Bringing dynamic performances to audiences
who experience barriers to attending live theatre.
Where We Perform
Performances are coordinated with and performed for audiences in non-traditional spaces such as homeless shelters, correctional facilities, community centers, low income senior centers and locations throughout rural Western North Carolina. For schools, the Community Tour offers student workshops with teaching artists from the Ensemble.
The Community Tour also includes a series of ticketed performances for audiences at NC Stage. Performances at NC Stage are staged in the round with all the lights on so our audiences may enjoy the performances as it is experienced at each tour location.
Where We’ve Been – 2018 Community Tour AS YOU LIKE IT
Directed by NC Stage Artistic Director Charlie Flynn-McIver and featuring Shakespeare’s songs set to original compositions by Julia Christgau, an ensemble of 8 actors brought the romantic comedy of Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT to over 1,000 audience members in Western North Carolina. Community partners included Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institute, Mitchell County Senior Center, Haywood Street Congregation, Estes Elementary School, Mountain Heritage High School and Cherokee Central Schools.
2018 Community Tour Ensemble featured the talents of Free, Julia Christgau, Glenna Grant, Adam Kampouris, Carin Metzger, Nathan Singer, Trinity Smith Keel, and Jon Stockdale.
About the Ensemble
Members of the Ensemble are artists committed to equity, integrity and excellence for audiences of all experiences and backgrounds, as an ensemble and within themselves. We perform with all the lights on and with only what we can easily carry in terms of props and costumes. Live sound and music play an integral role in how we tell the story.
“Performing outside of a traditional theatre space for a non-traditional audience removes the preconception of what it is to attend ‘the theatre’ or even to be ‘an actor,’ and replaces it with a simpler, more communal experience of story-telling.”
~Adam Kampouris, Actor & Musician, AS YOU LIKE IT
Inspiration
NC Stage is joining a growing community of theaters across the country inspired by the work of Ten Thousand Things, a theater company in Minneapolis founded by Michelle Hensley. Ten Thousand Things has been sharing extraordinary theater with non-traditional audiences for over 26 years.
“Because theater is richer when EVERYONE is in the audience.”
~ Michelle Hensley, Artistic Director & Founder, TEN THOUSAND THINGS
