Triad Stage - The Founders

The Founders

Preston Lane (Artistic Director/Co-Founder) is in his 11th season at Triad stage where he has directed over 30 productions. the Grand Opening production Suddenly Last Summer, the award-winning Hedda Gabler and A Streetcar Named Desire, the acclaimed Tobacco Road and four productions he created specifically for Triad Stage audiences - Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star, Bloody Blackbeard, and Providence Gap.

Preston is the recipient of the 2008 Betty Cone Medal of the Arts and is in his fourth year as the Artistic Partner for Theatre for An Appalachian Summer Festival. He was formerly Artistic Associate at the Dallas Theater Center, where his productions included the US premiere 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 work Off Broadway, Regional and the National Black Theatre Festival.

As a playwright, his adaptations and original works include: A Doll House, Masquerade, A Christmas Carol, Tartuffe, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, Dracula, Mirandolina, and Julie’s Dance (Triad Stage); A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center, Sonoma County Rep, Kids Who Care and Triad Stage), Three Weeks After Marriage and Helen! (Summer Cabaret) and with Laurelyn Dossett: Brother Wolf (Triad Stage, An Appalachian Summer Festival, The Human Race Theatre Company and St. Olaf College), Beautiful Star (Triad Stage and WaterTower Theatre), Bloody Blackbeard and Providence Gap. Brother Wolf, Beautiful Star and Ghosts are published by Playscripts Inc.

He has taught at UNC-G, NC A&T, NCSA, Greensboro College, SMU, 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. A native of Boone, NC, Preston received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama..

Richard Whittington (Managing Director/Co-Founder) has served as Managing Director of Triad Stage since its inception. Rich earned a MFA in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama and has a BFA in Acting and Directing from Marymount Manhattan College. In 2007, Rich was appointed by the Governor to serve on the board of the NC Arts Council where he is currently a member of the Executive Committee. He has previously served on the boards of ArtsNC and Downtown Greensboro, Inc. and has served on numerous grant panels throughout the state as well as for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Rich has taught Theatre Management at Greensboro College and NC A&T University and has guest lectured at UNC Chapel Hill, NC School of the Arts, Wake Forest University and UNC Greensboro. A native of Dallas, Texas, Rich previously served as Managing Director for the Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts (ECPA), as Artistic Administrator for the Dallas Theater Center and Associate Producer of Dallas’ The Big D Festival of the Unexpected. Prior experience also includes work at the Roundabout Theatre in New York and StageWest in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Preston and Rich were recently honored with Downtown Greensboro Inc.’s 2010 J. Edward Kitchen Leadership Award by for their effective and persistent leadership resulting in making significant improvements in Greensboro’s center city.