charlotte rep


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Charlotte Repertory Theatre 1976 - 2005
In residence Spirit Square Arts Center 1976 - 1991
In residence Blumenthal Performing Arts 1992-2005*


First founded to establish a professional contemporary theatre, and a community of artists and audiences, the Rep grew over 25 years and 200+ productions from small ensemble to Metrolina's flagship theatre, first year-round professional company, member of The League of Resident Theatres, and the resident company at Spirit Square and Blumenthal Performing Arts. The Rep developed an open collective of staff and actors from annual casting in Charlotte, New York and Atlanta, and hosted distinguished guest artists including actor/director Olympia Dukakis and playwrights Beth Henley and Tony Kushner. With 3,000 subscribers and a $2m budget, CRT produced an annual season of contemporary, classic and new plays, and a festival of new scripts from national submissions, 34 of them later published and fully produced in world premieres at CRT and other U.S. theatre companies.*



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"Professional regional theatre does not get much better than this."  
Charlotte Observer 

"Theatres are in the public trust, they belong to everyone. I can't think of a better example of that than Charlotte Rep.”
Academy Award winning actor Olympia Dukakis

"Best of all, you'll see the cream of our actors stretching themselves, obviously galvanized by the opportunity to do new and vital work."
Creative Loafing



During the Blumenthal decade the Rep achieved membership in the League of Resident Theatres (LORT D), the largest professional theatre association of its kind in the U.S. LORT theatres collectively issue more contracts to professional actors than Broadway and national tours combined. 


The 73 plays plays produced in the Blumenthal decade alone include the area premieres of 12 Best Play Tony Award winners and/or Pulitzer Prize winners, 38 area premieres of prominent work from the national scene, and 10 new play premieres (8 of them from the Rep's annual new play program).
    

The Rep's team consisted of 200+ annual artistic, administrative and technical employees. Roughly 60% of actors and 85% of all staff were regionally based professionals, the rest based in New York, as with the many U.S. theatres providing regional opportunities at the level of professional standards observed by Actors’ Equity and LORT affiliated companies nationally. CRT employed members of all unions including AEA, SDC, and IATSE.


Productions above: The Guy Upstairs**: Brian Robinson+*, Barbi VanSchaick+, Helen Halsey*, Randell Haynes+, Rebecca Koon+, Scott Helm+; Falsettos*: Brian Robinson+*, Mary Setrakian*, Neal Mayer*, Sandy Binion+*, Susan Roberts+, Michael Cline*; Wit*: Director Steve Umberger+*~, Sam Robison*, Michael Ruff+, Bobby Tyson+, Lesley Hunt*, Rebecca Koon+*, Treschel Washington+, Chandler McIntyre+; Communicating Doors*: Eva Kaminsky*, Bonnie Franklin*; Picasso at the Lapin Agile*: Kadina Halliday*, Scott Helm+, Seymour Horowitz*, Barbi VanSchaick+, Michael Nestor+, Wayne Powers+, Brian Robinson+*, Josh Gaffga+, William Boyer+; Angels in America*: Tamara Scott*, Angus MacLachlan+, Graham Smith+*, Kevin R. Free*, Barbi VanSchaick+, Scott Helm+, Mary Lucy Bivins+*, Alan Poindexter+; The Tempest: Raphael Nash Thompson*, Forrest McClendon*, Company; The Old Settler: Dion Graham*, Phyllis Bash*; director: Claudia Carter Covington+*; Inherit the Wind: Scott Helm*+, Leo Penn*, directed by Terry Loughlin; The Deer and the Antelope Play**: Amy Campbell+, Barbi VanSchaick+ (+ resident actor ,* area premiere, ** world premiere, * member Actors' Equity Association)


Charlotte Rep leadership at the Blumenthal 1992-2002
Founder & Artistic Director Steve Umberger / Producer & Managing Director Keith Martin / Literary Manager Claudia Carter Covington / Literary Associate Carol Bellamy / General Manager Debbie Willis Fitts / Resident Director Terry Loughlin

Company founders: Steve Umberger, Beverly Brown Lueke, Terri Haugen, Becky Kent Story

*All CRT material on these pages 2002 and earlier. The Rep continued from 2002-2005 under different leadership.

Photos: Mitchell Kearney, Donna Bise, Rebecca Cairns, Joe Deese