Preston Lane

Festival Vision

"Theatre is about stories, our stories: the stories we know and the stories we discover. Theatre is about the stories that unite us and the stories that make us different. In emotion, thought, word, design and movement, theatre artists create worlds real and imaginary in an act of collaboration. But no theatrical collaboration is complete without the audience. The connection between artists and audience makes theatre a lively art that has the power to change our feelings and our minds. I am thrilled to share great theatre with the audiences of Appalachian Summer Festival. I am thrilled to share theatre that makes us laugh, theatre that makes us question, theatre that is traditional and theatre that breaks all the rules. Your collaboration in these remarkable performances is part of an ageless art that calls us together against the darkness to find courage, strength and wonder in our common humanity."

- Preston Lane

Artistic Partner, Theatre Programming

Now in his seventh season (2008) at Triad Stage, Lane has directed over 28 productions including: the Grand Opening production Suddenly Last Summer, the award-winning Hedda Gabler and A Streetcar Named Desire, last season's acclaimed Tobacco Road (Wall Street Journal: Best of 2007, Theatre), the return of Brother Wolf for An Appalachian Summer Festival, and this season's record-breaking reprise of Beautiful Star. He was formerly Artistic Associate at the Dallas Theater Center where his productions included the US premiére 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: A Tuff Shuffle (National Black Theatre Festival), Overruled (Off Broadway), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Stage One), and the world premiéres of If Only and Get It While You Can (Summer Cabaret). As a playwright, he was recipient of a grant from the Fox Foundation to develop Wondrous Love. Other adaptations and original works include Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, and Julie's Dance (Triad Stage); A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care) and Three Weeks After Marriage and Helen! (Summer Cabaret).

Working with musician Laurelyn Dossett, Lane has begun an exploration of the intersection of popular music and theatre. Their work together includes: Brother Wolf (Triad Stage, An Appalachian Summer Festival and The Human Race Theatre Company in 2009), Beautiful Star (Triad Stage, upcoming at The WaterTower Theatre) and this summer's Bloody Blackbeard (Triad Stage). He has taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, 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, and holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.