Action Shakespeare
Carolina New Works Play Festival
Theatre Productions and Initiatives
Discover our current theatre season lineup, get information on auditions, learn about special initiatives and look through past productions.
Roots and Words
Created collaboratively by the Spring 2026 Devised Theatre class and the student cast, led/directed by Beth Murray and CarlosAlexis Cruz
Sept. 24, 2026
Black Box Theater, Robinson Hall
Roots and Words is a devised, ensemble-based theatre investigation into the linguistic DNA of UNC Charlotte and the communities that feed, root and sprout from here. The ensemble has created a provocative piece that asks: How do we understand one another? What stories do our diverse languages tell, side-by-side? And what are our collective responsibilities to nurture and preserve each others’ language histories–and futures? How can we, as questioners and creators, ensure that “difference” at Charlotte is heard/felt in every language? Roots and Words challenges the audience to look beyond simple words and confront the identities built, lost, celebrated, reclaimed, and merged through language. Come join the conversation!
John Proctor Is the Villain
By Kimberly Belflower
Directed by Roxanne Wellington
Nov. 12-15, 2026
BelkTheater, Robinson Hall
Nov. 20-22, 2026
Booth Theater, Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Uptown Charlotte
Five young women, fueled by pop music and teenage fury, begin to unravel the truths about the men in their world. Rumors and hysteria in their own small Georgia town begin to boil over, just as their English class digs into Arthur Miller’s classic, The Crucible. The parallels between that play and their lives are brought into sharp and dangerous focus.
A funny and bracing new play about girlhood, the destruction of innocence, and how we question the narratives we’ve been taught. After all, high school can be treacherous.
Content Warning: This play contains talk about sex and deals with issues of grooming and abuse.
Immediate Family
By Paul Oakley Stovall
Directed by Rory Sherriff
Feb. 11-14, 2027
Black Box Theater, Robinson Hall
Hailed as “TV’s ‘Modern Family’ meets ‘Soul Food,’” this comedy finds the Bryant siblings gathering at the family home in Chicago’s Hyde Park for the wedding of one of their own. Trading barbs over card games and reminiscing about their dearly departed parents, long-held family secrets are unearthed. They begin to realize that they have to confront the things that bring them together and keep them apart, including the fact that not everyone is happy that youngest brother, Jesse, has just brought home his white Swedish boyfriend.
Content warning: The show contains sexual innuendos and discussion about sexuality.
The Winter’s Tale
By William Shakespeare
Adapted and directed by Rob Conkie
March 18-21, 2027
Black Box Theater, Robinson Hall
The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s last plays.
It starts off tragic, then turns magic.
Someone exits, pursued by a bear.
There’s a sheep-shearing, swing-dancing, festival.
Love, and a pickpocket, is in the air.
I mean, what more could you want…?
See past productions
Explore recent Department of Theatre productions, dating back all the way to 2001!
Learn more about other Theatre initiatives and projects
Housed in the College of Arts + Architecture, but working across colleges and disciplines, Action Shakespeare serves to advance and coordinate various activities and initiatives related to the production and exploration of Shakespeare’s work and that of his contemporaries. Carolina New Works Play Festival is a collaboration between UNC Charlotte’s Department of Theatre and Three Bone Theatre to showcase the creative process of developing new plays.