Fueling these developments is a diverse and increasingly cosmopolitan community, one whose appetites have grown both in volume and sophistica- tion. In recent years, audience response has driven encore productions at Raleigh Ensemble Players, held over a world premiere at PlayMakers Repertory Company, and extended runs by touring Broadway shows. Even with the current growth, demand still exceeds supply for innovative, professional-level work on both dramatic and musical theater stages. Given this region's artists, you're every bit as likely to find brilliance in a small independent black-box show as you are on the largest stages in the area. We regularly see the highest levels of achievement from both.
Every art form needs an archive, and musical theater is no exception.
But the only way to archive an art form that vanishes the moment it's finished is to keep on doing it. Terrence Mann, who regularly directs and acts. This historic professional company, affiliated with the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has enjoyed a top-flight reputation for drama over the years. In this era, most productions that make it to Broadway don't start out there. They open on the road, in experimental runs that test the works, and prep them for their Big Apple bow.