Burning Coal Theatre Company — Attraction in Raleigh

𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞

The venue was 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆—and I don’t use that word lightly. It hadn’t been cleaned in what looked like weeks. We had our wedding in August, right after they’d run a summer camp, and 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱. This, apparently, is normal. Even the staff admitted the space only gets cleaned about once a month, if that.

It took a small army of family and friends 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲—and even then, it still felt dirty. One of our vendors charged us extra because of how much cleaning they had to do just to get started. On top of that, the bathrooms weren’t stocked at all. 𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿, 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗽, 𝗻𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘀.

As for coordination—𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲. The venue had no functioning event support. The person who was supposed to be our point of contact went out of town the weekend of our wedding 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 and didn’t respond to emails or calls for two days—while we were scrambling just to get keys to access the venue. We finally had to drive there and track down an intern.

You’re left on your own to 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻, 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻, 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲, 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 everything. If you're considering renting this space, know that it will be an exhausting experience with 𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 and a venue that is 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆. I truly wish someone...

We attended Un/NAMED this evening at Oakwood cemetery. Our first Burning Coal Theatre experience AND OUR LAST.

We were looking forward to learning more about those in Oakwood cemetery through a series of 6 plays. The last play "One Step at a time" ruined the evening.

Per true liberal fashion Burning Coal Theatre could not help themselves. No one came to Oakwood to have an "actor" disparage the President of the United States. How does this derangement tie in with Oakwood cemetery? it doesn't. Instead they decided to alienate 50% of the audience. Don't assume that everyone that spends money on the arts is a liberal.

We will never spend another cent to support Burning Coal Theatre, we thought we were attending a series of plays telling stories about change/growth through the lens of NC history - instead we got TDS - made you all...

Arcadia appeared to be a top-notch production. Unfortunately, my octagenarian ears understood very little of the actors' speech, though I sat close to the stage. Volume was satisfactory but articulation was not. I noticed other patrons appeared to have difficulty as well, sitting stone-faced while some members of the audience laughed. It was a Stoppard play, after all, and no doubt the dialogue was witty. Too bad we missed it I would say the majority of the audience was over 65, a group replete with auditory perception problems. I urge actors' and directors to keep this in mind My wife, not yet an octagenarian, also couldn't understand the dialogue. What a pity We left at...