PURE Theatre in Charleston
Since 2003, the ensemble actors of Charleston’s acclaimed PURE Theatre have built a solid reputation for artistic excellence in provocative contemporary theatre. PURE’s 15th Anniversary Season enjoyed record attendance of both new and returning audiences. The twenty professional actors comprising the Core Ensemble are the soul of PURE’s work.
Sweat” by Lynn Nottage at PURE Theatre.
PURE Theatre seeks to be a model for excellence in small professional theatre, with the creation and production of new work, and the interpretation of established plays. PURE Theatre is a company that draws upon our love of story, history, and the energy of the human spirit, where diverse theatre artists and audiences come together to experience their world through exceptional theatrical performance.
Serving a sophisticated and diverse audience with a taste for new work, PURE presents a compelling six-play season between August and June. Endeavoring annually to outdo what was accomplished in years past, PURE continually makes three promises to its audience: to always tell a story worth listening to, to only pursue excellence, to always gift the audience something to talk about.
“The Mountaintop” by Katori Hall at PURE Theatre
The company has been lauded for coupling artistic risk-taking with a passionate commitment to addressing the important and often hilarious challenges of being human in the world today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
PURE Theatre’s 2019-2020 season included Becoming Dr. Ruth by Mark St. Germain, directed by Sharon Graci; “Last Rites,” written and directed by Randy Neale; Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s “Choir Boy, directed by Sharon Graci; “The Lifespan of a Fact” by Gordon Farrell, Jeremy Kereken, and David Murrell, directed by Cristy Landis; Brian James Polak’s “Welcome to Keene, New Hampshire,” directed by Sharon Graci; the regional premiere of Lucy Kirkwood’s “The Children,” directed by Erin Wilson. Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “Fairview” was scheduled.
PURE Lab is a division of PURE Theatre that develops new voices in American Theatre. During the season, PURE Season Patron subscribers receive exclusive invitations to various PURE Lab table readings, staged readings, and special events.
The PURE Lab creates, recruits, and develops plays that explore PURE Theatre territory: contemporary, challenging, character-based drama. The PURE Lab exposes new audiences and potential producers to work created by members, and it seeks collaborative projects with other theatres. PURE Theatre’s long-term goal is to produce entirely new work, and the PURE Lab is the primary incubator for that work.
PURE Theatre is a Blue Star Theatre and has a long-standing commitment to and appreciation for the military personnel in our community and welcome them to their theatre. PURE Theatre offers discounted tickets to military personnel and their immediate family members.
PURE Core Ensemble Members include Sharon Graci, Rodney Lee Rogers, David Mandel, R. W. Smith, Mark Landis, Michael Smallwood, Randy Neale, Cristy Landis, Brannen Daugherty, Laurens Wilson, Erin Wilson, David Lee Nels, Joy Vanderfort-Cobb, Cynthia Barnett, Camille Lowman, Scott Pattison, Paul Rolfes, Douglas Scott Streater, Joel Watson and Sullivan Hamilton.
Michael Smallwood
An integral component of PURE Institute is the education and outreach arm of PURE Theatre. PURE Youth Company provides an opportunity for students in grades 7-12 to exercise their passion for theatre and performing arts and to further develop their skills at no cost to the student. The PURE Youth Company is unique among theatre training programs in the Lowcountry in that it is led by professional, working actors, with practical knowledge of the acting on stage, television, and film.
The program combines rigorous training in characterization, story construction, scene work, and acting technique to develop young artists who excel not only in their artistic discipline, but in their approach to any life endeavor requiring collaboration and commitment.
Some of PURE’s past productions include “Sweat,” “True West,” “Fool for Love,” “ A Doll’s House Part 2,” “Small Mouth Sounds,” “The Agitators,” “Butcher Stories,” “The Why,” “If I Forget,” “The Royale,” “Fun Home,” “This Random World,” “Straight White Men,” “Fully Committed,” “and “Stages.”
PURE Theatre has received seven Best Actor/Actress awards, Best Play/Best One Person Play awards, and two Artist Fellowships in Acting and Playwriting from the South Carolina Arts Commission. As the producer of over twenty world premieres and more than seventy regional premieres, PURE has been praised for its exceptional programming and diversity in casting.
While the company at times has thrived nomadically, in 2011, PURE settled in its home at 477 King Street. In 2018–2019, PURE began a new phase of its journey as the anchor tenant at the new Cannon Street Arts Center located at 134 Cannon Street in downtown Charleston.
PURE Board of Directors includes James Marino, Chair, Barry Abrams, Treasurer, Michael Culler, Secretary, David Albenberg, MD, Chris Burgess, Peter Calcagno, Phd, Amy Gaffney, and Susan Meloy. For Info: PURE Theatr, Cannon Street Arts Center 134 Cannon Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29403, (843) 723-4444, puretheatre.org/, info@puretheatre.org
