Flat Rock Playhouse presents A CELTIC CHRISTMAS

The Flat Rock Playhouse 2016 season is celebrating the holiday season with a brand new Music on the Rock featuring classic carols that will transport you and your family to a winter wonderland not at the North Pole, but in the rolling green hills of Ireland. A Celtic Christmas will run from December 1st though the 18th at The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown on Main Street in Hendersonville.

Get ready to catch the spirit of the season with A Celtic Christmas! From the western shores of Ireland to the Great Glen Highlands of Scotland, the people of the British Isles have been infusing Christmas carols with their unique Celtic sound for over a millennium. Through the accounts and exquisite voices of three storytellers and their musicians, The Playhouse Downtown will not only be transformed by mist and candlelight, but also by that warm, soul-filling Celtic sound that brings great comfort and joy to all. Traditional carols like "Silent Night", "I Saw Three Ships", "The Little Drummer Boy", "O Holy Night", and many, many more are given the Celtic treatment in this one-of-a-kind Christmas Spectacular. Singing the songs of the season as the singer/storytellers are Ryan Dunn, Katherine Taylor and Michaela Tomcho. But the Celtic sound would not be complete without a magnificent choir of voices supporting the three soloists. Diane David leads a chorus of nineteen men and women to round out this Christmas cacophony that will surely cause a few side effects: goosebumps and plenty of that good ol' Christmas cheer. But it's nothing that can't be cured by joining the fun and singing along to holiday classics including "Ding Dong Merrily on High", "White Christmas", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Carol of the Bells" and more!

Sharing the stage as the house band are Ryan Guerra, Bill Altman, Alex Shields, Paul Babelay, David Gaines, and Sara Nichols on violin, guitar, piano, drums, synth, and bass respectively. Additionally, Shields serves as Music Director and Guerra performs as a vocalist.

The Executive Producer of A Celtic Christmas is the BMW of Asheville.

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE

A Celtic Christmas will run December 1st through the 18th at The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown. Performances Thursday evenings at 7:30PM, Friday and Saturday evenings 8:00PM, matinees Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM. Tickets are $28 and can be purchased by calling The Playhouse box office at 828-693-0731, toll-free at 866-732-8008 or online at www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown is located at 125 South Main Street in Hendersonville, NC.

In 1937, a group of struggling performers, led by Robroy Farquhar, organized themselves as the Vagabond Players. The Vagabonds worked in a variety of places over the course of three years, and in 1940 found themselves in the Blue Ridge region of Western North Carolina. The local and tourist community welcomed them with open arms when they presented their first summer season of plays in a 150-year-old grist mill they converted into The Old Mill Playhouse at Highland Lake. So successful was that summer, they returned in 1941. After WWII, the Vagabond Players reorganized, came back to the region and opened a playhouse in nearby Lake Summit. The Lake Summit Playhouse thrived during the post war years and soon the Vagabond Players were looking for a larger and permanent home. In 1952, the troupe of performers, and a newly formed board of directors, made an offer to buy an 8-acre lot in the Village of Flat Rock. This new home made the Vagabonds "locals" and a rented big top gave birth to Flat Rock Playhouse. As the beautiful Western Carolina region continued to grow, so did The Playhouse and in 1961, by Act of the North Carolina General Assembly, Flat Rock Playhouse was officially designated The State Theatre of North Carolina. What began as a few weeks of summer performances in 1940 is now a nine-month season of plays including Broadway musicals, comedy, drama, and theatre for young audiences. The Playhouse's dual mission of producing the performing arts and providing education in the performing arts includes a professional series; a summer and fall college apprentice and intern program; and Studio 52, year-round classes and workshops in theatre and film for students from kindergarten through adults. Flat Rock Playhouse now hosts over 98,000 patrons annually and is a significant contributor to the local economy and the Arts in North Carolina.

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