Theater Schedules in 2015

West Virginia’s theater troupes are prepping to take the stage for the season!

Catch our finest actors showing their passion and vibrance on stage, with hilarious comedies to deep, twisting dramas. Here are some of the highlights for the 2015 performance season:

Historic Fayette Theater, Fayetteville

Fayetteville’s award-winning troupe starts the season with a classic, “Robin Hood the Musical” in March. In May, as the flowers are blooming in the surrounding New River Gorge, the players will portray the historic cabin stay of the father of environmental movement, author Henry David Thoreau, in “Walden: The Ballad of Thoreau.”

In July, they take the stage in “Dearly Departed” as the southern Turpin family, coping in their own offbeat ways with the loss of their father. Then switch gears in September and October for the drama ‘Haunting Julia,” when a father lingers on questions about his daughter’s death. Following in October is the annual Video Boater’s Challenge, a competition among local whitewater boating filmographers— an evening of swirling rapids, wild rides and epic wipeouts.

As the holiday season begins, catch the heartwarming musical “The Santa Diaries.” The season concludes with the annual holiday performance by the New River Youth Symphony Chorus.”

Greenbrier Valley Theatre, Lewisburg

The “State Professional Theatre of West Virginia” starts its season with 2 comedies in April and May. “The Skin of Our Teeth” follows a family that always seems to avoid catastrophe, then in “Boeing Boeing,” a man with 3 fiancees gets caught in the act when all 3 women show up at his apartment.

Their next 2 features in June and July each focus on people competing for attention: the famed “Chicago,” in which 2 defendants on trail for murder vie for media attention, then comedy “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” when writers compete to for the attention of a television host.

Then it’s off into the past in August and October: celebrate the singing sirens of the 60s in “Beehive!” followed by a classic Shakespearean drama, “The Tragedy of Hamlet.”

Then it’s on to a heavy drama, the psychological thriller “Veronica’s Room” (written by the author of Rosemary’s Baby”) in November. And ending on a heartwarming note, Scrooge learns the meaning of Christmas in the ever-nostalgic “A Christmas Carol.”

The Bramwell Theatre Foundation, Bramwell

In the historic town of Bramwell, the actors are your guides through the tales of the coal boom days, when rich barons flocked to this tiny town. Tour their mansions as the costumed characters revive the town’s golden era, when there were more millionaires per capita here than anywhere in the nation. The historic homes tours are in June and December.

In between, in July and August, you can catch the foundation’s iconic “Smoke on the Mountain,” a musical about a family gospel band’s big time church performance, in which you become a part of their audience, seeing both the show and the aside tales of their faith being tested.

Other Arts Performances

Although they have not announced their full season yet, the Summit Players will be taking the stage throughout 2015, too.

In addition to the actors of Southern West Virginia, you can catch some of the nation’s best acts winding through our mountain hills.

The Berenstain Bears will be stopping into the Chuck Mathena Center, as will the National Dance Company of Ireland.

You can catch more Celtic sounds at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, among a season lineup that also includes the music of Mali and a variety of classic Americana.

You can also catch shows at The Ritz Theatre in Hinton and The Raleigh Playhouse and Theatre in Beckley (when the screens aren’t in use for films!)

Which performances would you like to see this season?