This week on the Ingles Open Road, Chris Bainbridge is introducing you to some passionate performers from the North Carolina mountains with a lot of “HART.”

HART is the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre located in the beautiful town of Waynesville. For more than three decades, this community theatre brings talent from the surrounding region to delight audiences with their diverse and dramatic performances. They’re taking the stage once more for one of their first performances in over a year.

The theatre isn’t all HART has to offer. Some unique and exciting things make this place special. You’ll find the theatre on an 8-acre historical site owned by the Shelton House Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts.

Built by Henry Napoleon Francis for Stephen J. Shelton, the Shelton House Museum dates to 1875. The museum provides a glimpse into North Carolina history, heritage, and crafts. You’re stepping into the 1800s when you visit this place. Take a stroll through beautifully staged rooms and experience crafts across different cultures.

The Carriage House contains a gift shop, and the Barn houses farm exhibits and event space for group gatherings. This campus is gorgeous with so much culture to offer.

Culture isn’t all. Check out the Kids At HART Youth Program, a program that started in 2016 to provide theatre experience to youth from the Western North Carolina area. The program offers acting classes and hands-on experience in tech to youth. There is a minimum fee for classes and camps. Click here to learn more about the Kids At HART Youth Program.

HART has three different spaces—the Feichter Studio Theatre seats 75, the Fangmeyer Theatre seats 140, and the James Auditorium seats 255. This theatre is also hosting the award-winning musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a special show for Bainbridge for many reasons. First, he directed and played in this musical in college as part of the Furman Pauper Players. Second, his good friend and intrepid Ingles Open Road cameraman, Carson Fox, will appear in the production as Napthali.

It’s a wonderful show, full of comedy, large dance numbers, inspiring music, and one you don’t want to miss.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is now playing. You can get your tickets online at HartTheatre.org. Come out to see a gorgeous cultural campus in the “HART” of the mountains.

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