Flat Rock Playhouse to Present THE MUSIC AND DANCING OF DIRTY DANCING

The Flat Rock Playhouse 2016 season will continue with a brand new Music on the Rock featuring songs and dances from 80s hit film, Dirty Dancing. The Music and Dancing of Dirty Dancing will run from August 25th through September 4th at The Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown on Main Street in Hendersonville.

Get ready for the time of your life with The Music and Dancing of Dirty Dancing! This tribute to the film shot in Henderson County's own Lake Lure is sure to feature all the grooves and moves of your favorite 1980s dance flick. And let's not forget ABC's remake of the timeless classic had the majority of its key scenes shot on location in Henderson County just this year! Singing the tunes from the beloved soundtrack are AlFred Jackson, Trista Dollison and Jason Wooten. But the action doesn't stop there! Anthony Crouchelli, Celia Mei Rubin, Mandie Black and Clinton Edward are sharing the stage as the first ever Music on the Rock dirty dancers. Feel free to sing and dance along to tunes like "Be My Baby," "Hungry Eyes," "She's Like the Wind," "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," and more!

AlFred Jackson was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles and is a singer with a wide variety of experience in theatre, music, television and film industry. Jackson's credits include writing and producing music for E! Entertainment's In Your Dreams and David E. Kelly's Ally McBeal television series. He is the recipient of the 2010 NAACP Award for best choreographer in a stage play, Sarafina. He returns to the Rock after a successful and celebrated performance of The Music of Michael Jackson in 2013.

Trista Dollison grew up in Florida, where she sang in chorus and at church early on and then went to a performing arts high school. She trained as an operatic soprano before pursuing musical theatre. She currently is a New York-based actress whose credits include The Lion King on Broadway, A Bronx Tale: The Musical at Paper Mill Playhouse, Lorell Robinson in Dreamgirls and most recently she starred as Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act at Maine State Music Theatre.

Jason Wooten is no stranger to the Flat Rock Playhouse stage having performed in last year's The Music of The Bee Gees as well as The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber on the mainstage. His Broadway credits include featured roles in Jekyll & Hyde, Hair, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, Footloose, Jesus Christ Superstar and more.

Sharing the stage as the house band are Bill Altman, Ryan Guerra, Wes Parker, Alex Shields, Paul Babelay, David Gaines, and Charles Holland on guitar 1, guitar 2, saxophone, piano, drums, synth, and bass respectively. Shields also serves as Music Director.

The Executive Producer of The Music and Dancing of Dirty Dancing is the North Carolina Apple Festival.

The Music and Dancing of Dirty Dancing will run August 25th through September 4th 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.