In 1939 the Federal Works Agency built an auditorium for Greensboro as a Public Works Administration project. For nearly four decades it held Greensboro High School's basketball court, its wooden bleachers and its stage. After 1976 it served the county as office and storage space. This November that same room tells the story of a small town that took in thousands of strangers. The building's own story is a small town putting its community space back to use.
Lake Country Players open Come from Away at Festival Hall, 201 North Main Street, on Thursday, Nov. 5. Its own events calendar lists seven performances across two weekends. The dinner choices open near the hall shift from night to night, and on the second weekend all of downtown is busy before the house lights go down. For Harbor Club neighbors heading into the county seat, picking the date is really picking the evening.
A Gym, a Stage, and a $2.5 Million Second Act
In 2006 the Greene County Board of Commissioners deeded the old auditorium to Greensboro's Downtown Development Authority to become a cultural center. A $2.5 million renovation followed. Local businesses, governments, civic groups and individual citizens paid for it, including the City, the DDA, Greene County, Reynolds Lake Oconee, OPAS and the OneGeorgia Authority. Today Festival Hall is managed by Executive Director Nicole Chillemi, with a volunteer board of directors guiding it.
The troupe on stage grew up in the same building. Lake Country Players is a volunteer community theater that began in 2011 as The Greene County Players. Its first production, The Dixie Swim Club, ran at Festival Hall under founding Artistic Director John Copelan. The company calls 2026 its "Landmark Season," its fifteenth, and Come from Away is this year's production.
The material suits the room. Lake Oconee News recounts how 38 airliners carrying about 6,700 passengers were ordered to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on Sept. 11, 2001. Gander had fewer than 10,000 residents. The musical opened on Broadway on March 17, 2017, earned seven Tony nominations, and won Best Direction of a Musical. In Greensboro, Michael A. Blackmon directs and choreographs, with musical direction by Manuel Martinez and Michael Wells. Lake Oconee News reports that the cast and crew come from Atlanta, Connecticut, Lawrenceville, Norcross and the local area.
Seven Performances, Three Kinds of Evening
Lake Oconee News lists tickets at $32.50 each, sold only through lakecountryplayers.org. The paper also warns buyers not to purchase from any other site, to avoid scams. The Players' event pages send buyers to their Arts People box office. Here is how the run lines up with what is open downtown:
| Performance | Curtain | Dinner listed open nearby | Also downtown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Nov. 5 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | Opening night |
| Friday, Nov. 6 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | |
| Saturday, Nov. 7 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | |
| Sunday, Nov. 8 | 2 p.m. | China Restaurant | Only matinee |
| Thursday, Nov. 12 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | |
| Friday, Nov. 13 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | Holiday Open House |
| Saturday, Nov. 14 | 7 p.m. | Los Torres, The Yesterday Cafe, China Restaurant | Holiday Open House, closing night |
Every evening show is a 7 p.m. curtain on the Players' calendar. The one Sunday show is a 2 p.m. matinee. Those two facts, set against the hours of the restaurants a short distance from the hall, are why some nights work better for dinner first and others for a meal in the lobby.
Dinner on a Short Main Street
Downtown Greensboro has fewer restaurants than a regular theatergoer from a larger city might expect. In April, Lake Oconee News reported that six downtown businesses had closed in the previous six months. The same article described a $4 million state grant for new sidewalks, streetlights and signage, starting on West Broad Street and continuing north. Terry Lawler, chairman of the Greensboro Downtown Development Authority, told the paper that the city hosts "24 major events [per year]," which he described as "roughly two major events every month that draw visitors to downtown." A seven-night musical run counts as one of the busier stretches on that calendar.
Three places near Festival Hall are listed as serving in the evening:
- The Yesterday Cafe, 114 North Main Street, on the same street as the hall. Its Lake Oconee Life listing shows dinner Thursday through Saturday, lunch Monday through Saturday, and no Sunday service. Visit Lake Oconee gives dinner hours of 5 to 9 p.m. Dinner service is a recent addition, per a profile updated Oct. 16. The Thursday-to-Saturday window covers six of the seven performances. A 5 p.m. table leaves time to walk up Main Street before the 7 p.m. curtain.
- Los Torres Mexican Grill, 117 East Broad Street, is listed as open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closed Sunday.
- China Restaurant, 124 South Main Street, has the longest listed hours of the three. It is open Sunday from 11:30 a.m., and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. That makes it the only one of the three listed as serving on Sunday, Nov. 8, when the matinee lets out mid-afternoon.
Small-town hours change with little notice, and these come from directory listings. Call ahead before building an evening around a table.
The Lobby Is Part of the Menu
The Players' event pages offer pre-show food without a reservation. Chef Brent sells pre-ordered snack packs through chef-brent.square.site, and you pick them up in the Festival Hall lobby. At checkout, add a note with the name of the person picking up and the date you are attending. The current menu:
- Charcuterie pack for two, $15
- Pimento pack for two, $10
- Veggie pack for two, $7
- Fruit pack for two, $8
- Cream cheese pound cake, $5
A charcuterie pack and a pound cake for two come to $20. A pair of tickets costs $65 at the price the paper reports. On the Sunday matinee, with two of the three nearby restaurants closed, the lobby order may be the simplest plan of the run.
The Second Weekend Starts at 10 a.m.
On Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, the evening shows land on the same days as downtown Greensboro's Holiday Open House. The Greensboro Business Association presents the event, which Lake Sinclair Life says features downtown boutiques, seasonal décor, gifts and holiday displays. Lake Oconee Life adds special sales, live art demonstrations and refreshments, with Friday hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday's hours differ between listings. Lake Sinclair Life shows 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lake Oconee Life shows 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Either way, Nov. 14 can fill a whole day in town. Holiday shopping on Main Street runs into a dinner seating at 5 and the closing-night curtain at 7. The Friday before follows the same order with Thursday-through-Saturday dinner hours. Anyone who wants the quieter version of the evening has the first weekend and Thursday, Nov. 12.
The doors at 201 North Main Street open seven times between Nov. 5 and Nov. 14, and the date you choose decides what else is open around them.
At Charity Joiner + Company, we think the evenings that make Lake Oconee feel like home are as much a part of a property's story as the shoreline. Through Charity Gives, we're proud to support the community organizations that fill rooms like Festival Hall. If you'd like to talk about life on this side of the lake, from Harbor Club to downtown Greensboro, we'd be delighted to welcome you. Request a Red-Carpet Consultation.