renovations to the Pyrle. A scene shop annex was added in the basement. The top floor underwent major construction to turn what was previously a storage center into the 90-seat Upstage Cabaret performance space, the Sloan Rehearsal Hall and the studio and office facilities of WUNC Public Radio's new Greensboro Bureau.
In 2011, Triad Stage purchased a 30,000 square foot building near the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to serve as the theater's new production facility, relocating its scene, costume and properties shops as well as its warehouse.
Triad Stage now has over 3,200 Season Passholders and more than 400 annual donors. The theater company 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 Theater" by the readers of the News & Record's GoTriad seven 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. Triad Stage has been spotlighted in American Theatre, Stage Directions, Southern Living, Playbill.com, Our State and UNC-TV's "North Carolina Weekend". The American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, named Triad Stage "one of the top ten most promising theatres in the country" as the recipient of a 2010 National Theatre Company Grant.
Our Values
Triad Stage is guided by core values that inspire all aspects of its operations. These core values are a daily reminder to our entire company of why and how we produce theater for our community.
Excellence
We strive for bold, daring excellence in all of our endeavors as we seek to create professional theater with regional and national impact.
Artistic Risk
Striving to constantly challenge ourselves, we reserve the right to take artistic risks and make mistakes.
Community
As individuals are united in their shared experience of the theatrical event, strangers become friends, common ground is discovered and dialogue begins. In imagining the lives of others, our capacity for empathy is strengthened.
Learning
Theater is a valuable part of a lifetime of learning. Our work and the dialogue it creates should spark curiosity and inspire creative ways of thinking for our artists, staff and audience.
Inclusion
Our community's varied diversity must not only reflect itself in Triad Stage's casting and staffing, but also in the selection of the stories we choose to tell.
Collaboration
We celebrate and encourage an artistic process rooted in collaboration by creating an atmosphere where artists feel safe to question, experiment and grow. We seek to mirror this process in all aspects of our operations.
Rejuvenation
We are committed to revitalizing downtown Greensboro by greatly enhancing the cultural life of the city through entertainment and by providing an economic impact benefiting other area businesses.
Partnerships
We are committed to sharing resources, ideas and talent with other organizations to benefit the well being of our community.
A Southern Voice
By placing the best of Southern writing in juxtaposition with classic and contemporary world drama, we foster a unique southern voice, allowing our audience the pride of saying, "This theater is ours."
North Carolina
We seek to play a leading role in the North Carolina arts community. We actively work to create an artistic home for artists with North Carolina connections and to provide a bridge to the profession for emerging artists
Preston Lane
Artistic Director
Preston is in his 12th season at Triad Stage where he has directed over 35 productions. Preston is the recipient of the 2008 Betty Cone Medal of the Arts and is in his fourth year as the Artistic Partner for Theatre for An Appalachian Summer Festival. 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 work Off Broadway, Regional and the National Black Theatre Festival.
As a playwright, his adaptations and original works include: the upcoming Tennessee Playboy, A Doll House, Masquerade, Tartuffe, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, and Julie's Dance (Triad Stage); A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care and Triad Stage), Three Weeks After Marriage and Helen! (Summer Cabaret) and with Laurelyn Dossett: Brother Wolf (Triad Stage, An Appalachian Summer Festival, The Human Race Theatre Company and St. Olaf College), Beautiful Star (Triad Stage and WaterTower Theatre), Bloody Blackbeard and Providence Gap. Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star and Ghosts are published by Playscripts Inc.
He has taught at UNC-G, NC A&T, NCSA, Greensboro College, SMU, 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 MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Richard Whittington
Managing Director
Rich has served as Managing Director of Triad Stage since its inception nine years ago. Rich earned a MFA in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama and has a BFA in Acting and Directing from Marymount Manhattan College. In 2007, Rich was appointed by the Governor to serve on the board of the NC Arts Council where he is currently a member of the Executive Committee. He has previously served on the boards of ArtsNC and Downtown Greensboro, Inc. and has served on numerous grant panels throughout the state as well as for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Rich has taught Theatre Management at Greensboro College and NC A&T University and has guest lectured at UNC Chapel Hill, NC School of the Arts, Wake Forest University and UNC Greensboro. 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 Dallas' The Big D Festival of the Unexpected. Prior experience also includes work at the Roundabout Theatre in New York and StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Preston and Rich were recently honored with Downtown Greensboro Inc.'s 2010 J. Edward Kitchen Leadership Award by for their effective and persistent leadership resulting in making significant improvements in Greensboro's center city.
Board of Trustees
- Alan Tutterow, Chair
- Susan Schwartz, Vice Chair
- Dan McAlister, Treasurer
- Holly Chambers, Secretary
- Linda Sloan, Immediate Past Chair
At Large
Linda T. Adams, Jeb Brooks, Craig Carlock, D. Hayes Clement, Lynda Clifford, Jim Fisher, Chris Hobson, Sandra Hughes, Christina Johnson, Marcus Johnson, Ron Johnson, John Kelly, Preston Lane, Ancella Livers, Kathy E. Manning, Marge Michel, Mindy Oakley, Julie Olin, Todd Rangel, Debby L. Reynolds, Paul Russ, Dabney Sanders, Tom Sloan, Kathleen Smith, Bill Soles, Amy Speas, Willie Taylor, Richard Whittington, Otis Wilson
Advisory Council
Judy Wicker (Chair), Ralph Davison, Danny Gatling, Lesley Hunt, Tobee Kaplan, Dennis Quaintance, Sylvia Samet, Joy Shavitz, Ralph Shelton, Harrison Turner
Triad Stage is a member of:
Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, was founded in 1961 with a grant from the Ford Foundation to foster communication among professional, community and university theatres.
ARTS North Carolina
North Carolina's statewide advocacy organization for the arts, ARTS North Carolina calls for equity and access to the arts for all North Carolinians, unifies and connects North Carolina's arts communities, and fosters arts leadership.
The North Carolina Theatre Conference
The NCTC membership is a vibrant network of theatre artists and organizations with year-round events and programs to foster member collaboration and provide professional development and educational opportunities.
The Southeastern Theatre Conference
The Southeastern Theatre Conference is a dynamic membership organization, serving a diverse constituency and reaching out across ten states in the southeast region of the United States and beyond.
Play Submission Policy
Thank you for your interest in Triad Stage. We are unable to accept unsolicited scripts at this time. Due to the volume of material we consider each year Triad Stage only accepts play submissions from playwrights, agents, and theatre artists with whom we have an existing professional relationship. Unsolicited scripts will be returned when there is a SASE enclosed; those without a SASE will be recycled.
Please note that Triad Stage does not provide any comments or suggestions about work that we do not intend to develop or produce. If you have any questions or need additional information, please e-mail Bryan Conger, Artistic Associate.
Audition information
TRIAD STAGE 2013-2014 SEASON GENERAL AUDITIONS
Triad Stage will be holding general auditions for local talent for our 2013-2014 season. Auditions will be held on Thursday, May 9, 2013 between 12:00pm and 7:00pm, by appointment only. Both Equity and Non-Equity actors are welcome to audition. Actors of all ages (including children) are encouraged to audition. Please bring a Headshot and résumé. Actors are asked to prepare one monologue (1-2 minutes in length). You are also welcome to sing 16-24 bars of a song a cappella. Auditions will be held at Triad Stage, 232 South Elm Street, downtown Greensboro.
For more information or to schedule an audition, please call the Triad Stage audition hotline at 336.274.0067 ext. 209 or send an email inquiry to artisticintern@triadstage.org.