Theater & performance in North Carolina
Playhouses on Main Street, outdoor dramas under the mountains and comedy in a room of fifty. Find a seat for tonight, or a stage for your company.
Coming up
Openings, matinees and late shows on North Carolina stages. Theaters post their own dates once they claim a listing.
All theater eventsKinds of theater
Eight ways into a night at the theater. Each program opens the companies, rooms and festivals behind it.
All theater listingsCompanies & ensembles
Theater companies that make work here every season, from children’s theater in Charlotte to new plays in Asheville.
Find a companyNorth Carolina heritage
In 1937, Paul Green’s The Lost Colony opened outdoors on Roanoke Island, telling the story of the island’s vanished English settlers on the ground where they lived. In Boone, Horn in the West followed in 1952, staged in an amphitheatre of its own.
| Year | Where |
|---|---|
| 1858 | Thalian Hall, Wilmington |
| 1919 | Forest Theatre, Chapel Hill |
| 1936 | Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh |
| 1937 | The Lost Colony, Roanoke Island |
| 1952 | Horn in the West Amphitheatre, Boone |
Opening years as listed on each place’s page in this directory. The Lost Colony’s 1937 premiere is widely documented.
Places to see a show
An 1858 hall on the coast, a 100-seat house, an amphitheatre in the woods. Choose the house before you choose the show.
Find a theater near youTowns strong in theater
Ten towns where the house lights go down most weekends. Each town page lists what’s playing and where.
All townsFor actors, writers & crews
Stages that cast from the community, groups that develop new plays and comedy, and small houses where new work gets its first night.
Community theaters cast their seasons from the towns around them.
Playwrights’ groups and comedy labs that build new work.
Rooms of 100 to 250 seats, the right size for a first production.
For theaters, companies and festivals
Your listing may already be here, built from public records. Claim it free to fix your details, add photos you own and post your season.