One of the best ways to experience some local flavor while visiting Cashiers NC, is to take in a performance at the Highland Playhouse. This year the theater celebrates 75 years of entertaining locals and visitors with comedies, tragedies and everything in between.
This community theater got its start in the summer of 1938 when some would-be actors in Highlands NC put on one performance of the comedy “Dulcy.” The enthusiastic response of the crowd prompted them to form a nonprofit, the Highlands Community Theatre Inc. Every summer – with the exception of two years during World War II – there have been plays at Highlands Playhouse. The building was constructed in 1931 as the Highlands School auditorium and was acquired by the town in 1952 when the existing school opened. Highlands Playhouse is the oldest theatre in North Carolina.
Throughout this summer season, you can enjoy the history of the theater and be part of a long-standing Highlands summer tradition. Check out these shows while you’re vacationing in Cashiers NC:
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” – Through July 20. This one-act musical comedy centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally quirky grownups.
“Annie” – July 25 to Aug. 17. Little orphan Annie, determined to find the parents who abandoned her at a New York City orphanage, escapes into the city and finds a new home with billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary Grace Farrell and a lovable mutt named Sandy. (Meet-the-cast party July 29 at The Ugly Dog in Highlands.)
Come to the Cabaret – Sept. 15. This Cabaret-style concert features duo of Jason and Carrie Hardy singing some of the most beloved Broadway, opera and American songbook favorites, with pianist William Ransom. Enjoy wine and food from Wolfgang’s Restaurant.
“Nunsense” – Oct. 3-13. The Little Sisters of Hoboken discover their cook, Sister Julia, has accidentally poisoned 52 of the sisters, and they are in dire need of funds for the burials. The sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety show, so they take over the school auditorium, which is currently set up for the eighth-grade production of “Grease.” (Meet-the-cast party Oct. 7 at Drake’s Diamond Gallery in Highlands.)