Duke Says … Sold!
The Story of Dale “Bird” Bartlett and Damian “Duke” Domingue

"I have $1,500! Do I hear sixteen?" A paddle shoots into the air. The assembled crowd cheers.

Across the room at Interfaith Assistance Ministry's recent Compassion in Action fundraiser, auctioneer Damian "Duke" Domingue barely pauses before launching into his search for a higher bid. His deep baritone rolls through the ballroom as he works the crowd with humor, encouragement, and just enough friendly pressure to keep the momentum building.

"Sixteen hundred! Do I hear seventeen?" Another paddle rises. More applause.

On stage, Dale "Bird" Bartlett scans the room with practiced precision, spotting bidders before anyone else could. The auction has turned into a spirited showdown between two determined bidders, each unwilling to surrender the prize. The offers continue to increase as Duke's rapid-fire cadence drives the bidding higher and the crowd becomes increasingly invested in the outcome.

The bidding goes back and forth for several hundred more dollars until one of the bidders shakes his head in resignation. Seeing the end of the road, Duke’s voice booms out, “All in? All done? Better be done. Duke says … SOLD!” The room explodes with cheers. The winning bidder claims the prize and IAM gains valuable support for its mission.

As they have for over a decade now, Duke and Bird once again demonstrated a skill set that felt remarkably familiar: reading an audience, creating excitement, telling a story, and bringing a room together around a shared purpose.

Indeed, long before they became one of the region's most sought-after fundraising auction teams, they learned those lessons on a different stage. Their journey began more than three decades ago at Flat Rock Playhouse, where two young theater professionals from very different backgrounds discovered not only a career, but a home.

-

Duke and Bird’s distinctive nicknames can both be traced back to longtime friend and fellow Playhouse veteran Mark Warwick. "Duke" was Damian Domingue's middle name and had been his father's nickname in the Navy, but it was Warwick and others in the Playhouse and music communities who helped make it stick. "Bird" evolved from the playful nickname "Dale Bird," which Warwick and friends began using years ago. Over time, the shortened version became so common that even Dale Bartlett began introducing himself simply as Bird. Today, few people in Flat Rock know them by any other names.

Finding Home on The Rock

Long before he became known throughout Flat Rock as "Bird," Dale Bartlett was a young man from Ocala, Florida, trying to determine what direction his life might take. His mother, Bridget Bartlett, worked as a costume designer at Flat Rock Playhouse, spending her summers among the actors, artists, and craftspeople who made up the Playhouse family. Dale admired the work but was not necessarily planning a life in theater himself.

Then, in 1990, he decided to spend a summer at Flat Rock Playhouse as an apprentice.

Dale arrived eager to learn and willing to do whatever was needed. He worked in the props department, helped build sets, learned production skills, and absorbed lessons from veteran theater professionals. Over the course of the next few months, he found himself surrounded by a community that welcomed him, challenged him, and made him feel that he belonged.

After helping strike the set for the last production of the season, Bird packed his car and returned to the empty theater to say goodbye. A ghost light partially illuminated the stage and a Tom Waits song about moving on drifted through the auditorium. “It was a theatrical moment,” he recalls. “I felt very emotional and just sort of stood there and cried. I left, feeling so good inside. What a great conclusion to my first summer.”

Within a few years, Bird joined the Playhouse staff and embarked on a career that would span more than two decades. But even then, the most important thing he gained from that first summer was not a job. It was a sense of belonging that would shape the rest of his life.

-

If Bird's story was one of discovering home, Duke Domingue's story was one of carrying creativity with him wherever he went.

Born into a French-Cajun family, Duke spent much of his childhood following the path of his father's military career. Home was a moving target as the family relocated from Virginia to Maryland, Key West, Corpus Christi, and other communities along the way. The frequent moves exposed him to different places, people, and cultures, but they also taught him how to adapt quickly and find connection wherever he landed.

Music and storytelling were constant companions. His mother was a music teacher, and Duke was surrounded by creativity from an early age. He learned to play multiple instruments, wrote his first play as a child, and developed interests that ranged from theater and music to writing and visual art. By the time he reached high school, his talents had earned him admission to the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, an environment where intellectual curiosity and artistic expression were equally encouraged. He later continued his studies at Louisiana Scholars College, where he immersed himself in theater, music, and writing.

Following college, Duke accepted an internship at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, Mississippi. It was there, in 1992, that he met Dale Bartlett. In 1993, with the encouragement of Dale, Duke arrived at Flat Rock Playhouse as an apprentice. According to longtime Playhouse scenic designer Dennis Maulden, Duke stepped out of the car, spotted one of Flat Rock's famous granite outcroppings, kissed it, and declared, "I'm here. I'm finally here." The gesture may have been theatrical, but it proved prophetic.

The Playhouse quickly discovered what Duke's friends and colleagues would come to know well: he was almost impossible to categorize. Over the next two decades, he would become one of the Playhouse's most prolific creative forces, performing in more than one hundred productions, writing original musicals, adapting beloved stories for the stage, and leaving his mark on nearly every corner of the organization.

Like Bird, Duke had found more than a workplace. He had found a community that embraced creativity, encouraged experimentation, and felt very much like home.

Where Duke Met Bird

Like many theater friendships, Duke and Bird’s developed through shared work. They spent countless hours together with fellow actors, directors, designers, and technicians, becoming part of the unique family that often forms within a professional theater.

The contrast in their personalities was already apparent. Bird possessed a gift for organization and a calm, steady presence that helped keep productions on track. Duke brought seemingly boundless creative energy, an endless stream of ideas, and a talent for turning almost any situation into a story. The differences proved complementary, and a lasting friendship took root.

When Duke and Bird arrived in Flat Rock in 1993, they were two young theater professionals pursuing opportunities in a place known for nurturing talent. Neither could have known that the decision would shape the next three decades of their lives. What began as a professional friendship in Mississippi was about to become a partnership rooted in a shared home, a shared community, and eventually a shared future.

For Bird, the Playhouse became a place where he could steadily grow into new responsibilities. He arrived as an apprentice willing to do whatever work needed to be done. He learned the craft from the ground up, working in the props department before moving into stage management, one of the most demanding jobs in a summer stock theater. Success depended on organization, communication, and the ability to solve problems quickly - qualities that came naturally to Bird.

As the years passed, his role continued to expand. He became an apprentice director, helping guide and mentor the next generation of young theater artists. Later came leadership positions in marketing and development, where he cultivated relationships with patrons, donors, volunteers, and community partners. Eventually, he served as associate director and later general manager, helping guide the organization through periods of growth and change. By the time he stepped away after more than two decades, Bird had touched nearly every aspect of the Playhouse's operations.

Duke's path followed a very different course.

Duke Performing in Playhouse, Jr’s “Slowpoke”

Duke arrived at the Playhouse as an apprentice actor but quickly proved difficult to define by a single title. He performed on stage, taught in the Theatre for Young People program, wrote original plays and musicals, composed music, designed graphics, created educational programming, and played in local bands. Duke quickly emerged as one of its most prolific creative voices.

Over the years, audiences watched him portray dozens of memorable characters on stage, while countless children encountered his work through the Playhouse's educational programs. His original musicals and adaptations became favorites of young audiences, and his annual productions of Carl Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories introduced generations of families to the author's whimsical world.

For both men, Flat Rock gradually became something far more significant than the place where they worked. It became home. And as the years passed, a new chapter that neither could have anticipated when they first met in Mississippi was quietly waiting in the wings.

--

Over the years, Duke and Bird’s lives became deeply intertwined with the village itself. Bird's work expanded into community leadership, tourism, arts advocacy, and cultural preservation. Duke continued writing, performing, and making music with a local band called The Carburetors. Together, they became familiar faces not only at the Playhouse but throughout Henderson County, participating in the civic and cultural life of the region they had come to love.

In 2003, after more than a decade together, Duke and Bird traveled to Amsterdam to be married. They sent invitations to family and friends with no expectation that many would make the journey. Instead, over the course of the week, twenty-two people traveled to Amsterdam to share in the occasion. The gathering became less a destination wedding than a reunion of the community they had built around themselves over the years.

Today, both men still speak of the Playhouse with affection and gratitude. The theater family became their family. The village became their village. What began as apprenticeships became careers, friendships, a partnership, and a shared life rooted in a community that welcomed them from the beginning.

Like so many who arrived on The Rock expecting to stay only briefly, they discovered something that proved much harder to leave. They found home.

An Unexpected Second Career

By the early 2010s, both men found themselves standing at a crossroads.

After more than twenty years at Flat Rock Playhouse, Bird was beginning to contemplate life beyond the theater. Duke, meanwhile, was navigating a period marked by both personal loss and professional reflection. Within a relatively short span of time, he lost his father, his mother-in-law, Bridget Bartlett, and a beloved dog. He increasingly found himself thinking seriously about what the next chapter might hold. Amid those transitions, he kept returning to a simple piece of advice his father had offered near the end of his life: "Press on." So, he did.

In 2012, Duke enrolled in auctioneer school. After decades on stage, he recognized something familiar in the rhythm and energy of a live auction. "It's the ultimate live theater,” Duke explains. “The audience is a character that has no idea where the script is going next.”

Not long after completing auctioneer school, Duke called Bird with a proposition. The role was that of a ringman - the person who works the room, spots bidders, builds enthusiasm, and serves as a bridge between the audience and the auctioneer.

The skills they spent decades developing at Flat Rock Playhouse translated almost seamlessly to the auction world. In 2013, they launched Duke Says Sold!, combining Duke's theatrical flair and commanding presence with Bird's gift for organization, relationship-building, and audience engagement. What began as a new venture soon grew into one of the region's most recognizable fundraising auction companies.

Over the past 13 years, the pair has conducted hundreds of fundraising auctions for nonprofits all over the country. Their clients range from local organizations to national charities. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (now called Blood Cancer United) alone has hired them for 47 events, making it one of their longest-running partnerships. The pair prefers working for nonprofits because audiences are emotionally involved in the mission of the organization. "Ultimately, we work best for you when we become ambassadors for your mission," Bird explains.

--

Today, Duke and Bird’s connection to the community extends well beyond Duke Says Sold! and their years at the Playhouse. Bird now serves as Marketing and Events Manager for United Way of Henderson County, where he helps tell the stories of local nonprofits, coordinate community events, and strengthen connections among the organizations that serve the region. Duke works with A Growing Concern, a Hendersonville-based landscape and garden company, where his creativity, energy, and love of people find a different outlet. He also continues to accept occasional acting roles, returning to the stage whenever the right opportunity presents itself.

While their professional paths have evolved over the years, both remain deeply engaged in the life of the community they chose to call home.

--

Back at the IAM fundraiser, the bidding war eventually comes to an end. A paddle rises one final time. Duke's voice rings out across the room. “All in? All done? Better be done. Duke says … SOLD!” A happy and thoroughly entertained crowd cheers and applauds.

More than three decades after arriving at Flat Rock Playhouse, the two young theater apprentices who met in Mississippi and built a life in Flat Rock are still performing in their own way. Only now, the measure of success is not a standing ovation or a glowing review. It is the impact created when people open their hearts - and their wallets - to support their community.

Flat Rock and Flat Rock Playhouse gave Duke and Bird a place to grow, a community to embrace, and a stage on which to discover their talents. Along the way, it also gave them lifelong friendships, meaningful careers, and a shared life rooted in a village they came to love.

Duke Says … Sold!

The View from Seventy