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Some Durham Savoyard Milestones and Important Events

  • May, 1963 — Under the auspices of the Durham Theatre Guild, a group of Gilbert & Sullivan enthusiasts stage a production of The Pirates of Penzance in the Durham High School Auditorium.
  • May, 1964 — The same group returns with H. M. S. Pinafore.
  • November, 1964 — The Durham Savoyards, Limited, is chartered as a separate organization, an affiliate of the Durham Theatre Guild and under the auspices of Allied Arts of Durham, Inc.
  • May, 1965 — With The Mikado, the Durham Savoyards, Ltd. moves to Duke University, where annual performances will continue at Page Auditorium and Reynolds Theatre for the next twenty-nine years.
  • October-November, 1975 — The Savoyards celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Gilbert & Sullivan production with a concert of G&S favorites and a staging of Trial by Jury on the NC State University campus, a performance that is repeated at public schools in Raleigh and Hillsborough. This is the first Savoyards production at NCSU's Stewart Theatre, and is the forerunner of a cooperative venture that extended from 1978 through 1984.
  • April, 1983 — 20th anniversary celebration.
  • June, 1984 — The Durham Savoyards and the Durham Symphony collaborate as part of the British American Festival, performing Trial by Jury and a program of G&S favorites.
  • May, 1986 — The Savoyards complete the canon of the thirteen extant Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with a production of The Grand Duke.
  • April, 1988 — The Durham Savoyards celebrate their 25th anniversary with the premier of Benjamin Keaton's Places, Please!, A Savoyard Symphony (second movement), commissioned in honor of the occasion.
  • November 1989 — Premier of the complete Places, Please! A Savoyard Symphony by Benjamin Keaton.
  • January 1990 — The Savoyards go "on the road" again, taking Places, Please! and Trial by Jury to Southern Pines for a concert sponsored by the Friends of Penick Home.
  • October, 1992 — The Savoyards perform H. M. S. Pinafore in Wilmington's historic Thalian Hall, as part of an eight-year partnership with the Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts and WHQR-FM.
  • October, 1993 — 30th anniversary celebration.
  • April, 1994 — The Savoyards move to Durham's historic Carolina Theatre for Patience.
  • March, 1995 — Under the auspices of the Durham Sister Cities cultural exchange venture, Patrick Kenan takes the Durham Savoyards and a program of G&S favorites to Durham, England.
  • November, 1998 — 35th anniversary celebration.
  • November, 2003 — 40th anniversary celebration. The Durham Savoyards, Limited enters their fifth decade as they prepare to stage Ruddigore in March, 2004.
  • October, 2011 — The Savoyards perform "Sing Me a Story" at the Raleigh Little Theatre, with a script by Alan Riley Jones tying together songs from Iolanthe, Pirates of Penzance, Princess Ida, Ruddigore, and others in the guise of bedtime stories.
  • 2013 — The Durham Savoyards celebrate their 50th Anniversary with a performance of Pirates of Penzance in the Spring, and in October a special performance of Places Please (A Savoyard Concert) and Pineapple Poll (a ballet based on Gilbert & Sullivan), with a commemorative High Tea the following afternoon.