If you’re a fan of local theater, Western North Carolina offers plenty of options.

If you’re a fan of local theater, Western North Carolina offers plenty of options.
With its opening song and dance, “Treasure Island” takes advantage of Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre’s newly refurbished stage, which thrusts forward into the audience.
A local author recounts her long journey to Buddhism in new book. Plus, a native art gallery opens on Wall Street, Black Mountain’s Poetry Night expands and Isis Music Hall and Kitchen will close its doors.
The inaugural AVL Honey Fest debuts at Salvage Station Sunday, June 5. Also: Livermush Festival returns to Marion; Well Played Board Game Café reopens; and more!
The Montford Park Players started as a no-frills Shakespeare troupe operating out of a neighborhood park. As the nonprofit group embarks on its 50th season, its shows have grown into one of the most popular outdoor theater experiences in North Carolina.
The Parkway Playhouse, Montford Moppets and Flat Rock Playhouse’s Studio 52 instill life skills in local young people through the magic of theater.
The Magnetic Theatre, Mountainside Theatre, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre and Parkway Playhouse host new seasonally appropriate productions.
Aquatic creatures flock to Lake Tomahawk, two pairs of artists form new studios and more area arts news.
Honor Moor, Barbie Angell and Kathryn Langwell reinterpret Grimm’s fairy tales; Concerts on the Creek return to Sylva; plus more area arts news.
Want to dance? The Wortham Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a virtual ballet workshop. Want to act? Montford Park Players is currently seeking actors for the 2021 season. Want a free stay at a local bed and breakfast? Submit your poetry to The Writers’ Workshop’s annual contest and see if you win.
From theater and live music to art exhibitions and literature, 2019 produces great works across genres.
Outdoor theater remains the best way to experience the Robin Hood stories, and the amphitheater’s setting, full of the sounds of nature, adds to the overall enjoyment of the play.
The Montford Park Players have performed Shakespeare’s plays since 1973. In recent years, the group has incorporated other classically inspired works into its line-up, including original work and plays for young audiences.
As this year comes to a close, it’s the perfect time to reflect on some truly extraordinary theater ranging from splashy musicals, moving dramas and locally written plays.
The youths of Montford Park Players’ Moppets program run the annual holiday production, Dec. 14, 16, 21, 22 and 23 at Land of the Sky UCC.
The minimalist set design, rendered in primary colors of black, white and red, gives ample room for hooded ghosts to dart in and out of a white forest of leafless trees.
Adults and children will find themselves reading the play on many levels. It reminds us that sometimes we need both escape and escapism.
Worth mentioning, the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater is, itself a character in this production. The setting allows for the actors to dart into the audience, chirping birds add to the ambiance, and when the first stars come out, the spell of a midsummer’s night is complete.
The holiday tradition — now preceded by a Victorian craft festival — runs Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 2-17, at Hazel Robinson Amphitheater.
Montford Park Players and Different Strokes! are both excellent local theater companies. Their partnership proves to be a triumphant venture.
The intersectionality of racial and homosexual prejudice places Shakespeare’s 400-year-old play in the context of contemporary social justice.