Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte will close in October

What’s happening: The local theater company announced plans to close in a letter to supporters Monday morning. Its final production, “Evil Dead the Musical” will run Sept. 29 – Oct. 30 at the Barn at MoRA.

• Single ticket holders for future productions will receive automatic refunds by Oct. 31. If you have a Season 34 Flex Pass, you can fill out this form to see how to use any remaining value.

Why it matters: ATC is a Charlotte institution. Before Blumenthal Performing Arts brought touring Broadway shows to town, before other local theater companies would come and go, ATC was among local companies providing Charlotte with professional theater.

Details: Season ticket sales typically supported the first half of their season, Rice told Axios. Their current sales were about 30% of where they needed to be, ATC executive director Laura Rice told Axios.

• Poor season ticket sales, plus finding out they would lose their performance space at Queens University of Charlotte’s Hadley Theatre in 2023 were the “nails in the coffin,” per Rice. Their offices remain at Queens. 
• “The money is just not there,” Rice said.
• ATC also received Infusion Fund dollars from the city of Charlotte ($61,750 for fiscal year 2023), Arts & Science Council support, as well as funding from the North Carolina Arts Council, but it was only a fraction of their budget, Rice said. They have seven full time staff members.

Zoom out: This would have been their first full season since the pandemic hit.

Between the lines: Rice remembers her 4-year-old son Indiana holding programs for their shows. She had hoped she and her wife Rachel would raise their son and 2-year-old daughter, Oswin, around ATC.

The big picture: Laura Rice hopes their closure will be a call to action for people to support other local companies, like Three Bone Theatre, Brand New Sheriff Productions, Queen City New Play Initiative, XOXO Performance Ensemble, Theatre Charlotte, Queen City Concerts and Matthews Playhouse. 

The bottom line: “We’re one of the only professional theaters specifically that produces contemporary, more avant garde-style work,” Rice told Axios. “We’ve never been afraid to push boundaries, and we also pay all of our artists and actors and technicians working on our shows. So I do hope that this leaves room for other companies to hopefully step up and fill that void. But it’s going to take everyone in Charlotte to really get behind that and realize, if you want a cultural, wonderful, flourishing art scene, you’ve got to show up for it.”

Of note: ATC is teaming up with Shepherd Shakespeare Company for free Shakespeare performances at The Barn at MoRA from Sept. 24 to Oct. 30 every Saturdays and Sundays. The first is a 90-minute production of “Twelfth Night” on Sept. 24 at 11 am.

Editor’s note: We updated this story with the correct dates of the production of “Twelfth Night.”