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2026: Season 3
AMERICAN MYTHS
RHINOCOSAURUS REX: April 16-20
TANGLEROOT: May 28-June 6
AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY, ACCORDING TO STAUNTON: June 25-July 4
THE CHIMERICAL BALLAD OF BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY: August 20-29
THE UNJUSTLY CENSORED REVENGE OF TALLIE ROBICHAUX, GENTLEWOMAN WITCH: October 22-31
THE YULE CAT, December 10-19
The Chimerical Ballad of Betsy Bell and Mary Gray
The Ballad of Betsy Bell and Mary Gray tells the tale of two young women whose world is plagued by resource-eating intelligent machines. Betsy and Mary must not only survive in the surveilled forest, but help a three-headed beast defeat WISER® before it destroys all life on Earth.
The Ballad is adapted from the lives and deaths of Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, whose attempt to escape a 1645 plague became a Scottish folk legend. It is said the women were found in one another’s embrace, inspiring the Scots-Irish immigrants of Staunton to give their names to its pair of mountains.
Created and Directed by Walter Pultz
Puppets by Claire Josefson
Shadow Puppets by Nat Slater
August 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29
7pm
Staunton Augusta Art Center
20 S. New Street, Staunton
Donate to the Off Center
In just three years, The Off Center has become a vibrant member of Staunton's cultural landscape. We seek to bring Staunton thought-provoking, evocative experimental puppetry and visually playful performance.
We're a growing company, quickly outgrowing our terra cotta planter. Help us expand in a sustainable way. Donations help keep our ticket prices affordable for all of the community.
We are an ensemble-based company. Our core members are accomplished artists from various disciplines who have dedicated their lives to their craft. Help us continue to offer them compensation for their work. Become our patron, and make our work possible.
The Off Center's Mission
The Off Center is a Staunton, Virginia based organization that brings people of every background together to experience curious stories and experiences. We believe in the intrinsic value of gathering and exploring thoughts that we’ve never thought. We encourage novelty and disruption. Discovery is a basic human need. We seek to fill it.
The work that we create and support is off center, inviting participants to see something askew, possibly something previously unconsidered, maybe something uncommon or even disquieting. An aslant view, we believe, brings us all together as community, welcoming our quirky and genuine selves.