Theatre
Barter Theatre
Founded during the Depression, Barter Theatre, located in Abingdon, Virginia, takes its name from the early practice of bartering produce for admission to see a play. Now a favorite destination for tourists and others, Barter is a grand theatre rich in history and home to incredible productions. The theatre can accommodate 507 patrons. Barter Stage II, set inside a historical building across the street from the theatre, is a more intimate setting with 167 seats around a thrust stage.
Lees McRae Summer Theatre
Lees-McRae Summer Theatre is located on the campus of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Thousands of patrons have come each summer to enjoy Broadway-quality productions and to mingle post-show with the artistic director and cast members.
The Mariam & Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center
The Mariam & Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock, N.C., is a venue suitable for live theatre, dance groups, musical performances, visual arts displays, classic films, and children’s theatre workshops. Among the arts groups that have operated from the facility is the Blowing Rock Stage Company, which in its second year in the Hayes Center was named the best professional theatre in North Carolina. Not currently operational, the Hayes Center is expected to reopen in the summer of 2011.
Horn in the West
Horn in the West, which premiered in 1952, is one of the nation’s oldest Revolutionary War dramas being performed today. It portrays the lives of pioneers who braved the wilderness to settle in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Horn in the West is performed in one of the country’s most beautiful outdoor theatres, located in Boone, North Carolina. On the grounds of the outdoor theatre are the Hickory Ridge Homestead Museum and the 75-seat Powderhorn Theatre, where Horn company members perform serious drams, comedy, new works and classics.
