"Not many people get to say they were in the original cast of a show," Director of Education Lauren Rogers Hopkins told Flat Rock Together in its preview of Flat Rock Playhouse's 2026 season. "With this being a world premiere, they get that ownership. It's a really big deal."
She was talking about Rumpelstiltskin, which opens on the Leiman Mainstage on November 12. The Playhouse's last two productions of 2026 are this new musical and the 10th annual A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas Show. Both are produced on Greenville Highway by a theater whose leadership started out as its own apprentices. Between the farmers market's last Thursday and the Christmas show's December 20 closing, these two shows are the most local entertainment on Flat Rock's calendar.
The Outdoor Season Closes October 29
Flat Rock Together lists Thursday, October 29, as the last 2026 date of the Flat Rock Farmers Market. The market runs 3 to 6 p.m. in the back lot at Pinecrest ARP Church, and the church's own page says the market runs from May "until October." In December 2025 there was a holiday market in the same lot, according to N.C. Cooperative Extension in Henderson County. Any 2026 holiday date will be posted on the market's own Facebook page.
After that, the Playhouse's Leiman Mainstage at 2661 Greenville Highway carries the village's November and December calendar, and both closing productions are staged there.
A Premiere Written by a Hendersonville Native
Rumpelstiltskin is billed as a world-premiere musical "created entirely under our roof," developed through the Playhouse Jr. Licensing New Works Initiative. The Playhouse describes the story as a retelling of the Grimm Brothers' tale with a score that mixes folk, rap and percussion.
The composer is Ben Mackel. His bio at NC Stage describes him as an actor, composer and singer-songwriter who grew up in Hendersonville and now lives in Swannanoa. He spent eight years in the resident company at Barter Theatre and has acted at Flat Rock Playhouse. His musicals have been produced at Barter, HART, South Carolina Children's Theatre and Flat Rock Playhouse, and he has toured with the string band The Blue Eyed Bettys. The new score was written by someone from this county and built in this building. Students from the Playhouse's education program will perform it alongside the season's apprentices.
Hopkins told Flat Rock Together that the show "will be fully realized, with professional costumes, lighting, sound, and design." The ticket price does not reflect that. Adult seats start at $25 and tickets for ages 17 and under start at $13.
The run is short, five performances over four days:
- Thursday, November 12, at 7 p.m.
- Friday, November 13, at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, November 14, at 2 p.m.
- Saturday, November 14, at 6 p.m.
- Sunday, November 15, at 2 p.m.
The Saturday evening show starts at 6 p.m. and ends early enough for families with young children.
A Christmas Show That Gets Rebuilt Every Year
Twelve days after Rumpelstiltskin closes, the same stage opens A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas Show (10th Anniversary Special). It runs November 27 through December 20, with performances at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $60, and child pricing is available for ages 17 and under.
The show has a ten-year history, but the Playhouse does not stage the same production each December. Producing Artistic Director Lisa Bryant told Flat Rock Together that each year brings "new arrangements, fresh choreography, and moments of wonder," and that the 2026 edition will "deliver all the greatest Christmas hits people have been begging for." She called the show "a fixture of the holidays" and "an important part of people's holiday season now."
Like every Playhouse production, it is built from scratch. Production Manager Adam Goodrum told the same publication that a typical show takes eight to nine months to go from its first design meeting to opening night. The full season is produced by nine full-time staff and about thirty seasonal artisans.
The box office calendar groups performances into four blocks.
| Week | Performance dates |
|---|---|
| Thanksgiving weekend | Friday, Nov. 27 through Sunday, Nov. 29 |
| Week two | Wednesday, Dec. 2 through Sunday, Dec. 6 |
| Week three | Wednesday, Dec. 9 through Sunday, Dec. 13 |
| Closing week | Wednesday, Dec. 16 through Sunday, Dec. 20 |
There are no Monday or Tuesday performances after Thanksgiving weekend, so plan weekday visits for Wednesday or later. Matinee and evening times vary by date, and the box office calendar has the times for each day.
The Apprentices Now Running the Building
The two shows come out of one idea. Flat Rock Together traces both to a philosophy from Playhouse founder Robroy Farquhar called "Grow Your Own." The Playhouse's current leadership shows how that has worked. According to the same article, each of these people started at Flat Rock Playhouse as an apprentice:
- Lisa Bryant, now Producing Artistic Director
- Ethan Andersen, now Artistic Associate, who made his directing debut this summer with Footloose
- Lauren Rogers Hopkins, now Director of Education, who oversees the student cast of Rumpelstiltskin
- Dennis Maulden, scenic designer, who first came as an apprentice in 1967 and is designing sets for five of the 2026 mainstage productions
"Find young people, nurture them, and let them grow into the future of the theater," Maulden told Flat Rock Together. "It's working exactly the way he imagined."
So the students performing in Rumpelstiltskin in November are where Bryant, Andersen, Hopkins and Maulden once were. The Christmas show that follows comes from the same theater, under a producing artistic director who started as an apprentice herself. The Playhouse turns 75 in 2027, which makes this year's closing pair the last productions before that anniversary.
Fitting the Rest of Flat Rock Around the Mainstage
Other events in and near the village fall on or between the Playhouse's dates. Here is how they line up:
- November 6: Flat Rock Together's calendar lists an opening reception at the Gallery at Flat Rock.
- November 26: The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site is closed for Thanksgiving. On other days, NPS says the grounds and trails are generally open sunrise to sunset and the visitor center and store are open Tuesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- November 27: The Christmas show opens on the same night as Hendersonville's Holiday Tree Lighting, according to Visit Hendersonville.
- December 4 and 5: Downtown Hendersonville holds Olde Fashioned Christmas with carriage rides on the 4th and its nighttime Christmas Parade on the 5th.
- December 6: Hendersonville's Holiday Tour of Inns & Cookie Caper runs 1 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $25 and go on sale Monday, November 2.
- December 7: The Playhouse lists O Wholly Nat!, a one-night holiday fundraiser at 7:30 p.m., with tickets at $75, $100 and $150.
- December 25: The Sandburg Home is closed for Christmas.
The Sandburg Home's winter program is Christmas at Connemara. NPS says the 2026 schedule will be posted in November or early December, so check the page again after Thanksgiving.
Dinner near the Playhouse has changed since last December. Hubbaloo closed in January, with its last service on January 17, according to the Times-News. The Hendersonville Lightning reported in June that Will and Meagan Hayes moved Hey Chickadee from its food trailer into that space at 2730 Greenville Highway on Little Rainbow Row. The Lightning listed weekend hours for the summer, so check Hey Chickadee's current hours before a December visit. Ruby de Noche changed in March from dine-in service to Blue Ruby Kitchen, which sells takeout meals with pickup and delivery. Flat Rock Together reported that it planned Thursday and Friday pickup and delivery, which would line up with the Christmas show's later-week performances.
This year Rumpelstiltskin has five performances and the Christmas show runs a little over three weeks after Thanksgiving. The Playhouse sells group tickets for both.
Some people moving to the area ask what a place is like once the summer crowds leave, and the Playhouse's December calendar is one good answer for Flat Rock. If you're talking through a move to or within Flat Rock, Dave Noyes is glad to share what he knows about the village. Let's Connect.
