The Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte was formed on April 17, 1989, as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to produce bold, new works by contemporary playwrights who challenge and inspire us as artists to serve an audience that appreciates the intimacy of provocative and exciting productions.

Our story begins with our first production, Holy Ghosts by Romulus Linney, which was performed in a Church using live snakes.  In 1990, Actor’s Theatre moved into the newly renovated Spirit Square Center for the Arts and produced a three-play season, consisting of  Serving Time in a Dixie Diner, Serenading Louis, and Lydie Breeze, in the small eighty-eight seat Acting Studio.

The 1990-1991 season saw the production of a four-play season including The Perfect Party, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Independence, and The Lucky Spot. The next year Independence won the Charlotte Observer’s ‘Best Drama of the Year’ award and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? garnered 11 Creative Loafing nominations.

Due to an illness in the family of the Artistic Director, the theatre underwent a two-year hiatus from 1992 to 1994.  In February 1994, the theatre rebounded enthusiastically and produced Marvin’s Room to standing room only crowds.  Subsequently , Spirit Square offered Actor’s Theatre a resident company status.  Additionally, Dan Shoemaker, the Executive/Managing Director, was awarded ‘Theatre Person of the Year’ by Creative Loafing.  With these successes, the theatre launched the 1994-1995 season in September 1994 with Baby with the Bathwater, Keely and Du, and Equus.

In the 1995-1996 season Actor’s Theatre moved into the larger 179 seat Duke Power Theatre at Spirit Square and produced Dancing at Lughnasa, Beyond Therapy, and Dark Rapture. Beyond Therapy won Creative Loafing’s  ‘Best Comedy of the Year’ Award.  During the 1996-1997 season ATC increased the number of productions to four and produced The Devil’s Dream, an original musical based on the Lee Smith novel, Escape from Happiness, You Should Be So Lucky, and The Night of the Iguana.  Creative Loafing awarded The Night of the Iguana the ‘Best Drama of the Year’ award.

However, due to renovations at Spirit Square, Actor’s Theatre saw an abbreviated 1997-1998 season, consisting of Stanton’s Garage, Stumps, and The Food Chain.  The 1998-1999 season produced Zara Spook and Other Lures, Kindertransport, Jungle Rot, and Accomplice.  Also, during the 1998-1999 season, ATC inaugurated the HandiAble Theatre as an educational outreach arm, presenting children’s plays with disabled actors, a Monologue Contest for High School Seniors, the Minority Audition Workshops, and the “Backstage Pass,” which brings the community into observe the theatre process. 

In the 1999-2000 season Actor’s Theatre produced Chemistry of Change, Molly Sweeney, Complete History of America (Abridged), Piaf, and Crumbs from the Table of Joy.  Creative Loafing named Molly Sweeney ‘Best Drama of the Year’ and named Actor’s Theatre ‘Theater Company of the Year.’  The 2000-2001 season consisted of Visiting Mr. Green, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Anton in Show Business, and the new musical Violet.  The 2001-2002 included the world premiere of Thumbs, The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged), Book of Days, and Fuddy Meers. 

In 2002-2003, the season opened with the acclaimed drama, The Laramie Project, followed by the comedies, The Waiting Room and Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, and closed with the Glam-Rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  5,394 people attended the four-show 2002-2003 season, setting an all-time high attendance mark.  Two of the shows in this season, The Waiting Room and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, also set box office records.  And, Actor’s Theatre won Creative Loafing’s ‘Theater Company of the Year’ award and The George Parides Theatre Award of Excellence from the North Carolina Theatre Conference.

The 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons garnered great success, giving Actor’s Theatre two more ‘Theater Company of the Year’ awards from Creative Loafing.  2004 also saw Actor’s Theatre’s new membership in the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and a continuation of their membership in the Metrolina Theatre Association (MTA), the Charlotte Conventions and Visitors Bureau.  Actor’s Theatre also continued to garner support from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg as a funded affiliate company.