The Mainstage Series
The Mainstage Series presents a wide range of top touring artists in music, theater, dance, comedy, and other performing arts in an intimate, 500-seat hall.
Kicking off the season is Mélange, whose eclectic style is on full display as they ask the crowd to select from a musical menu and determine the evening’s program, Friday, September 15, 8 pm.
Harmony-heavy and indie-folk group, Darlingside (September 27); and the charismatic, a mix of modern jazz, R&B, soul band and Gullah sound, Ranky Tanky (October 6). Spend an evening with folk icon Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary (November 17), while the award-winning multi-instrumental singer and songwriter Molly Tuttle (January 25) inspires the crowd with her melodic elegance.
Enjoy the banjo in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the master strummer and 15 time Grammy-winner Béla Fleck (February 15), along with a distinguished soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and composer Sébastian Lépine and ESCA Quartet (March 22), who delivers an awe-inspiring performance that breathes new life into classical music. With Avital Meets Avital (April 13), worlds collide as they explore their shared heritage with traditional Moroccan, Israeli, and Mediterranean rhythm and harmonies. And Jonathan Scales Fourchestra (May 4) changes perceptions on the sound of steel drums in a benefit for the Y.E.S. (Youth Education Scholarship) Fund.
The Mainstage Special
Attractions Series
The Mainstage Special Attractions Series showcases six spectacular acts. The New Chinese Acrobats (November 7) bring a stunning and gravity-defying performance, steeped in Chinese culture. A Swannanoa Solstice (December 16), now in its 16th year, celebrates the holiday season with award-winning multi-instrumentalists Al Petteway, Amy White, Robin Bullock, special guest David Holt, and host Doug Orr.
In the new year, Gravity & Other Myths presents A Simple Space (January 12), wild yet graceful performance by seven amazingly skilled, highly athletic acrobats. We Shall Overcome featuring Damien Sneed (January 22) celebrates generations of civil rights activists inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jen Kober’s Homegrown Comedy Show (March 23) gives a uniquely musical, phenomenally funny, uproarious performance. To wrap it up, the Piano Battle (March 28) duel between Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis is purely about the music (in the end, it’s up to audience members to decide who emerges victorious).
Mainstage Dance Series
This season’s Mainstage Dance Series presents three exquisite dance groups for Asheville audiences, including a riveting performance from Dorrance Dance (November 15 & 16) led by award-winning choreographer and percussive dancer Michelle Dorrance, 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award winner and one of the most sought-after tap dancers of this generation. Returning to Diana Wortham Theatre to thrill fans with visual eye-candy is MOMIX: Opus Cactus (February 20 & 21), who is sure to transport you across the dunes of fantasy, using mesmerizing movement, vibrant lighting, and dreamlike imagery. And finally, to close the season’s dance performances, Ballet Hispánico (April 9 & 10) will infuse bold and eclectic contemporary dance with traditional Latino influences in breathtakingly beautiful performances, along with a three-day residency including a social dance class, community class for families, Master dance class for students, and individual performances and workshops for local students and the public.
The Mainstage Theatre Series
The Mainstage Theatre Series features a total of four performances. It kicks off with one-eyed storytelling champion Stéphanie Morin-Robert in BLINDSIDE (November 2) as she recounts her life as a feisty 7-year-old cancer survivor, wielding her glass eye as a superpower. The series continues with a returning favorite, Aquila Theatre Company, with its “two plays in two days” tradition: Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (February 1) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (February 2) — both brought to vivid life in bold and thrilling performances. And ARTHUR TRACE: The Artful Deceiver (April 4) closes the series with original illusions, audience participation, imaginatively humorous scenarios and magic.
The Mainstage Celtic Series
The Mainstage Celtic Series opens with singer-songwriter and crowd favorite Dougie MacLean (October 14), who has an international reputation as an extraordinary performer, earned his place in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame, won multiple awards, and is praised as “a musical hero” by The Wall Street Journal.
Eileen Ivers (February 28) shreds her electric fiddle through looping, fuzz and wah effects — sawing her bow across the strings like an orchestral psychedelic rock star with her new band, Universal Roots.
As the final Celtic performance, don’t want to miss the lilt of Appalachian bluegrass and energetic charm of contemporary Americana that We Banjo 3 (March 15) brings. A blend of the fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo and some smooth vocals will fill the theatre with charming melodies.
The 2018/2019 Matinee Series
The 2018/2019 Matinee Series includes returning favorite Theatreworks USA presenting We The People (October 11 & 12), where students meet the Founding Fathers and learn about the newly formed United States; Freedom Train (February 25 & 26), following Harriet Tubman on her heroic journey through the American South; and The Magic School Bus (March 5 & 6), with lessons in communication, music, science and social studies.
Bringing Shakespeare to life this season is Warehouse Theatre in The Tempest (October 23), the bard’s 1610 classic made accessible to young people; and Aquila Theatre in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (February 4), using beautiful movements and unique staging to transport students into the heart of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved and witty comedies. For an electrifying change in pace, Soul Street Dance (October 30) brings athletic performers cartwheeling into Asheville with astounding energy and a mix of movements from classical to hip-hop and raucous rock.
With side-splitting laughter from Stéphanie Morin-Robert, BLINDSIDE (November 2) showcases an entertaining and courageous act with a message of inclusion, anti-bullying, and overcoming disability.
The New Chinese Acrobats (November 8) flip, fly, stack and twirl across the stage in vibrant costumes in this gravity-defying performance.
Dorrance Dance (November 16) elevates traditional jazz and tap forms with awe-inspiring percussive dance.
MOMIX’s Opus Cactus (February 21) combines athletic dance, riveting music, extravagant costumes and inventive props to create an entertaining multimedia experience that’s not of this world.
To close the series, Ballet Hispánico (April 10) infuses bold and eclectic contemporary dance with traditional Latino influences to showcase its heritage-inspired movements both on stage and in the classroom.
The Diana Wortham Theatre at 18 Biltmore Avenue, downtown Asheville. The entrance for the Diana Wortham Theatre is marked by the location of the theatre’s marquee between 12 and 14 Biltmore Ave. The Mainstage Series 2018/2019 Season Sponsors are 67 Biltmore, Asheville Citizen-Times, Blue Moon Water, Buncombe County TDA, Creative Energy, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Renaissance Asheville Hotel. For more information or to purchase tickets (on sale at 10 am Thursday, August 23) call (828) 257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre.com.