Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST) was an independent non-profit theatre company located at 2424 North Davidson Street in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1992 by Charlotte acting instructor Ed Gilweit as an actor's teaching school. In 2000 Gilweit's company partnered with a video and stage production company run by Michael Simmons called Victory Pictures, Inc., and then with the fledgling theatre group Another Roadside Performance Company run by Robert Lee Simmons, Michael Simmons' son. Through this series of mergers, Gilweit and the Simmons' became the founders of the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. After Gilweit's death in 2002, Michael Simmons became the Managing Artistic Director.
CAST was noted for large-scale installations and elaborate sets with the goal of complete immersion of the audience in the reality of each play. CAST always sought to obliterate the emotional distance between the actor and spectator, a technique they called "experiential theatre". When attending a CAST performance, the experience of the spectator began from the moment they entered—or even approached—the theater. [1] [2]
In 2006, with the help of a board of directors recruited from Charlotte's arts community, CAST received a 501(c)(3) designation. [3] [4] Since 2008, CAST has also received financial support from the Arts & Science Council. [5] [6]
In the summer of 2010 CAST received a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Arts & Science Council. [7] This allowed the company to move out of the cramped quarters they had occupied for eight years on Clement Avenue into a space at 2424 North Davidson in the NoDa neighborhood of Charlotte where it had all begun. [8] [9] The new location at NoDa contained three theater spaces including a Thrust stage, and a Theatre in the round. For the first time in CAST history there was a spacious bar and lobby area, dressing rooms, storage rooms, a conference room, and a fully equipped scenery-building shop. [7] The new theatre was officially launched in August 2011 with a production of August: Osage County, the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tracy Letts. It was the regional premier of that play and was a great critical success. [10] [11]
The company in its several incarnations within Charlotte had a rather nomadic existence for the first five years of its existence. The first production (subUrbia) in 1998 had been at The Neighborhood Theatre at 501 East 36th Street. The company then moved successively to Ed Gilweit's CAST theatre at 3143 Cullman Avenue, the Matthews Community Center at 100 McDowell Street in nearby Matthews, the Hart-Witzen Gallery at 611 West 5th Street, and finally achieved a measure of geographical stability in January 2003 with a move to the CAST Theatre at 1118 Clement Ave where it would remain until June of 2011 when it moved to its final location, CAST Theatre at NoDa at 2424 North Davidson Street. [12]
Starting with the 2011—2012 season all productions were at the CAST Theatre at NoDa.
2013—2014 Season
2012—2013 Season
2011—2012 Season
2010—2011 Season
2009—2010 Season
2008—2009 Season
2007—2008 Season
2006—2007 Season
2005—2006 Season
2004—2005 Season
2003—2004 Season
2002—2003 Season
2001—2002 Season
2000—2001 Season
1999—2000 Season
1998—1999 Season
On June 6, 2014 the board of directors of CAST announced that after 64 productions and eight years of operation as a non-profit theatre, the theatre would close. Reasons cited were financial pressures and dwindling attendance. [13]
On June 21, 2014, despite winning the Charlotte Theatre of the Year award for three years running, and after a 24-year history, CAST shut its doors for the last time with a final performance of Rajiv Joseph's Gruesome Playground Injuries. [14]
Creative Loafing is a publisher of newsweeklies and their associated websites focusing on local affairs, including arts and entertainment. CAST twice won Creative Loafing's Theatre of the Year Award. [15] [16] CAST garnered many other awards from Creative Loafing including Best Drama and Best Director [17] in addition to many technical awards. [18] A complete list of Creative Loafing awards which CAST has won over the years is shown below.
The Metrolina Theatre Association (MTA) is a Charlotte organization which gives awards each year to support and advocate for local theatre, and these awards are the major source of public recognition for theatres, shows, and individuals. In 2009 Cast won the MTA award for Theatre Company of the Year and CAST's artistic director Michael R. Simmons won the award for Theatre Person of the Year. In 2011 CAST won the MTA awards for best show, actor, actress, and director. [27] A complete list is shown below.
Marie Josephine Hull was an American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Harvey (1950), a role she originally played on the Broadway stage. She was sometimes credited as Josephine Sherwood.
Nancy Lou Marchand was an American actress. She began her career in theater in 1951. She was most famous for her television portrayals of Margaret Pynchon on Lou Grant and Livia Soprano on The Sopranos.
Craig Philip Bierko is an American actor and singer.
The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in the Skinner Building, in the downtown core of Seattle, Washington, United States. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned by the University of Washington and were once part of the original campus. The theatre operates as a venue for nationally touring Broadway and original shows by the non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre Association.
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.
J. T. Rogers is an American playwright who lives in New York.
Eric Anderson is an American actor and singer. On Broadway, he has originated roles in Waitress, Kinky Boots, The Last Ship, Rocky, and Soul Doctor, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He portrayed Mr. O’Malley in The Greatest Showman (2017).
"Let Me Entertain You" and "May We Entertain You?" are two songs from the musical Gypsy. The former is the more popular reprise of the latter. "May We" is performed by Baby June and Baby Louise, while "Let Me" is performed by Louise. The song was written by Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)
Peter Kellogg is a musical theater book writer and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics and the book for the 1992 production of the Broadway musical Anna Karenina, for which he received two 1993 Tony Award nominations, one for Best Book of a musical and one for the Best Original Score. He also wrote the lyrics and book for the musicals Chasing Nicolette, Desperate Measures, Lincoln In Love, Stunt Girl, Money Talks, and The Rivals which have been read and produced regionally. Kellogg also received the New York Musical Theatre Festival 2006 award for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing (Book) for Desperate Measures. On June 3, 2018, Kellogg won the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics for Desperate Measures.
Willy Conley is an American deaf photographer, playwright, actor and writer.
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is a play by Rajiv Joseph. The show is about "a tiger that haunts the streets of present-day Baghdad seeking the meaning of life. As he witnesses the puzzling absurdities of war, the tiger encounters Americans and Iraqis who are searching for friendship, redemption, and a toilet seat made of gold."
Citizens of the Universe, also referred to as 'COTU', is a guerrilla theatre specializing in 'found space' performances and is currently headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. There are branches of COTU also located in Orlando, Florida, Baltimore, Maryland, and Greenville, South Carolina.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez is an American songwriter known for co-writing the songs for the 2013 computer-animated musical film Frozen and its 2019 sequel Frozen II with her husband Robert Lopez. The couple won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Let It Go" from Frozen and "Remember Me" from Coco (2017) at the 86th and 90th awards respectively. She also won two Grammy Awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
The fifth season of the American political drama television series The West Wing aired in the United States on NBC from September 24, 2003, to May 19, 2004, and consisted of 22 episodes. This was the first season with executive producer John Wells as showrunner after series creator Aaron Sorkin departed the series at the end of the previous season.
Charlotte Shakespeare was a professional, non-profit theatre company in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company specialized in intimate and accessible performances of traditional and modern classics, with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare and with a mission of presenting plays "that reflect timeless truths about the human condition and honor Shakespeare’s genius for storytelling and language".
Constellation Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in Washington, D.C., performing at the Source Theatre, a black box theatre. Since its founding in 2007, Constellation has received several Helen Hayes Awards, including the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company in 2009.
Anna Fleischle is a theatre designer who has worked in theatre, dance and opera.
The Other Place is a play by American playwright Sharr White. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2011 and then ran on Broadway.
Barry & Fran Weissler are Tony Award-winning, American theatrical producers.
The Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) was an American orchestra based in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the second largest and most active professional performing arts organization in the central Carolinas, the Charlotte Philharmonic played approximately 10–15 performances each season and employed up to 85 professional musicians. Annual attendance for CPO performances numbered over 150,000.