Asheville Community Theatre Opens Up to Possibility

A major renovation of the theatre’s lower level creates more opportunities for education and rehearsal space – and has a ripple effect

April 22, 2024 | As part of our continuing series profiling pioneering creative spaces and the challenges faced by artists in Asheville and Buncombe County, we are highlighting Asheville Community Theatre (ACT), which opened its newly renovated lower level in December of 2023, creating additional rehearsal and education space and enabling the expansion of its Education Department – a key piece of its mission and vision.

The oldest continuously operating theatre in Asheville, ACT has produced plays and hosted performances for over 70 years out of their space in downtown Asheville (35 E. Walnut St.). The 2023-24 mainstage season features five shows. ACT also operates a black box performance space, 35below, on the lower level of the building.

The major renovation, funded through a grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Tourism Product Development Fund and ACT’s Capital Campaign donors, created a “rehearsal education flex space” with classrooms across an additional 1,900 square feet. The renovation also expanded office space and added an ADA compliant bathroom, a mechanical area, equipment, a water fountain, concessions area and lighting, a new exterior storefront, and drainage improvements.

“Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority are proud to support and invest in many creative spaces for our community through our Tourism Product Development Fund,” said President & CEO, Vic Isley. “Over the life of the Fund, we have invested more than $6 million in creative spaces including the Center for Craft, Wortham Center for the Arts, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville Art Museum, Leaf Global Arts Center, the YMI Cultural Center and more. That also includes the newly completed rehearsal space at the Asheville Community Theatre; creating more rehearsal space frees up their main stage for more performances for artists to be employed and for audiences to enjoy.”

Even after funding was secured, the team faced logistical challenges, including where to put equipment originally stored in the space. “It was a massive undertaking that required a lot of creative thinking on the part of ACT’s Production Manager, Jill Summers,” Sparacino says. Ultimately, the reshuffling brought the theatre’s Scene Shop (where sets are built) closer to the stage.

The contractor and architects also worked closely with the engineers to add three windows to the lower level, a vital but challenging design element that would bring needed natural light to the space and create a more open feel. “They were very committed to making this happen for us since it was such an important part of the design,” she says. “Between the new windows and the polished concrete floor, the rehearsal area now has an open, light, and airy aesthetic, which is a huge improvement over the original basement that we started with.”

The space permits ACT to offer more classes, a goal of its Education Department. “Educational programs are an integral part of ACT’s future,” shares Managing Director Tamara Sparacino. “The main priority for the theatre includes creating additional space for these programs.” The space opened in mid-December 2023 for classes and rehearsals.

The additional space has already allowed ACT to offer more classes and to run rehearsals while the Mainstage is in use. According to Zoe Zelonky, ACT’s Education Director, “this new rehearsal space provides many opportunities for growth in our Education Department. Already in its first semester of existence, we have been able to add new classes – like Voice & Dance Classes for adults, teens, and youth – and have a viable rehearsal space for shows that will be performed on the mainstage when [it] is in use. This means that the transition from rehearsal room to stage is smoother, and that everyone from actor to creative team feels more confident.”

ACT will also be able to accommodate larger productions by providing extra dressing room space for bigger casts that do not fit comfortably in the current greenroom (off the Mainstage).

Another bonus? “Having extra space means that ACT can expand programming and also provide more opportunities for local groups to use the Mainstage or our 35below theatre (which seats 40),” Sparacino shares.

Though requests from outside groups to use ACT’s stages aren’t officially tracked, Sparacino estimates that there are between 20 and 30 a year for five or six slots. ACT rents out the Mainstage, though she notes that the needs of many local performance groups would often be better served by smaller venues of around 100 seats.

“We try to accommodate as many rentals as possible and we prioritize local requests, but we have so many rehearsals and performances of our own that rentals are a small portion of our business,” she says. “We can only accommodate short rentals – like one-off performances or business meetings – because longer rentals, that require built-in rehearsal time, just don’t fit in our schedule.”

ACT does offer a creative way for groups to use 35below. “We have an application online and local groups can apply to do a production in 35below for one to three weekends,” says Sparacino. The theatre does a ticket split after deducting some basic expenses. “This is a great way for local theatre groups to have access to a venue and for ACT to support local creative talent that needs that venue,” she adds.

ACT has currently tabled plans to build a backyard theatre that would seat 150, which had been a goal of their Capital Campaign before the Covid-19 pandemic. “Ultimately, we still hope to build that,” says Sparacino. “But that is a long-term solution that doesn’t solve the immediate need for additional performance spaces.”

Stay tuned for more profiles of creative spaces, and for ArtsAVL’s Creative Spaces Report, which will assess the local creative landscape to provide crucial information for understanding the current reality and possible paths forward for the creative community. Visit artsavl.org/spaces for project updates and register for the upcoming Town Hall (May 10).

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