Anguish and opportunity: What’s next for local theater after Actor’s Theatre shuts down?

It was a dramatic twist few saw coming.

Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte, the city’s only professional repertory company and one that has been around for 33 years, abruptly announced this week that it would close soon. The theater company cited lagging season sales, the pending loss of its current home and the lingering economic effects of COVID as reasons for its demise.

The news jolted the region’s arts community, a group still trying to regain its footing during inflation and COVID. Some expressed shock over what happened to ATC, while also lamenting their own issues.

Still others are working to create new theater groups, and aiming to help fill the void Actor’s Theatre’s departure leaves with productions that might not otherwise be seen.

ACT has brought important diverse, educational and engaging programming to the city for over 30 years, Blumenthal Performing Arts CEO Tom Gabbard said. That includes shows ranging from a musical about Lizzie Borden to “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” about a botched transsexual operation set to rock music.

“It puts out a call to creatives in Charlotte that this an opportunity to step in,” Gabbard said.

Losing ATC’s programming is “a tremendous loss to our city,” said Amy Pearre-Dunn, marketing director for Matthews Playhouse. “But it’s no secret that theaters are struggling, especially after COVID.”

So the second production of Actor Theatre’s new season also will be its last. It will close Oct. 30 after its final run of “Evil Dead the Musical” at the Barn at MoRA.

Why ATC is closing down

Actor’s Theatre cited several reasons for shutting down, including, disappointing ticket and subscription sales, and the continuing impact COVID has had on the arts.

Season ticket sales were only 30% of where they needed to be, Actor’s Theatre Executive Director Laura Rice told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday. The company relied on those advance sales to kick off its season this summer.

For several years now, Actor’s Theatre had been performing in residency at Queens University of Charlotte’s Hadley Theatre. When Rice wrote on the theater’s website announcing the permanent closure “with a heavy heart,” she cited a number of factors that went into the decision, including the non-renewal of its space at the university.

The university values its partnerships with the community, Sarah Fatherly, provost and vice president for academic affairs of Queens University of Charlotte, said in a statement Wednesday night to The Charlotte Observer.

“We are sorry to see a Charlotte staple such as ATC have to close its doors before the end of its five-year residency with Queens University of Charlotte due to a decline in ticket sales and the lingering effects of COVID-19 pandemic,” Fatherly said.

ATC’s residency was to end in June 2023. On June 17, the university told the theater company it’s residency agreement would not be renewed, Fatherly said.

“That was a big surprise,” Rice told the Observer. Actor’s Theatre had assumed it would be able to get its agreement renewed. “They didn’t tell us why other than they needed the space.”

Asked why Queens did not renew the residency, the university said in a statement, “When an agreement is set to renew, the university reassesses the strategic value of the partnership against the evolving needs of the campus community. This includes opportunities for students as growth increases the demand for space on campus.”

Rice said the company would have been able to handle either the cash-flow issues or the loss of its venue and managed to survive. But combined, she said, they proved to be “fatal blows.”

When asked for her take on the state of the Charlotte theater scene, Rice said, “People who support the arts should be concerned... It does give you pause when a company that you think is stable does go under.”

Other local theater groups are experiencing similar issues, she said. But depending on their size and financial situation, may be in a better position to deal with those concerns.

And Rice hoped people in the area would continue to support the remaining theater companies. After all, she added, the art form has been around since the ancient Greeks.

COVID changes audience expectations

Actor’s Theatre is far from alone in seeing slumping ticket sales.

From large Broadway stages to small community theaters across North America, tickets sales were down 40% during the 2021-22 season compared to before the pandemic, according to TGR Arts Data, The New York Times reported last month. The data included 143 performing arts centers.

Organizations that were Actor’s Theatre size and likewise had paid employees were hit hard by the pandemic without large reserves to fall back on, said Children’s Theatre of Charlotte Artistic Director Adam Burke.

Even funding from the city of Charlotte’s infusion fund and other resources to help sustain theaters may not be enough now, Pearre-Dunn said because “people are just not comfortable seeing shows. It’s been really challenging for theater companies.”

There are other reasons behind lagging ticket sales, Gabbard said, including raised expectations by audiences. Performances doing well in Charlotte and elsewhere are “experiential,” versus traditional shows, he said.

“Immersive Van Gogh,” for example, drew more than 300,000 visitors and an extended stay in Charlotte at Camp North End. Gabbard noted that 80% are visitors were first-time Blumenthal ticket buyers for the show that combined projections of Van Gogh’s art with music.

And the new Charlotte International Arts Festival, which opened Sept. 16, has had “explosive” turnout with thousands of people coming out daily, Gabbard said. The festival, with more than 200 visual and performance events that Gabbard called “quirky” and “off-the-wall” runs through Oct. 2.

“It’s incumbent upon us to make these experiences count for people, make it memorable,” Gabbard said. “We have to satisfy the appetite for adventure in the arts.”

Inflation and other costs

Children’s Theatre, which has a diverse program of school performances, mini camps and public weeknight shows, is assessing salaries and hourly rates amid inflation, Burke said.

A set that would cost $8,000 to build before the pandemic now costs $12,000, he added.

Still Children’s Theatre’s tickets for “Annie” opening this week remain at pre-pandemic prices. Tickets range from $16 to $50.

“So we’re already at a net loss due to inflation,” Burke said.

Newcomers stepping in

Despite the slow COVID recovery, there have been a couple independent theater companies debuting in the Charlotte region recently.

Last month, Charlotte Conservatory Theatre held its inaugural show, “Witch.” Founding member Steve Kaliski cited Actor’s Theatre as the company that introduced him to contemporary plays and edgy theatrical performances.

“(Actor’s Theatre) filled an important gap in Charlotte theater programming,” he said. “Now it’s up to the rest of us to fill that gap.”

Another new troupe, Post Mortem Players, also found inspiration from Actor’s Theatre’s productions, like “Evil Dead.” Founder Chris Stonnell said his company focuses on the “off-kilter” horror genre.

Despite the excitement of debuting with “Hallowine” Oct. 28-30 at Old Courthouse Theatre in Concord quickly followed by a Christmas ghost stories production, Actor Theatre’s closing gives Stonnell pause.

“I always kind of expected them to be here. I was definitely shocked,” said Stonnell, who has worked in various roles at Charlotte’s arts organizations scene for over 20 years.

“It reinforces concerns,” he said, “and why I didn’t have the courage to (start Post Mortem) sooner.”

Lack of venues

One way Stonnell is cutting costs is looking outside of Charlotte for a home venue.

Concord’s Old Courthouse Theatre is providing the space in return for splitting Post Mortem Players’ profits, Stonnell said.

But as Post Mortem Players’ grows, it’s likely to run into the same issue plaguing Actor’s Theatre and other local companies: no permanent performance space.

“Part of the challenge is figuring out a venue that feels professional,” Kaliski said. Charlotte Conservatory’s first production last month was held at Blumenthal’s Booth Playhouse.

Other smaller venues like those at Spirit Square, including historic McGlohon Theater and the Duke Energy Theater, are closed for renovations until at least 2025 as part of a $154.5 million renovation, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Actor’s Theatre started in 1989 at Duke Energy Theatre. In 1999, the company moved to 650 E. Stonewall St.

But a dozen years later, ATC was again looking for a new home. In 2018, it landed at the Hadley Theater on the Queens campus.

“I think when they lost space on Stonewall (Street), it’s been a struggle for them to find new space,” said Burke, who added that he wasn’t surprised by ATC’s news.

Actor’s Theatre, like theaters before it in NoDa and Charlotte Repertory Theatre, didn’t have dedicated performance space or support of the city to help them find new stages, Burke said.

“Charlotte needs to determine what types of arts community it wants to have and create a structure for it to exist within,” Burke said. “How are these new companies, in 10 years, going to be further along to being a professional business if they have no place? How do you build your business without a performance space?”

Shrinking talent pool

Losing Actor’s Theatre exacerbates another problem: hiring staff.

Children’s Theatre needs to fill roles from director and crew members to carpenters and welders throughout the year.

Actor’s Theatre provided more options for creatives to find work in their profession. Having professional acting companies, for example in cities like Seattle and Orlando, draws more people to those areas and helps create a broader hiring pool. Now Charlotte will have one less resource for attracting talent.

“It was hard before. It’s very hard now,” Burke said.

The show must go on

But some local theater groups are bucking the COVID trends.

Davidson Community Players’ “Murder on the Orient Express,” running Sept. 22 through Oct. 9 at Davidson College, has nearly sold out the entire run and added a performance that’s sold out, Executive Director Matt Merrell said.

“I’m hopeful that’s a sign we’re coming out of the hangover from COVID,” he said.

Another local company, Three Bone Theatre, commiserated about the loss of Actor’s Theatre on an Instagram post, while adding, “We are firm believers that Charlotte needs MORE theatre not less... and that anyone who chooses to spend their time and money supporting local artists is a win for us all.”

And as a visiting assistant professor of theater and writing at Davidson College, Kaliski reminded his students the arts has sustained centuries through plagues and economic downturns.

“We’re resilient,” he said. “I think we can take a moment to be sad one of our colleague theaters is closing. But it’s also motivation that we have to keep going.”

Observer arts editor Adam Bell contributed to this report

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This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 5:05 AM.