Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, VA, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a weeklong celebration, Feb. 7-12, beginning with a Feb. 7 birthday breakfast party at the Wells Theatre.

The Wells is where VSC performed its first production, Alan Ayckbourne's Relatively Speaking, on a snowy evening in 1980. On Feb. 6, the LORT C Equity resident company closes The Lonesome West in anticipation of the Feb. 20-March 12 comedy, Golf With Alan Shepard, by Carter W. Lewis.

The 7:45 AM Feb. 7 breakfast will include the unveiling of the VSC's 20th anniversary video, and an announcement of the new Virginia Stage Foundation, an initiative meant to secure the financial stability of the nonprofit.

Tours of the 677-seat Wells will continue during the anniversary week, which ends Feb. 12 with a black tie dinner-dance and silent auction fundraiser at the Radisson Hotel.

VSC serves the seven-city region known as Hampton Roads, which includes Norfolk and environs. Programming includes classics, foreign drama, world premieres and recent works. The 1999-2000 season has The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Blues For An Alabama Sky, A Christmas Carol and Othello.

For information, call (757) 627-6988.

-- By Kenneth Jones