Disney's High School Musical 2 Cast Announced!

Casting is now complete for Disney's High School Musical 2, running June 13-21 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. North Carolina Theatre is thrilled to produce this show for the first time in North Carolina! Congrats to all who made it in the show! We had a wonderful turn out at auditions. Thank you to everyone who came out!

Chase Peacock: Troy Bolton

Renee Albulario: Gabriella Montez
Gretchen Bieber: Sharpay Evans
Jason Edward Cook: Ryan Evans
Josh Breckenridge: Chad Danforth
Kaitlin Rose Mercurio: Kelsi Nielsen
Krystal Joy Brown: Taylor McKessie
Meredith Davis: Martha Cox
Christopher Spaulding: Zeke Baylor
Jeffrey Vizcaino: Jack Scott
Jeffrey H. Richardson: Mr. Fulton
Hailey Best: Sharpette
Chandon Jones: Sharpette
Heather Shaw: Sharpette

East High Wildcats
Amarachi Anakaraonye
Clayton Bailey
Todd Beasley
Allison Bonner
Alexandra Bowers
Curtis Brown
Paige Burhans,
Nick DeVito
Kassy Edwards
Emily Gardenhire
Elgin Giles
Robert Green
Carly Jordan
Aaron Pratt
Jordan Sasser
Kelsey Walston
Corey Warren

Underclassmen
Rachel Akin
Victoria Kite
Jessica Koons
Alejandro La Rosa
Lydia Leggett
Connor Lillis
John Molloy
Kyle Perren
Nyja Peterson
Tara Polhemus
Cedric Stapleton
Joey Stephens
Adam Stern-Rand
Alex Tobey
Anna van Venrooy
Logan Williamson

Jr. High Trio
Aneesa Johnson
Shelby Kurtzman
Alexis van Venrooy

NCT Announces Viral Commercial Contest

WANTED: Aspiring television/film makers for North Carolina Theatre’s High School Musical 2 viral commercial contest. Winner will have the chance to become an exclusive producer for NC Theatre’s TV commercials. 

WHAT: A 30 second viral commercial promo for NCT’s next production: Disney’s High School Musical 2. Entries will be narrowed down to the top 5 videos. The 5 chosen videos will be posted on the NCT blog and website for people to vote and leave comments. The winner will be announced at the Target Student Preview Night on June 12th at 7pm.

WHEN: All submissions must be entered by May 31st by emailing a YouTube link of your video to kbuie@nctheatre.com.

WINNER RECEIVES:
•    The chance to become an exclusive creator for NC Theatre’s commercials
•    Your video and name published on NCT wesbite, youtube channel, eblast, etc.
•    Two tickets to the opening night show of HSM2 on Saturday, June 13th
•    Invitation to the opening night cast party

RULES:
•    Commercial must be 30 seconds
•    Include the following logos: NCT, HSM2, ABC, and Capital Bank (all logos will be provided). To obtain logos, email kbuie@nctheatre.com.
•    No photos or videos from any of the High School Musical films are allowed
•    No photos or video of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens or any of the original film stars from the High School Musical films are allowed

For more information or questions, email kbuie@nctheatre.com or call (919) 831-6941 ext. 6942

NCT Needs Your Help!

North Carolina Theatre is in the running for $3,000 from The Jenzabar Foundation for all of our social media efforts including this blog, our Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube channel, e-newsletter Stage Notes, etc.

Please visit their website at http://thejenzabarfoundationblog.com/ and post a comment under the North Carolina Theatre submission!

Thank you for your support!

NC Theatre Hearts Our Volunteers!

NC Theatre kicked off National Volunteer Week with the 3rd annual Volunteer Appreciation Party at Bonefish Grill at the Lassiter on Sunday, April 19.

National Volunteer Week, commemorated April 19-25, has a theme of "Celebrating People in Action." The theme captures the meaning behind this signature week – honoring the individuals who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities.

NC Theatre is fortunate to have three strong volunteer groups, our fabulous Board of Directors, our recently formed Emeritus Board and our dynamic Curtain Callers!

NC Theatre could not operate without the generous time commitment of our volunteers! Board members help raise money in the community and spread the word about the mission of NC Theatre. They also meet quarterly to review NC Theatre’s budget, programs and overall operations.

Curtain Callers are everywhere you look during a NC Theatre show- selling merchandise, greeting patrons at the front door and even preparing a cast dinner on the final Sunday of the show! Curtain Callers also work behind the scenes with our Education Department, granting scholarships for kids at the Conservatory and Summer Theatre Arts School.

Each year, the Curtain Callers present a Curtain Caller Volunteer of the Year Award at the Volunteer Appreciation Party. Last year’s winner was Annette DeVito for her tireless efforts as merchandise coordinator. The 2009 winner is Donna Walston who has coordinated the delicious cast dinner for years! Congrats and THANK YOU to all of our volunteers.

WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU DO FOR NC THEATRE! Happy National Volunteer Week!

Local Sound of Music Auditions Announced!

Love to act, sing and dance? Are you 6 years old or older? Come audition for The Sound of Music, one of our favorite things about our 2009 season!

Auditions will be held on Sunday, May 3rd at the NC Theatre Conservatory (located at 3043 Barrow Drive Raleigh, NC 27616 near Triangle Town Center in North Raleigh).

North Carolina Theatre is seeking talented performers of all ages for various roles including but not limited to the Liesel and Rolf, the von Trapp children, Elsa, Max, Nuns, Nazis, friends and chorus roles. Auditions are on a first come, first serve basis - no appointments are taken. Sign in will begin at noon. You will not be allowed to sign in without a headshot and resume, and you must bring sheet music.

1:00 PM: Dance auditions for Liesl and Rolf

2:30 PM: Vocal auditions for the roles of the von Trapp children

6:00 PM: Vocal auditions for adult roles ages 18 and older

For complete details and audition requirements, please visit http://nctheatre.com/theatre/auditions.html. Final callbacks for all roles will be Sunday night, May 3rd following the adult auditions. No monologues. Sides will be provided for those asked to read.

The Sound of Music, running July 25-August 2 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, will be directed by Richard Stafford, musical director is Al Sturgis, Artistic Director is Casey Hushion. For questions, please contact Carolee Baxter at 919-831-6941 x6945 or email cbaxter@nctheatre.com.

NAMT Conference

Cloud Computing, API, Googledocs, Open/click rate, Happy Days: The Musical, Fox Theatre, 60+ representatives of regional theatres, producers and licensing agents from across the country. What do all of these have in common?

They were topics, events and attendees at last weekend's NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre) conference in Atlanta titled "How Technology Can Build Your Audience and Save you Money." NAMT, founded in 1985, is a national service organization dedicated exclusively to musical theatre. Its 150 members, located throughout 31 states and 8 countries, include theatres, presenting organizations, universities, and individual producers, who all share our mission of:

1. Nurturing the creation, development, production, presentation, and recognition of new and classic musicals
2. Providing a forum for the sharing of resources and information relating to professional musical theatre through communications, networking, and programming
3. Advocating for the imagination, diversity, and joy unique to musical theatre

This was a wonderful opportunity to share information and network with theatre managers across the country about how we can harness the power of the digital revolution in our marketing efforts. NC Theatre is already utilizing social media in the form of FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and of course this Blog that you are so avidly reading! My most salient take-away from the conference was how we improve our communication with current and prospective audiences to tell our story and receive feedback. I'd love to hear from you about your experiences with NC Theatre. Please feel free to post your comments! Thank you for supporting NC Theatre!