Pre-season event at Triad Stage in Greensboro

Theatre Getaway: Providence Gap

The world premiére of an Appalachian saga

From page to stage: In 2009, festival-goers had the rare opportunity to participate in a reading workshop of Providence Gap while it was under development. One year later, the process comes full circle. In the tradition of its Works in Progress theatre series, An Appalachian Summer Festival offers audiences a chance to attend the fully-staged, world premiére production at playwright Preston Lane's home stage—and one of North Carolina's genuine cultural treasures—Triad Stage in Greensboro. Followed by dinner at Greensboro's exquisite O. Henry Hotel, it promises to be a day to remember.

Written and directed by Preston Lane, with original music by Laurelyn Dossett, Providence Gap is a new play blending magic, myth and music in the tradition of Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star and Bloody Blackbeard. It is the tale of Chance Presnell, who is lucky. Abandoned at birth, he is rescued by a stranger. He meets his wife by accident. Coincidence saves his only child. But luck can change. As war calls him to Europe and an old jealousy splits his family apart, fate twists and his fortune changes. From a farm in the Blue Ridge to a mill village in the Piedmont, from the trenches of World War I to the Mexican border, Chance must take his destiny into his own hands as he searches for a place where all that is lost can once again be found.

$100 All-inclusive ticket: round trip bus fare, performance ticket, and post-show dinner at the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro.

Limited seats available; reservation deadline June 11, 2010. To reserve your tickets, call (800) 841-ARTS (2787). Bus departs from University Hall at 11am, returns at 9pm.

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