FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2015
CONTACT: Megan Mabry, Marketing & Social Media Manager
Triad Stage, 232 South Elm Street
Downtown Greensboro, North Carolina
336.369.1971, megan@triadstage.org
NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE ATHLETICS CLOSES TRIAD STAGE'S 14TH SEASON
Common Enemy, a world premiere drama by Preston Lane runs June 7 - 28, 2015
(Greensboro, NC) — The Triad is already buzzing about Common Enemy – a world premiere drama by Triad Stage Artistic Director Preston Lane, about telling truth to power set against the world of North Carolina college athletics. A season of remarkable upset victories sends NC’s Zebulon College to the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time. In the grip of March Madness, the campus reels as an assistant professor threatens the school’s athletic program. In a state where college basketball is almost a religion and team rivalries stretch back for generations, the explosive study pits faculty against administration, student against teacher, and husbands against wives. Majority views threaten strong convictions as the courage to speak up comes under relentless attack. Freely inspired by An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen's classic about a scientist under attack for revealing inconvenient truths, and part of UNCG’s “Globe and the Cosmos” series, Common Enemy reinvents a 19th century European classic for 21st century North Carolina audiences. Common Enemy runs June 7 – 28, 2015. Opening Night is Friday, June 12. Common Enemy is presented with support from WellSpring Retirement Community and UNCG Theatre.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“I love college basketball—it’s so much of who we are as North Carolinians,” says Preston Lane. “I know the NCAA is unfair to its players, and yet I remember classes stopping when I was in school during March Madness.” “But,” Lanecontinues, “tradition dies hard, and those who raise their voices against the business deals or the academic scandals often find themselves very much alone. When I find my values in conflict, the energy of that turmoil make me question those values and my questioning compels me to begin to write.”
The creative team includes: director Preston Lane, scenic designer Fred Kinney, costume designer Miwa Ishii, lighting designer Xavier Pierce, sound designer Phillip Owen, and projection designer Nicholas Hussong. The dramaturgs areBryan Conger and Tamera Izlar, Christine Morris is the resident vocal coach, Denise Gabriel is the resident movement coach, Jim Wren is the resident fight choreographer, Cindi Rush is the casting director, and the stage manager is Emily J. Mails.
THE CAST
Common Enemy is part of Triad Stage’s annual summer collaboration with UNCG Theatre. Preston Lane has assembled a cast comprised of the entire UNCG MFA Acting class and many New York and local actors.
The cast includes Adam Barrie (Triad Stage debut), Elizabeth Flax (The Old Settler, The Little Foxes), Carroll “Chip” Johnson (Tennessee Playboy, Beautiful Star), Cinny Strickland (Snow Queen, Beautiful Star), Kurt Uy (Triad Stage debut), Mari Vial-Golden (Triad Stage debut) and Cassandra Lowe Williams (The Member of the Wedding, Trouble in Mind).
The UNCG MFA Acting class includes Ben Baker (Triad Stage debut), Natalie Brouwer (Triad Stage debut), Taylor Murphy Hale (A Christmas Carol), Laura Bess Jernigan (Triad Stage debut), Jennifer Leigh Mann (Triad Stage debut),Julie Robles (The Member of the Wedding), Michael Tourek (Beautiful Star, A Christmas Carol, Around the World in 80 Days) and Elizabethe Wouters (Triad Stage debut).
Biographies of the cast and creative team, and more information on the production can be found here.
PERFORMANCE AND SPECIAL EVENT INFORMATION
Tickets for Preview performances of Common Enemy on June 7, 9, 10, and 11, are all $26 each. From Opening Night, June 12, through the run of the production, single ticket prices range from $10 to $48. Prices vary depending on the day of the week and seat location desired.
All performances are at Triad Stage at The Pyrle Theater, located at 232 South Elm Street in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina (between Market and Washington Streets).
Show times for Common Enemy are 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday matinees are at 2:00 p.m. There are no matinee performances during previews.
Pay-What-You-Can performances are Tuesday, June 16, and Wednesday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. Wine Tasting Friday is Friday, June 19, prior to the evening’s 8:00 p.m. performance. Tuesday, June 23, at 7:30 p.m. is Accessibility Night, with services provided by the Greensboro Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Arts Access providing services for the visually impaired.
Technically Talking, a behind-the-scenes discussion with members of the design team is Tuesday, June 9, immediately following the 7:30 p.m. preview performance.
The InSight Series, the free humanities program with a noted expert who will be discussing the world of the play will be held on Sunday, June 14, immediately following the 2:00 p.m. matinee performance.
PostScript, a lively, open discussion with the cast, will be held on Thursday, June 18, in The UpStage Cabaret immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance. The PostScript series is sponsored by Locke T. Clifford and Andrew C. Clifford.
ABOUT TRIAD STAGE
Triad Stage is a professional not-for-profit regional theater company based in Greensboro’s downtown historic district. All Triad Stage productions are created in Greensboro using the best of local and national talent. Triad Stage gratefully acknowledges the support of its Season Sponsors: Blue Zoom, the North Carolina Arts Council, Arts Greensboro and The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Common Enemy is presented with support from WellSpring Retirement Community and UNCG Theatre.
All Triad Stage productions feature the bold acting and breathtaking design that have been nationally recognized by The Wall Street Journal and by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, which named Triad Stage one of the top ten most promising theatres in the country as a recipient of the 2010 National Theatre Company Grant. Triad Stage has also earned accolades including “Best North Carolina Production of 2010” for The Glass Menagerie by Triangle Arts & Entertainment magazine; “One of the Best Regional Theatres in America”, New York’s Drama League; “Best Live Theater” (nine years running), Go Triad/News & Record and The Rhinoceros Times; and “Professional Theater of the Year” (2003, 2011), North Carolina Theatre Conference.
To purchase tickets or for performance information on Common Enemy, call the Triad Stage Box Office at 336.272.0160 or toll-free at 866.579.TIXX (8499), or visit www.triadstage.org.
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