WINSTON-SALEM – The Associates of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) will present a behind-the-scenes look at the school’s upcoming production of 1776 at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7, in the Thrust Theatre of Performance Place on the UNCSA campus, 1533 South Main St., Winston-Salem.

Admission is free to the behind-the-scenes event, but patrons are asked to RSVP to uncsa.associates@gmail.com or call 336-631-1227 to reserve a seat.

Audience members will learn about the musical play from the dean of the UNCSA School of Drama, Gerald Freedman; the director of 1776, UNCSA Drama alumnus John Langs; and guest artist-in-residence Kevin Stites, musical director.

Students will also be part of the event. Stites will work with two Drama students, Kathryn Saffell of San Antonio, Texas, and Patrick Osteen of Asheboro, on songs from the musical in coaching sessions. And Drama student Adam Levinthal of Philadelphia will be transformed into his character, Benjamin Franklin, with the assistance of costumes from the School of Design and Production.

A question-and-answer session will end the hour-long presentation, which will be followed by an informal reception in the Performance Place lobby.

UNCSA’s production of 1776 will feature members of Studios 3 & 4 (Drama college junior and seniors). It is a lively musical portraying the birth of a nation as John Adams leads a cast of America’s founding fathers on the difficult journey to draft and sign the Declaration of Independence.

1776 will be presented at 8 p.m. Feb. 24-26 and March 3-5, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 5, in the Thrust Theatre of Performance Place on the UNCSA campus.  Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, plus a $1 facility usage fee, and may be purchased from the UNCSA Box Office, 336-721-1945, or online at www.uncsa.edu/performances.

The behind-the-scenes event on Feb. 7 is coordinated by The Associates, UNCSA’s volunteer organization, and assisted by the School of Drama and the School of Design and Production at UNCSA.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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