User:Harttheatre/sandbox

The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre (HART)is a semi-professional community located in Waynesville, North Carolina. HART presents a year round schedule of plays and musical from its home, the Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House in downtown Waynesville. HART's Main Stage runs from April through November, with a second stage operating in the winter months.

The non-profit organization was founded in 1984 by Rex and Elizabeth Feichter as an outgrowth of the Haywood County Arts Council. HART operated as a volunteer based community theater presenting plays and musicals at the Strand Theater on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. In 1990 HART engaged it's first and only Executive Director, Steven Lloyd. In November 1993 the group was forced to vacate the Strand because it did not meet fire code. In March of 1994 HART began a capital fund drive to create a home and teamed with the Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts, also known as the Shelton House, owners of an eight acre site near the town center. In 1995 HART broke ground on the Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House, a facility which would include a 250 seat procenium theater, a gallery and a 65 seat studio theater space. The facility opened in May, 1997.

In 2011 HART became a semi-professional community theater offering paid and unpaid positions on its stage for actors.

AWARDS North Carolina Theater Conference Community Theater of the Year 2001