Our History

Triad Stage began as the dream of creating a professional not-for-profit regional theatre to serve the communities of the Triad. Co-founders Preston Lane and Richard Whittington forged their artistic partnership as graduate students at the Yale School of Drama. After managing a theater in Connecticut for two years, they undertook the three-year task of opening their own theater in the heart of historic Greensboro.

In September 1999, Triad Stage purchased the former Montgomery Ward building, which had been built in 1936 and sat vacant for almost 40 years. Renovations commenced in the spring of 2001, transforming the five-story building into a world class theater center now called the Pyrle Theater, complete with a 300-seat theater and thrust stage, rehearsal hall, offices, two spacious lobbies, special events areas and other audience amenities. Triad Stage also assumed the management an offsite production facility, the Greensboro Scene Shop.

The Grand Opening of the theater took place in January 2002 with Tennessee Williams’ modern classic Suddenly Last Summer. Since then, Triad Stage has produced more than 75 productions, holiday shows and special events, and has sold over 350,000 tickets.

In 2008, Triad Stage finished a second round of renovations to the Pyrle. A scene shop annex was added in the basement. The top floor underwent major construction to turn what was previously a storage center into the 90-seat Upstage Cabaret performance space, the Sloan Rehearsal Hall and the studio and office facilities of WUNC Public Radio’s new Greensboro Bureau. 

In 2011, Triad Stage purchased a 30,000 square foot building near the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to serve as the theater's new production facility, relocating its scene, costume and properties shops as well as its warehouse.

Now in its 11th anniversary season, Triad Stage has 3,250 Season Passholders and more than 400 annual donors. The theater company has received accolades on the national, state and local levels, including being named “One of the Best Regional Theaters in America” by New York’s Drama League, voted the Triad’s “Best Live Theater” by the readers of the News & Record’s GoTriad seven years in a row and “Professional Theatre of the Year” by the North Carolina Theatre Conference. Its production of Tobacco Road was listed among the “Best of 2007” by The Wall Street Journal. Triad Stage has been spotlighted in American Theatre, Stage Directions, Southern Living, Playbill.com, Our State and UNC-TV’s “North Carolina Weekend”. The American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, named Triad Stage "one of the top ten most promising theatres in the country" as the recipient of a 2010 National Theatre Company Grant.

Who We Are

Triad Stage is guided by core values that inspire all aspects of its operations. These core values are a daily reminder to our entire company of why and how we produce theater for our community.

Triad Stage believes in…

Excellence
We strive for bold, daring excellence in all of our endeavors as we seek to create professional theater with regional and national impact.

Artistic Risk
Striving to constantly challenge ourselves, we reserve the right to take artistic risks and make mistakes.

Community
As individuals are united in their shared experience of the theatrical event, strangers become friends, common ground is discovered and dialogue begins. In imagining the lives of others, our capacity for empathy is strengthened.

Learning
Theater is a valuable part of a lifetime of learning. Our work and the dialogue it creates should spark curiosity and inspire creative ways of thinking for our artists, staff and audience.

Inclusion
Our community’s varied diversity must not only reflect itself in Triad Stage’s casting and staffing, but also in the selection of the stories we choose to tell.

Collaboration
We celebrate and encourage an artistic process rooted in collaboration by creating an atmosphere where artists feel safe to question, experiment and grow. We seek to mirror this process in all aspects of our operations.

Rejuvenation
We are committed to revitalizing downtown Greensboro by greatly enhancing the cultural life of the city through entertainment and by providing an economic impact benefiting other area businesses.

Partnerships
We are committed to sharing resources, ideas and talent with other organizations to benefit the well being of our community.

A Southern Voice
By placing the best of Southern writing in juxtaposition with classic and contemporary world drama, we foster a unique southern voice, allowing our audience the pride of saying, “This theater is ours.”

North Carolina
We seek to play a leading role in the North Carolina arts community. We actively work to create an artistic home for artists with North Carolina connections and to provide a bridge to the profession for emerging artists.

Triad Stage is a member of:

Theatre Communications Group
ARTS North Carolina                 
The North Carolina Theatre Conference              
The Southeastern Theatre Conference