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Flat Rock Playhouse announces new director of education

Flat Rock Playhouse announced today that Sue Carpenter Fair has assumed the position of Director of Education for
the newly formed Flat Rock Playhouse Studio 52, a division of the Vagabond School of Drama.

A graduate of West Henderson High School, Florida A & M University and Florida State University with a degree in Theatre Education, Fair will be responsible for creating educational programs for Flat Rock Playhouse Studio 52 that will bridge the gap between the Playhouse and the community while building future audiences, nurturing growing theatre artists, bringing the arts into the local school and fostering at-risk children. She will report directly to Lisa K. Bryant, artistic director for Flat Rock Playhouse.

“We are so very fortunate to have Sue Fair as our new director of education,” says Bryant. “Her passion for education and our community,
combined with her internal determination and dedication drive her current successes and will be the sparks that ignite the vast achievements of her
future.”

Bryant continues, “Sue is a generous team player who is eager to work
collaboratively with both the Flat Rock Playhouse staff and local community
to help ensure that Studio 52 provides meaningful service and outreach to
the children and families of Hendersonville and Western North Carolina. As
a native of Hendersonville, Sue has waited a long time to make her way back
home. Her enthusiasm and devotion to Henderson County is a win for our
home, our Playhouse, and especially our students!”

Fair was born in Asheville, North Carolina and is a third generation native
to Henderson County. She also served her country in the Army Reserves for
eight years as an Intelligence Officer. Fair has worked professionally at
Gardner-Webb University as the Theatre Arts Department Chair, Instructor,
Designer and Managing Director, as well as at Florida State University’s
Developmental Research School, Tallahassee Community College’s Theatre Arts
Department and Young Actor’s Theatre before making her way to Flat Rock
Playhouse.

“I was taught from an early age that community and family are very
important. This is why I’m so excited to be back at Flat Rock Playhouse,
the place that nurtured my creativity as a child and fostered my love for
the theater,” says Fair.

Fair has directed many shows including *Big River*, *Charley and the
Chocolate Factory*, *Big*, *The Secret Garden*, *Seussical The
Musical*, *Wizard
of Oz*, *The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe*, and *Fiddler on the Roof*. She
has done scenic and costume design for *Into the Woods*, *Annie,
Oliver*, *Velveteen
Rabbit* and many others. Sue has acted in several commercials, training
films, plays and films. She also wrote two television pilots for
Nickelodeon, one of which was filmed recently.

She is married to Michael Fair, and they have two daughters, ages four and
nine. Besides watching and participating in theatre activities, Fair and
her family love to be outdoors hiking, kayaking, and biking.

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; the newly formed Studio 52 – year-round classes and
workshops 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.