New River Dramatists, a nonprofit theater workshop based in the N.C. mountains, is back for its second annual Davidson residency this week. The group invites theater-lovers to sit in on its unique script-development sessions daily, attend a youth theater playwriting session, or watch a Saturday night staged reading of “Absence,” a new play by Wendy Hammond, in a fund-raiser for Davidson Community Players. The group also joins the ongoing Davidson Comprehensive Plan project, by presenting a dramatization about our town’s vision for the future on Sunday.

Also below, Davidson Community Players is up for Theatre Company of the Year and two 2008-9 Davidson College Theater Department productions (“Hamlet” and “Company”) are up for the outstanding college and university production award later this month at the 6th annual Metrolina Theater Awards.

Meanwhile, find out what’s on the college stage during the 2009-10 season, which begins with Moliere’s “Tartuffe” in October. Listings for those and other local theater events below. Read the full story

Max Polley (center) with his AACT award. With him are Harv Thompson and Linda Miller. (Stephen Bird photo)

Longtime local theater volunteer Max Polley, former board chair of Davidson Community Players, has been recognized for his work by American Association of Community Theatre.

Also below, news about Metrolina Theatre Association’s unified audition on July 18 with representatives of 20 area theater companies. The one-day event will link actors, stage managers, technicians and others with productions planned across the region during the 2009-10 season. Read the full story