It is almost a shame when the lights go down.

This magnificent place, The Stevens Center, rescued and revived, a jewel, resplendent. You weren’t finished looking at everything when they dimmed the lights. But it’s OK. You want to see the movie. It’s a classic.

More Arts in Winston-Salem

Click to find out more about: Dance, Museums, Galleries, Live Music.

What do you do if you own 25,000 films, one of the best collections in the world? You drive down the street and show them, with your friends who love films, at the most beautiful theater you can find.

Let us set the scene: the owner of the Moving Image Archives is the School of Filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts. They show the films with the help of the Winston-Salem Cinema Society (read: people who really, really love movies), at the gorgeous Stevens Center, right in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem. Trust us: you should go.

Prefer something a little newer? Newer, say, as in never before seen in public? For that we offer the RiverRun International Film Festival, annually in March.

That’s the screen; now let’s talk about the stage. Here’s a quick review (look below for a complete list): the National Black Theater Festival, every odd-numbered year, a must-attend event; good and great, modern and classic, tragedy and comedy, and more, at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art; small experimental theaters; and local productions at the Little Theater of Winston-Salem.