The play tells of a fast-talking stranger who promises rainfall — and hope — to a drought-stricken community (including a spinster, Lizzie). The play was made into a film that starred Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster, and a stage musical (known as 110 in the Shade).
The Greensboro cast, culled from New York and North Carolina, includes Nathan Anderson as Jim Curry; Carroll "Chip" Johnson as Sheriff Thomas; Michael Legg as Noah Curry; Ed Pilkington as H.C. Curry; Steven Rishard as Bill Starbuck; Elizabeth Ritson as Lizzie Curry; and Jeff Talbott as File. Opening night is Sept. 25.
Designers are Robin Vest (scenic), Anne Porterfield (costumes), John Wolf (lighting) and Jason Romney (sound).
Tickets for preview performances, Sept. 21, 23 and 24, are all $10 each. Tickets from opening night range $12 $37.
All performances are at Triad Stage's 300-seat thrust stage theatre located at 232 South Elm Street, in historic downtown Greensboro, North Carolina (between Market and Washington Streets). Show times are 7:30 PM Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and 8 PM Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday matinees are at 2 PM. For ticket information, call the Triad Stage box office at (336) 272-0160.
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Playwright N. Richard Nash was born Nathan Richard Nusbaum, on the south side of Philadelphia, in 1913. As a young man, he boxed for $10 a fight, before going on to study English and philosophy at the University of Philadelphia. Shortly after graduation he published two philosophical texts, but it would be fiction and drama where Nash would make his mark. He made his Broadway debut as a playwright in 1946 with the Shakespearean comedy The Second Best Bed, which was soon followed by the dramas The Young and Fair and See the Jaguar. After making a name for himself with The Rainmaker, Nash went on to write plays, screenplays and novels well into his eighties. He died in December 2000 at his home in Manhattan.
Preston Lane directed Triad's Suddenly Last Summer, Julie's Dance, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Mirandolina, August Snow, Our Town and Angel Street. Prior to coming to Triad Stage, he was artistic associate at the Dallas Theater Center, where his productions included A Christmas Carol, the U.S. premiere of Inexpressible Island and The Night of the Iguana. He was artistic director of the Summer Cabaret where productions included the world premieres of If Only and Get It While You Can. Other productions include Overruled (Off Broadway), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Stage One), Sylvia (Hampton Playhouse) and Lettice and Lovage (Beck Center). Lane is a native of Boone, North Carolina, and received his BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts and his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
