A brief history

So we’re starting this blog and it occurred to me to give a little history of NC Stage right at the beginning, so…well…everyone would know.

Anyway, my older sister moved to A’ville in 1990. She married someone who grew up in A’ville and they were moving back for him to start his private medical practice. I remember helping them move in in 1990 and just thinking how utterly amazing the area was. There wasn’t much to speak of in terms of “stuff” to do. Of course there were the stalwarts; the Tourists, Asheville Community Theatre, the Asheville Mall, the Blue Ridge Parkway. But there wasn’t much downtown and every time I visited and my sister took me out to dinner, it was not downtown.

Every time I visited, however, I sort of daydreamed about how cool it would be if there were a professional theatre here. When I helped my sister move in way back then, I was in grad school studying to be an actor and would soon move to NY. Every time I would visit my older sister, I would have one more regional theatre acting credit under my belt and A’ville would have one more shop or restaurant or gallery downtown. It kept getting nicer and nicer every time I visited. My acting credits were getting better and better too. I’d get jobs at really good regional theatres but in town like Montgomery, AL, Syracuse, NY, Worcester, MA, towns that just couldn’t hold a candle to Asheville.

So this notion hatched in me that Asheville would be a really cool place to have a professional theatre. I mean, just to work in a place like this would be so incredible. Regional theatre acting jobs generally last 8 weeks, 4 weeks of rehearsal and 4 weeks of performance, and you live in the city for that time period and then go back to NY and try to find your next job. How cool would it be to spend that kind of time in a place like Asheville as opposed to Syracuse. No offence, but, Syracuse.

Thus my idea to start a professional theatre in Asheville. But for years it just languished as a daydream that I’d talk about with friends at a bar. It seemed a neat idea but I had no resources to make it happen nor the drive to spend that kind of time and planning.

Then a few things happened. In the beginning of 1998, I had some major changes in my life that led to a lot of time alone and a realization that I had little standing in my way to make my daydreams become reality. At the end of 1998, I met Angie. We met for our first date on Jan 1, 1999. We decided to meet each other at the Krispy Kreme on 23rd and 8th Ave. and we would go from there to the Chelsea Cinemas across the street and see Waking Ned Devine. After the movie we headed down 8th Ave. and stepped into a bar called The Viceroy. It was bitterly cold as I recall and the bar was warm and cozy. As we sat there having the usual first date chit chat, Angie started describing what she was doing for a living and all that she’d done in NY during her time there. At the end of that, she mentioned that, although she really liked NY and was having a great time, she couldn’t get the idea of moving back to North Carolina and starting a professional theatre out of her head. I asked. “Where?” and she responded, “Asheville”.

True story. So about a year later, we were engaged and got married on October 14, 2000. In the following year George Bush would be elected president, we would move from Brooklyn to Asheville and September 11th would happen. Also, NC Stage would be incorporated as a 501c3 organization and planning and fundraising for our first season was underway.

That was 8 years ago. Now Angie and I have 2 children, we live in North Asheville, NC Stage is in its 7th season and we’ve produced over 30 professional productions in our 100 seat theatre in downtown. We’ve awarded over 159 acting contracts. We’ve become an Equity theatre and we’ve spent nearly $2 million as a small business in the local economy. But more than that, I think we’ve become a member of a community that values creative expression and risk. We’ve really come to get to know and love our dedicated subscribers, donors and friends.

So that gets us to the start of NC Stage around 2001. I’ll get to the rest of our history in future posts. All sorts of things to come in the ensuing years. iPods, Iraq, Afganistan, housing bubble, hybrids on the national front. Hamlet, Hedwig, Loot and Proof on the NC Stage front.