Triad Stage is gone and it’s not coming back.

The Triad Stage board of trustees announced on Tuesday, June 20, that Triad Stage was closing for good.

In April, the board of trustees announced that it was cancelling its upcoming production and pausing its operations but not closing its doors.

This announcement is that Triad Stage is, in fact, closing its doors, permanently.

Triad Stage was closed for two years due to COVID-19 restrictions, and reopened in October 2022, before announcing the “pause” in operations in April.  That pause was announced as necessary to develop a plan for moving forward.

In the June 20 press release, Co-Chair of the board of trustees Deborah Hayes states, “The budget for Triad Stage’s 20th season was based on revenue assumptions we thought were conservative. Unfortunately, the experience fell well short, with houses averaging less than half full over the course of the first two mainstage productions, and significantly reduced levels of contributed revenue.”

Hayes continued, “After we took stock of the first two productions, the prospect of launching the final show of the current season, and the commitments necessary to begin the next one, we concluded the barriers were insurmountable.”

According to the press release, Triad Stage is just one of many “long-running regional theaters unable to sustain post-pandemic operations.”

In 1999, Triad Stage purchased the old Montgomery Ward building on South Elm Street and made the renovations necessary to turn the old department store building into a theater. Triad Stage opened in 2022 and since then has produced over 140 mainstage productions.

The press release states that ticket holders will be contacted regarding their outstanding ticket credits and that “Triad Stage has assets valued considerably in excess of its liabilities and, although the liquidation process will require some patience, it is the organization’s intention and expectation to satisfy liabilities to ticket holders and other creditors in full.”

The Triad Stage ticket office will remain open to support the Eastern Music Festival through its 2023 season.

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