DAVIDSON & GREENSBORO, N.C.: A new joint venture between North Carolina A&T State University theatre faculty members and the Davidson College Department of Theatre has brought a professional theatre to the Davidson campus this summer. The Common Thread Theatre Collective (CTTC), a partnership between a primarily white liberal arts institution and the largest HBCU in the country, aims to find new ways to center stories of marginalized communities. The program features faculty and student interns from both colleges working alongside local professionals.
“We want to create a strong company of local artists that value professional standards of production and work with us to produce stories that center communities and voices that have traditionally been underrepresented in the American theatre community,” said Karli Henderson, producer at Davidson College and co-founder of Common Thread Theatre Collective, in a statement.
For the inaugural season, CTTC is producing two shows at Davidson’s Barber Theatre: the North Carolina-set musical Violet by Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley (June 17-July 3), and the political family drama Barbecue by Robert O’Hara (July 15-31).
CTTC is made possible by funding from the Bacca Guest Artist and Scholar Fund, the Clark Ross Innovation in Academics Fund, the Arts and Science Council, and the N.C. Arts Council.
Davidson College is a liberal arts college with approximately 1,973 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Established by Presbyterians in 1837, Davidson has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and competes at the Division I level in NCAA athletics. Through the Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the U.S. to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. According to Data USA, the Davidson student body is 66.5 percent White, 8.27 percent Hispanic or Latino, 6.4 percent Black or African American, 5.85 percent Asian, 4.44 percent two or more races, 0.202 percent Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders, and 0.202 persent American Indian or Alaska Native, with 1.16 percent not reported.
North Carolina A&T State University is a research university with more than 13,000 students located in Greensboro, N.C. A&T State is the largest historically black university in the country, is the No. 1 producer of degrees awarded to African Americans in North Carolina, is Division I in NCAA athletics, and is nationally recognized for excellence in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) education. According to Data USA the N.C. A&T State student body is 79.5 percent Black or African American, 5.94 percent White, 4.28 percent Hispanic or Latino, 3.95 percent two or more races, 1.07 percent Asian, 0.321 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.0392 percent Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders, with 2.61 percent not reported.
