CPCC’s Summer Theatre is Charlotte’s best kept secret -- and it’s starting soon

Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) has offered a Summer Theatre series every year for the past 44 years. This year, the 2017 season includes five performances: Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, James and the Giant Peach, A Comedy of Tenors, Mamma Mia! All are musicals except for Comedy of Tenors.

Tom Hollis has been the artistic director and chair of the drama department at CPCC for 34 years. According to him, CPCC’s “summer stock” is Charlotte’s best kept secret.

“Charlotte is such a transient city that there’s always someone who is discovering us every year,” Hollis said. “We invite the community to come in and see the quality of the work that we do.”

Summer Theatre has been around for more than 100 years and started in New England.

Hollis said, “It was a time for actors to get out of the city and into the country where it was cooler in the summertime.”

CPCC will open a new show every 10 days. “While we are performing one, we are rehearsing the other one in the daytime,” Hollis said.

It takes about 100 actors to pull off the five performances. Musical directors and choreographers run three weeks of auditions in February. Actors for CPCC’s Summer Theatre are mostly local. They are current students at CPCC, students taking summer classes at CPCC or people from the outside community.

Hollis said, “We also bring in technicians to build the sets, build the costumes. We have full live orchestras.”

Matt Schulman, 22, is in his third year acting in CPCC’s Summer Theatre. After high school, he attended CPCC and then transferred to Western Carolina University, where he is now a junior majoring in musical theater. This year, Schulman will be in Fiddler on the Roof, Chorus Line and Mamma Mia! 

Schulman is playing Motel the Tailor in Fiddler on the Roof. He said, “I am so excited. He is this fun goofball. He’s a lot like me. He is a klutz, knocking things over, falling all over the place. He is a nice genuine guy.”

Schulman will be in rehearsals each day from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. before performing another show.

“I love how it is such a challenge to be able to do all these different shows,” Schulman said.

Details

All performances are at CPCC’s Central Campus at 1201 Elizabeth Ave.

Ticket costs range from $18-$22. Performances are at 7 p.m. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

June 2-10, Fiddler on the Roof, Halton Theater

June 16-24, A Chorus Line, Halton Theater

June 30-July 9, A Comedy of Tenors, Pease Auditorium

July 14-22, Mamma Mia!, Halton Theater

Summer Theatre ​is offering the youth version of ​James and the Giant Peach. Ticket costs are $8 for children and $12 for adults. Performances are​ ​at 10 a.m. each day​, ​June 28-July 8 ​in Halton Theater​.​

For more information about tickets, check here or call the box office at (704) 330-6534.

Photo credit: Byron Jay, Christopher Record/CPCC

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 10:01 PM with the headline "CPCC’s Summer Theatre is Charlotte’s best kept secret -- and it’s starting soon."