Well, it's been a staple of
downtown Greensboro even
before downtown's resurgence.
We're talking about Triad Stage.
It was a one-of-a-kind when it
comes to theater in the Triad
and regionally really.
And now after 20 years,
they have closed their doors.
I spoke with board chair
Deborah Hayes about its history.
So Deborah, you know, 20
years is a good run, but a lot
of people didn't understand,
I don't think, what Triad Stage was.
So we're fond of saying that
Triad Stage began as a dream.
It began as a dream of a number of local
business and professional leaders who
wanted to see professional theater come
to downtown Greensboro and came here
at a time when there was not a lot of
development in downtown Greensboro.
And it really served as an anchor
not just for the arts community,
but also for the redevelopment of
downtown Greensboro generally.
And what made it special is that Triad
Stage is a professional theater company.
So we were able to bring the best
of New York actors and local and
regional actors into our space to
entertain audiences for 20 seasons.
So
this is an intimate setting, right?
It set it apart from other theaters.
It is an intimate setting.
We see 300 people and at the
beginning of every show we remind
people sitting in the front rows.
To watch their toes.
Because if they don't,
they could very well find
themselves tripping up an actor.
It's one of the things that
we love about this space as
much as larger theaters are
fabulous entertainment venues.
There's a level of intimacy.
That you get in a venue like
Triad Stage that I think is
very difficult to replicate.
And I do love. I mean it is
like theater in the round,
you know and that and you're you
feel like you're a part of a show.
Absolutely. You know and the the
mix of we had some local actors,
right they here mixed in with the
professionals and some famous people
and some famous people as
we've been reminded lately this
is the place where a number
of folks got their first look
at Rhiannon Gibbons so. We're
we're very proud of what we
have created in the Greensboro
community from the lovely cross
pollination of people who come
from far away and people who are
local professional actors. So
Deborah, that table was where I asked
my wife to marry me because I knew
the building manager at that time.
She lit it. And we tricked my wife into
thinking there was a band up here.
She walked in and I asked her to marry.
So this has a lot of meaning to me.
But the cabaret was used
primarily though for what? Cabaret
was used for small performances.
We did Santa Land Diaries up here for years.
The cabaret has also been used
for musical performances.
Folks like the Fiddle and Bow Society
came up here and did performances,
and it's a place where people
made their own special memories.
All through the life of
this theater, obviously.
Just a quick final thought.
It's nostalgic to see this go. I mean,
it is, it's, it's heartbreaking.
But unfortunately,
the theater business has
always been a challenging one.
And in the post pandemic world,
our fate is unfortunately more
typical than atypical.
And so as much as we hate to see it go,
we're grateful for 20 years of.
Of fabulous performances and
lots of memories and space. We
hope there's new life in
this building soon. Yes.
Do we thank you for your time.
Yep. Thank you.
Good story, Eric. Yeah. You know,
I missed this place,
and you heard me say that's where
I asked my wife to marry me.
And so it meant a lot to us, but.
You know more than that.
That cabaret upstairs was great
for small performances when
you really want to get into.
When I saw a couple stand up
comics there and then the theater
itself seats about 300 and it
is like theater in the round.
And so you get a different
experience there than you do at a
tanker or even a Carolina Theater.
It's a whole different ball game.
So hopefully somebody will
buy this and restore it,
put some new life in it.
It's a definitely a sad thing,
especially watching your story,
hearing the music and being around 20 years.
That's a really long time
if you think about it.
That's more than half the
lifetime of even your own kids.
And if you think about people going to
grow up to watch some of the plays there,
and like you said, it's actors from all over,
not just local talent.
So they're putting on quality shows.
So it's really sad to see it go.
Did she say if there was any chance
of them ever making a comeback?
You know that they're right now they're
kind of reeling, trying to figure
out what's going to happen next.
So it's a matter of who gets that building,
because the board owns the building,
like Tri Stage owns it itself.
So it's going to have to sell it
or try to lease it or something,
but they're not quite sure yet.
It's too early.