Community Theatre was founded in 1946, producing the first amateur production of the Appalachian drama, Dark of the Moon. Soon after, the young actors Charlton Heston and wife Lydia Clarke would take over the small theatre. The current ACT building has two performance spaces � the Mainstage Auditorium, which seats 399 patrons (and named the Heston Auditorium for its most famous alumni); and the more intimate black box performance space 35below, seating no more than 49 patrons.
The North Carolina Stage Company is the only resident professional theatre in the downtown area.
The Asheville Lyric Opera celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009 with a concert featuring Angela Brown, David Malis, and Tonio Di Paolo, veterans of the Metropolitan Opera. The ALO has typically performed three fully staged professional operas for the community in addition to its vibrant educational program.
Asheville Vaudeville, Asheville's only monthly vaudeville variety show, performs new material each month from local magicians, jugglers, comedians, musicians, stilt-walkers, knife-throwers and more.
In 2004, the Asheville Arts Center opened. It is a theatre, dance and music studio designed for arts education. The Grand Hall of the Arts Center is a regular venue for local bands as well as the Asheville Movement Collective.
The Asheville capoeira performance movement was solidified with the arrival of world renowned Mestre Pe de Chumbo to the area in 2006. The capoeira group continues to give performances in the streets, on the stage and during festivals. Due to this group's cumulative efforts in the art of capoeira and in developing community the Asheville Culture Project (ACP) was established in 2010. The ACP is a community arts initiative that offers a space for the integration of cultural performing arts, community and social justice. The cultural center offers the community performances, classes and outreach.
In 2010 the Magnetic Theatre opened in
