NC State’s open access theatre company.

Since 1964, University Theatre has been NC State’s open access theatre company serving the entire student body. Under the direction of a full-time professional staff, we produce eight shows each season: four in the main stage series, two in the Open Door Series and two in our summer TheatreFEST series.

University Theatre offers a blend of student volunteer productions and academic theatre training. Productions are open to all NC State students, regardless of major or whether or not they are enrolled in theatre courses. 

History

In the early 1960s Erdahl-Cloyd Union decided to improve the university’s cultural offerings. The union hired novelist and playwright Romulus Linney to serve as writer-in-residence and to conduct small theatre workshops in Pullen Hall. The union deemed Pullen Hall inadequate for a theatre, but Thompson Gymnasium had been vacant since 1961. Thompson Theatre’s first season, in which local actors and students produced the shows, opened in 1964. In 1972, Talley Student Center opened, and its administration decided it was time for a more stable student theatre program. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, theater participation and enrollment in new theater classes soared. In 1998, staff at Thompson and Stewart Theatres combined to form University Theatre, which opened its first season with performances in both spaces.