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GREENSBORO — As it marks its 10th anniversary season, Triad Stage has another reason to celebrate.

The downtown professional theater is among 10 nationwide to receive 2010 National Theatre Company Grants of $10,000 from the American Theatre Wing, known for creating Broadway’s Tony Awards.

The grants “bring national attention and acknowledgement to what we feel are some of the most inspiring and innovative theatre companies on our national landscape,” grants committee chairwoman Lucie Arnaz said in a Thursday news release.

Most are located in major cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Denver. They will be honored at a New York luncheon on Oct. 25.

“We think this is a big deal for Greensboro,” said Richard Whittington, who co-founded Triad Stage with artistic director Preston Lane.

“As much as we are patting ourselves on the back, it is this community that has really stepped up to support a theater in a time that many communities aren’t.”

After years of restricting the grants to New York City’s not-for-profit theater companies, the American Theatre Wing expanded eligibility this year.

It wanted to honor those in operation 5-15 years that have “articulated a distinctive mission, cultivated an audience, and nurtured a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity and dynamism of American theatre.”

Whittington, Lane and their backers opened Triad Stage in January 2002 at 232 S. Elm St., facing the challenge of starting up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the economic downturn that followed.

Since then, it has attracted more than 300,000 theater-goers to 53 main-stage and eight holiday shows, including four original plays produced by Lane and Greensboro singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett.

It has hired more than 900 actors, directors, designers and artists.

“What’s even more remarkable is that Triad Stage has made it to this accolade despite a lot of challenges – the collapse of the textile industry locally, the events of Sept. 11 and the recession of 2008,” Whittington said.

“For Triad Stage to have opened its doors, to have built the base of support that we have, and now to be recognized by the American Theatre Wing is a huge deal for us.”

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com