Lyrics By The Lake Season 6 Brings Spoken-Word Series to Hanesbrands Theatre in August

At 6 p.m. Aug. 14 and Aug. 28, Hanesbrands Theatre will open its downtown stage to Lyrics By The Lake, the spoken-word and music series returning for a sixth season. Hosted by LB the Poet and Mr. P.E.T.T.Y., the series will bring poetry, live music, comedy, live painting and a vendor market to the venue at 209 N. Spruce St. in Winston-Salem.

LB the Poet is Larry Barron, a Winston-Salem-based spoken-word and hip-hop artist who founded Word of Mouth Wednesday, W.O.R.D. Society and WORD Academy. Lyrics By The Lake began in 2021 after a performance at SECCA, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts, in partnership with the Winston-Salem Arts Council. Six consecutive seasons reflect sustained local demand for spoken-word performance rather than a one-time programming experiment.

Bringing the series to Hanesbrands Theatre gives those artists access to Winston-Salem's premier black-box theatre. Its state-of-the-art technical systems can accommodate traditional proscenium seating or a theatre-in-the-round layout, seating up to 228 people in its traditional configuration. Rental access includes basic house lighting and sound equipment, ticketing and concessions services, and select marketing support — infrastructure that offers spoken-word artists the same professional presentation quality available to traditional performing arts.

Hanesbrands Theatre is the first of three multi-function theatres on the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County's campus. That downtown campus, the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, is an 83,000-square-foot facility that opened in early September 2010 after a comprehensive campaign raised almost $26 million. The center also includes the Reynolds Place meeting and event venue and two gallery spaces.

The Arts Council's mission is to lead, advocate for and support the region's arts and cultural sector, with an explicit focus on access and inclusion that includes subsidizing venue use to keep creative spaces affordable. Nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status receive a 25% discount on Hanesbrands Theatre rental prices, although staffing and production costs are excluded. In fiscal year 2025, arts organizations saved $191,300 in venue and facility rentals through Arts Council subsidies. The council also provides grant funding, fiscal sponsorship, gallery opportunities and marketing support to help local artists showcase their work and advance their careers.

Six seasons of Lyrics By The Lake — with select August 2026 shows now at Hanesbrands Theatre alongside dance, film screenings, concerts and other theatrical performances — demonstrate how the multimillion-dollar campus investment is creating ongoing professional opportunities for Winston-Salem's homegrown spoken-word artists, not only traditional performing arts institutions. The sustained presence of spoken-word programming at a state-of-the-art venue reflects Winston-Salem's broadening definition of which artists and art forms deserve public investment and community support.