North Carolina Theatre
Encyclopedia
North Carolina Theatre is a professional
theatre
located in Raleigh, North Carolina
. They perform four mainstage
shows each year at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts
. It was founded by De Ann S. Jones and is currently managed by Lisa Grele Barrie, the executive director of the company.
Its mission is "to strengthen the cultural vitality of the region and cultivate musical theatre appreciation by producing outstanding professional Broadway musicals and developing the next generation of artists through youth training, performance and outreach programs."
Its vision is "to preserve the unique American art form of musical theatre, to provide broad access to the arts and to entertain and engage diverse audiences."
Several Broadway veterans are said to have gotten their start at North Carolina Theatre, including Clay Aiken
, Sharon Lawrence
, Lauren Kennedy
, and Beth Leavel
.
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
located in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. They perform four mainstage
Mainstage
Main stage theatre is that which falls between studio theatre and large-scale events. It is usually performed in a proscenium theatre or on a thrust stage. Main stage is also used to describe the performance space with the largest audience capacity at a performing arts festival or other venues.-...
shows each year at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts
Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts
The Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts is the main venue for the performing arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.The naming rights to the center currently are held by Progress Energy, which purchased them from the city in 2005 for a 20-year term at the cost of $7.5 million...
. It was founded by De Ann S. Jones and is currently managed by Lisa Grele Barrie, the executive director of the company.
Its mission is "to strengthen the cultural vitality of the region and cultivate musical theatre appreciation by producing outstanding professional Broadway musicals and developing the next generation of artists through youth training, performance and outreach programs."
Its vision is "to preserve the unique American art form of musical theatre, to provide broad access to the arts and to entertain and engage diverse audiences."
Several Broadway veterans are said to have gotten their start at North Carolina Theatre, including Clay Aiken
Clay Aiken
Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...
, Sharon Lawrence
Sharon Lawrence
Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence is an American television actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue...
, Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy is an actress and a singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She most recently starred in the Off-Broadway show Good Ol' Girls at the Black Box Theatre during the 2009-2010 season...
, and Beth Leavel
Beth Leavel
-Biography:Leavel was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended Meredith College, earning a degree in social work. She completed a graduate theatre degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1980. She acted during college, appearing in productions such as Cabaret and Hello,...
.
Alumni
Several notable actors and actresses have taken part in NCT productions:-
- Sharon LawrenceSharon LawrenceSharon Elizabeth Lawrence is an American television actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue...
- Lauren KennedyLauren KennedyLauren Kennedy is an actress and a singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She most recently starred in the Off-Broadway show Good Ol' Girls at the Black Box Theatre during the 2009-2010 season...
- Terrence MannTerrence MannTerrence Vaughan Mann is an American actor, director, singer, songwriter and dancer who has been prominent on the Broadway stage for the past three decades...
- Clay AikenClay AikenClayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and author who began his rise to fame on the second season of the television program American Idol in 2003. RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man was released...
as "Clayton Grissom" - Quiana Parler
- Sally StruthersSally StruthersSally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
- Tom WopatTom WopatTom Wopat is an American actor and singer. He first achieved fame as Luke Duke in the long-running 1979 television series The Dukes of Hazzard, along with John Schneider. He also played Jeff, one of Cybill Shepherd's ex-husbands in the TV series Cybill.-Life and career:Wopat was born in Lodi,...
- Ira David Wood IIIIra David Wood IIIIra Wood III is an American actor, singer, theater director and playwright. He is the Executive Director of Theatre in the Park, a community theatre company in Raleigh, North Carolina.-Early life and family:...
- Beth LeavelBeth Leavel-Biography:Leavel was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended Meredith College, earning a degree in social work. She completed a graduate theatre degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1980. She acted during college, appearing in productions such as Cabaret and Hello,...
- Sheena EastonSheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
- Larry GatlinLarry GatlinLarry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...
- Debby BooneDebby BooneDeborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...
- Deborah GibsonDeborah GibsonDeborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...
- Sharon Lawrence