Carol Belk Theater
TheatreUNCA Fall 2025 Season Announcement
Peaceful Forest Taiko
A FREE traditional Japanese drumming performance
Featuring Takumi Kato (加藤拓三), and joined by his three children!
Carol Belk Theatre, October 17th 3:30PM - 4:00PM
Contact Casey Watkins (cwatkins@unca.edu) for questions and additional info!
The Mending Project
w/Artist-in-Residence Mike Durkin
Carol Belk Theatre
Sponsored by NEH Professorship & UNC Asheville’s Post-Helene Symposium
A moment to breathe
A moment to recover
A moment to rebuild
A moment to resume
Let us mend together
The Mending Quilt
Sept/Oct: Various on & off campus workshops and class visits
Tuesdays & Thursdays 11-1pm (9/11, 9/16, 9/18, 9/23, 9/25)
UNC Asheville’s Main Quad
Mike will conduct story-sharing sessions centering around mending, while we mend our clothing or supplies. Participants will gather with torn clothes and items, and Mike will teach and help mend those clothing. We will also talk about other areas in our life we need to mend, relationships, habits, and other important issues the participant is engaged in. The focus will be on occupying time. The mending will be hand-sewn. This action will take lots of time and will help the individual work on focusing, grounding, and being present. Participants will hand-sew their own designed squares to be part of the larger quilt. This will culminate in sharing sessions where we will show off the quilt as well as participants will share stories around their squares.
Mending Together, Laughing Together
Created by Mike Durkin with Professor Lise Kloeppel and the students of the DRAM 373 Comedic Performance Styles class
Friday, September 26, 2025 3:30pm-5pm FREE
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Performance will be followed by the unveiling of The Mending Quilt, and then a light reception with food and drink.
Let us mend together, let us laugh together. Mending Together, Laughing Together is a series of comedy scenes, installations, and acts that explore the themes of mending. Inspired by conversations around the impact on Helene, issues on campus, the state of the city, the state of the country. The students will collaboratively create scenes addressing those issues indirectly, using humor, and interaction with the audience to find common ground, breathe together, and laugh together. Audiences may be asked to participate in the scenes.
Mystery Museum
Created by Jacob Misch and Sam Panther
Carol Belk Theatre - October 10 @5-9pm & October 11-12 @1-5pm
Visit the UNC Asheville Carol Belk Theatre this October 10-12 for a free spook-tacular family-friendly walk-through exhibit featuring your favorite ghouls, ghosts, and classic monsters inspired by the Scooby-Doo universe!
Brought to life by our talented UNCA theatre staff and local artists using cutting-edge digital sculpting, 3D printing, and traditional construction techniques, each character is carefully hand-painted and set in immersive scenes with dramatic stage lighting, eerie sound effects, and fog to transport you straight into a unique mystery.
Perfect for kids and grown-up fans alike, this exhibit and interactive experience also includes photo ops, lawn games, hands-on activities like coloring pages and more. Our guided experiences might even allow you to handle some prototypes and miniature 3D-printed models of these beloved characters. Family-friendly costumes are encouraged (especially if themed)!
Have fun and solve the mystery—if you dare!
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The 15th Annual Asheville Butoh Festival 2025
Atsushi Takenouchi of Jinen Butoh and composer Hiroko Komiya will be our guest performers for the 15th annual Asheville Butoh Festival.
This year’s festival is a collaboration with the University of North Carolina Asheville and the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. The Festival is set to take place from October 30th to November 2nd.
Saturday Butoh Workshop
Saturday Butoh Perfromance "Hana"
Sunday Butoh Workshop
Sunday Butoh Performance "A Flower for Helene"
Royal Shakespearean Unemployment Office: A Comedy Improv Show
Led by Marlene Thompson with Misfit Improv and Acting School
Join us for a night of laughter and silliness as TheatreUNCA's comedy improv troupe, led by Marlene Thompson, entertains you with a series of short-form and long-form improv games informed by audience suggestions.
October 17 & 18, 2025 7:30PM
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“Meet the Artists” reception
Friday, October 31, 2025 2-3pm Carol Belk Theatre FREE
Workshops
Atushi Takenouchi will lead all workshops. All experience levels are welcome.
Saturday, November 1st, 2025
11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The University of North Carolina, Asheville (UNCA)
The Sherrill Center Dance Studio 351
REGISTRATION LINK COMING SOON
Sunday, November 2nd, 2025
11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The University of North Carolina, Asheville (UNCA)
The Sherrill Center Dance Studio 351
REGISTRATION LINK COMING SOON
Those who attend the workshop on both days will be invited to perform in A Flower For Helene, directed by Atsushi Takeneuchi, with accompaniment by Hiroko Komiya, on Sunday, November 2nd, at 7:30 p.m. at the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Carol Belk Theatre.
Performances
Saturday, November 1st, 2025 7:30 p.m.
The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA) – Carol Belk Theatre
HANA – A solo performance by Atsushi Takeneuchi with accompaniment by composer Hiroko Komiya.
TICKET LINK COMING SOON
Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA) – Carol Belk Theatre
A Flower For Helene – performance by workshop participants, directed by Atsushi Takeneuchi, with accompaniment by Hiroko Komiya.
TICKET LINK COMING SOON
The Thanksgiving Play
By Larissa FastHorse
November 20-23, 2025
Directed by Casey Watkins
Synopsis: Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American History Month. Punctuated by offensive (and completely real) Thanksgiving songs from educators and social media, The Thanksgiving Play is a hilarious satiric jab at political correctness, social wokeness, and cultural assumptions.
Run Time: 90 minutes
TICKET LINK COMING SOON
“The Thanksgiving Play” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com