Theater/arts center plans opening, tells schedule

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF REPORT
Published: August 29, 2010

Officials at Hanesbrands Theatre, 209 N. Spruce St., have announced the programming for its first season at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts. The center, which has already hosted a dance performance, will have its grand opening Sept. 10-12. The theater's flexible seating plan can accommodate up to 300 people.

Here's the lineup so far:

Theatre

• Bouncers, Sept. 8-25. Ben Baker, Travis Smith, Lee Spencer and Quentin Talley star in John Godber's dramatic comedy about British bouncers at work and play in the northern England of the early 1970s. Mark Woods directs and produces this show, for which he assembled an ad-hoc cast. Tickets are $20.

• The Foreigner, Oct. 22-Nov. 7. Festival Stage of Winston-Salem revives Larry Shue's comedy about how people "complete" each other. Festival Stage will operate in affiliation with North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, using members of the Actors' Equity union in classic, contemporary and new plays.

• You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Nov. 13-28. No Rules Theatre Company of Washington and Winston-Salem presents Clark Gesner's musical. It includes such beloved characters as Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy. Matt Cowart directs. No Rules was founded by three graduates of UNC School of the Arts: Anne Kohn, Joshua Morgan and Brian Sutow.

• Backstage Christmas, Dec. 3-5. Twin City Stage, the community theater of Winston-Salem, will present this show, which features many holiday songs from Broadway.

• Touch, Jan. 7-23. No Rules presents Toni Press-Coffman's show about what it takes to rebuild your life in the wake of personal tragedy. Morgan directs.

• Lunch at the Piccadilly, Feb. 4-21. Festival Stage presents this musical, based on Clyde Edgerton's novel about fed-up rebels at a nursing home who seize control of Rosehaven Convalescence Center.

• The Glass Menagerie, May 13-22. Festival Stage presents Tennessee Williams' play about the Wingfields' inability to embrace reality.

Dance

Winston-Salem Festival Ballet will present three programs.

• Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Dracula, October 8-10.

• Angels, April 1-3.

• Craft of Choreography Conference, July 11-31.

• Summer Performance, Aug. 12-14.

Opera

Piedmont Opera of Winston-Salem will present "Live in HD from the Met Opera," featuring broadcasts of 12 live simulcasts of Metropolitan Opera productions from New York.

All performances will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturdays, unless otherwise noted.

Tickets are $22, $15 for students. They will go on sale to the general public on Sept. 7. The schedule includes:

• Wagner's Das Rheingold
, Oct. 9.

• Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov
, Oct. 23 (noon start time).

• Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Nov. 13.

• Verdi's Don Carlo, Dec. 11 (12:30 p.m. start time).

• Puccini's La Fanciulla Del West, Jan. 8.

• Adams' Nixon in China, Feb. 12.

• Puccini's Iphigenie en Tauride, February 26.

• Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor, March 19.

• Rossini's Le Comte Ory, April 9.

• R. Strauss' Capriccio, April 23.

• Verdi's Il Trovatore, April 30.

• Wagner's Die Walkure, May 14, 2011 (noon start time).

Music and film

Mavis Staples, a Grammy Award-winning member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will perform Oct. 2.

The RiverRun International Film Festival will screen films April 2-15.

New performances may be added to the lineup. For more information, visit www.rhodesartscenter.org or www.cityofthearts.org. For tickets, call 747-1414.